South Carolina judge refuses to block 2 executions as she considers challenge to new death penalty law

A South Carolina judge on Tuesday refused to block two executions set for later this month as she considers a lawsuit over the state's new capital punishment law, which effectively forces condemned prisoners to choose to die by either the electric chair or firing squad.

State Circuit Judge Jocelyn Newman issued the decision to let the planned executions of Brad Sigmon and Freddie Owens proceed after their attorneys had argued in court that the men should not be executed while the lawsuit is pending. The two "have little likelihood of success on the merits of their claim," Newman wrote.