A South Carolina killer who taunted police by writing a message in blood after killing three males in every week has turn out to be the third inmate executed by firing squad within the state this 12 months.
Stephen Corey Bryant, who as soon as scrawled “catch me if u can” on a wall utilizing the blood of 62-year-old sufferer Willard “T.J.” Tietjen, was executed on Friday, Nov. 14, for the 2004 homicide. He was pronounced useless at 6:05 p.m.
Bryant’s executioners strapped him to a chair and positioned a hood over his head. Three volunteer corrections officers shot him concurrently from 15 ft away.
Bryant’s attorneys had argued that he must be spared from execution as a result of he was sexually abused as a baby and had mind harm brought on by his mom utilizing medicine and alcohol whereas she was pregnant. The South Carolina Supreme Courtroom rejected these arguments earlier this week and allowed the execution to proceed.
Bryant is the forty third inmate to be executed within the U.S. in 2025, probably the most executions carried out in a single 12 months since 2012. He is even be solely one in all six males executed by the firing squad in fashionable U.S. historical past.
Here is what it is advisable find out about Bryant’s execution.
South Carolina’s firing squad chair is pictured behind its electrical chair, which is roofed, on the Broad River Correctional Institute in Columbia, South Carolina. Demise Row inmates can select amongst firing squad, electrical chair and deadly injection for his or her executions. If they do not choose one, the default is the electrical chair.
What was Stephen Bryant convicted of?
In October 2004, Stephen Bryant was on probation for housebreaking when he went on an eight-day killing spree that left three males useless and one critically wounded.
The final man murdered was Willard “T.J.” Tietjen, who was shot 9 instances in his house simply east of Columbia after permitting Bryant to come back in on Oct. 11, 2004.
That afternoon, Tietjen’s spouse and daughter stored attempting to name him however he wasn’t answering. At 5:30 p.m., somebody picked up his cellphone but it surely wasn’t Tietjen. It was Bryant.
“T.J. is useless,” he advised Tietjen’s spouse of 39 years, Mildred Tietjen, who testified in the course of the sentencing section of Bryant’s trial, in keeping with The Merchandise newspaper of Sumter, South Carolina.
When Tietjen’s daughter, Kimberly Dees, referred to as her dad’s quantity, Bryant once more picked up and stated: “I am having a beautiful day, how are you?” earlier than he advised her he had killed her dad three hours earlier, Dees testified.
When police arrived to Tietjen’s house, they discovered he had been shot 9 instances and that the killer used his blood to write down a taunting message on the wall: “Victem 4 in 2 weeks. Catch me if u can.” Tietjen’s eyes had been burned with cigarettes and candles had been lit round his physique, court docket data say.
Bryant additionally left a handwritten be aware in a Manila envelope on Tietjen’s chest: “I’m the sunshine. I’m so shiny. I’m the solar. Yours actually, The Prowler,” it stated. A be aware on the desk stated: “Good luck discovering me. LMFAO,” The Merchandise reported.
Earlier that week, Tietjen had shot three different males, two fatally. They included his good friend, 36-year-old Clifton Gainey, and a stranger, 35-year-old Christopher Burgess. A 56-year-old man named Clinton Brown was shot within the again and left for useless however survived.
Bryant pleaded responsible to all his crimes. A choose sentenced him to life in jail for the murders of Gainey and Burgess, and the loss of life penalty for Tietjen’s.
Stephen Bryant is pictured.
Who was Willard “T.J.” Tietjen?
Tietjen was a faithful dad, grandpa and husband who had retired from the Air Power after being stationed all around the world, from the Philippines and Germany to Thailand and Oregon.
His daughter testified that her dad took her to performs and live shows, and taught her to fish, hunt, curler skate, recognize nature, and respect her nation, The Merchandise reported in 2008.
“We spent loads of glad hours collectively,” Dees stated, including that he imparted an important life lesson to her: “The worth of life. All life has worth … We’re all a part of God’s creation.”
On the stand, Dees recalled how her 5-year-old son comforted her over the loss of life of the household patriarch they each adored.
“He advised me he would at all times be with me and stick with me so no one may ever homicide me,” she stated, in keeping with The Merchandise.
In the meantime Mildred Tietjen testified that she married her husband simply three months after assembly him in December 1964 on a blind date when he was stationed in Iowa, The Merchandise reported.
“He had such a zest for all times,” she stated, earlier than recalling his final phrases to her: “I like you.”
Why was Stephen Bryant executed by firing squad?
South Carolina allowed Bryant to decide on amongst three execution strategies: firing squad, electrical chair or deadly injection. If he hadn’t chosen, the default technique is electrical chair.
The firing squad has been not often utilized in the USA, although it seems to be gaining momentum as states say they’re struggling to acquire the medicine wanted for deadly injections.
Earlier than this 12 months, Utah was the one state to make use of the strategy, and had solely finished so thrice: in 1977, 1996 and 2010. Utah had deliberate to make use of the strategy on an inmate in August however the Utah Supreme Courtroom stopped it over considerations about his dementia.
South Carolina legalized firing squads in 2021 and started utilizing the strategy this 12 months, executing two inmates in April and Might.
A protection lawyer who witnessed the final such execution in April described it as “barbaric” and “a horrifying act that belongs within the darkest chapters of historical past.” State officers defend the strategy as constitutional.
On prime of Utah and South Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Idaho have legalized firing squads. Idaho, which permitted firing squads in 2023, is about to make them the state’s default technique subsequent 12 months.
When is the subsequent execution?
The following execution within the U.S. is that of Richard Barry Randolph in Florida for the 1988 homicide of his neighbor, Minnie Ruth McCollum, who was raped, overwhelmed, and stabbed in East Palatka, about 45 miles east of Gainesville.
If it strikes ahead, Randolph’s execution would be the forty fourth within the U.S. this 12 months, a quantity that hasn’t been seen since 2010.
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers the loss of life penalty for USA TODAY. Observe her on X at @amandaleeusa
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: South Carolina serial killer third to die by firing squad this 12 months