News Summary
Stephen Stanko, a 57-year-old man convicted of two brutal murders and a rape, was executed by lethal injection in South Carolina. Stanko’s execution followed a lengthy legal process and represented the state’s renewed use of capital punishment. He was sentenced to death for the murders of his girlfriend Laura Ling and friend Henry Turner. Stanko expressed remorse during his final statement but faced significant legal challenges leading up to his execution, which raised questions about the death penalty’s implications in South Carolina.
South Carolina – Stephen Stanko, a 57-year-old man convicted of two brutal murders and a rape, was executed by lethal injection on Friday evening. The execution was carried out at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia at 6:34 p.m. EDT, marking a significant moment in the state’s legal proceedings following a lengthy hiatus from capital punishment.
Stanko faced two death sentences: one for the murder of his live-in girlfriend, Laura Ling, in April 2005, and another for the murder of his friend, Henry Turner, in April 2006. Evidence presented during his trials painted a horrific picture of his crimes, which took place in Horry and Georgetown counties.
On April 7, 2005, Stanko committed the first murder by beating and strangling Ling to death while simultaneously raping her teenage daughter, whom he later attempted to kill by slitting her throat. Remarkably, the daughter survived the attack. In the wake of this violence, Stanko proceeded to Turner’s home, where he shot Turner dead, subsequently stealing his truck and bank account information. Following these crimes, Stanko was captured in Augusta, Georgia, several days later.
In the legal proceedings that followed, Stanko was sentenced to death for Ling’s murder in August 2006, shortly after his arrest. He received an additional death sentence for Turner’s murder in November 2009. His execution on Friday made him the sixth inmate executed in South Carolina in just nine months, a notable increase following a 13-year period during which the state faced difficulties in procuring the drugs needed for lethal injections.
Despite appeals for stays of execution from his legal team, both the South Carolina Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court denied these requests, allowing the execution to proceed as planned. Just prior to his execution, Stanko was given the opportunity to make a final statement lasting 3 ½ minutes. During this time, he expressed remorse for his actions and requested to not be solely defined by those actions.
Witnesses who were present noted that Stanko seemed to acknowledge the family members of his victims at the time, but he also exhibited signs of distress during the execution process. As part of the procedure, prison officials administered a first dose of the sedative pentobarbital intended to induce unconsciousness. They requested a second dose approximately 13 minutes after the initial administration. Stanko was pronounced dead roughly 28 minutes after the execution process began.
Stanko’s lawyers had previously raised concerns regarding the state’s lethal injection protocol, citing reports of previous inmates experiencing lingering deaths. Additionally, Stanko had initially indicated a preference for execution by firing squad but later opted for lethal injection, citing concerns about the accuracy of the firing squad method.
Shortly before the execution, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster denied clemency for Stanko during a phone call with prison officials, solidifying the decision for the execution to take place. The execution represented a culmination of years of legal proceedings and public discussions regarding the death penalty in the state.
The case has drawn attention not only for its violent nature but also in the broader context of capital punishment in South Carolina, raising important questions about justice, accountability, and the ethical implications of the death penalty.
Deeper Dive: News & Info About This Topic
- ABC News
- Wikipedia: Death Penalty in the United States
- SC Daily Gazette
- Google Search: South Carolina death penalty
- NBC News
- Google Scholar: Capital Punishment South Carolina
- AP News
- Encyclopedia Britannica: Death Penalty
- The State
- Google News: South Carolina execution
Author: STAFF HERE GREENVILLE
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