South Carolina court halts executions until the state's new firing squad option is finalized

(CNN) The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday halted executions in the state until procedures for its newest method of execution -- firing squad -- are finalized.

Attorneys for Brad Keith Sigmon, who had been scheduled to be executed on Friday, successfully petitioned the state's high court to stay the execution due to South Carolina having only one method available, the electric chair.

A law passed in May sought to close a loophole that allowed for inmates on death row to indefinitely postpone their executions as long as drugs required for lethal injection were unavailable.

South Carolina does not have the drugs needed to perform lethal injections. Under the new law signed last month by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, inmates must now choose either electrocution or firing squad as their methods of execution.

The director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections said in an affidavit that as of June 3, the only method of execution available in the state is electrocution, according to the court's order.