South Carolina high court rules in favor of death penalty, including by firing squad

The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that death row inmates can be executed by electric chair, firing squad, or lethal injection.

In the U.S., 27 states allow the death penalty, but only seven have executed inmates in the past three years as attorneys and advocates argue over excessive pain, proper procedures and the legality of new methods, such as suffocation by nitrogen gas or firing squads that have rarely been used outside the military.

"We start by acknowledging the reality that there is simply no elegant way to kill a man," Justice John Few wrote in the majority opinion.