South Carolina man who wrote ‘catch me if u can’ in sufferer’s blood set for execution

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A South Carolina man on dying row is scheduled to be executed subsequent month for killing a person, burning his eyes with cigarettes and taunting police by portray "catch me if u can" on the wall with the sufferer's blood greater than 20 years in the past.

Stephen Bryant, 44, is about to be put to dying on Nov. 14 after the state Supreme Court docket issued the dying warrant on Friday, rejecting a request from Bryant's attorneys for a delay as a result of they work with the federal courtroom system and the U.S. authorities is shut down.

Bryant is scheduled for execution for one killing, however prosecutors stated he additionally fatally shot two different males he was giving rides to as they had been urinating on the aspect of the highway in Sumter County in October 2004.

He could have till Oct. 31 to decide on if he needs to die by deadly injection, firing squad or the electrical chair. For the reason that state resumed executions final yr following an involuntary 13-year pause attributable to hassle acquiring deadly injection medication, 4 inmates have chosen deadly injection and two have died by firing squad.

SOUTH CAROLINA'S LONGEST-SERVING DEATH ROW INMATE DIES AFTER SPENDING 42 YEARS IN PRISON

<source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/10/343/192/execution-south-carolina-man-taunted-police-message-victims-blood.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/10/686/384/execution-south-carolina-man-taunted-police-message-victims-blood.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="192" width="343"><source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/10/672/378/execution-south-carolina-man-taunted-police-message-victims-blood.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/10/1344/756/execution-south-carolina-man-taunted-police-message-victims-blood.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/10/931/523/execution-south-carolina-man-taunted-police-message-victims-blood.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/10/1862/1046/execution-south-carolina-man-taunted-police-message-victims-blood.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"><source media="(min-width: 1280px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/10/720/405/execution-south-carolina-man-taunted-police-message-victims-blood.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/10/1440/810/execution-south-carolina-man-taunted-police-message-victims-blood.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="405" width="720"> Stephen Bryant, 44, is about to be put to dying on Nov. 14 after the state Supreme Court docket issued the dying warrant. (AP)

Bryant confessed to killing Willard "TJ" Tietjen after stopping by his house in rural Sumter County and saying he had automotive hassle.

After Tietjen was shot a number of occasions, candles had been lit round his physique.

The nook of a potholder was dipped in Tietjen's blood and "victem 4 in 2 weeks. catch me if u can" on the wall, in accordance with officers.

Tietjen's daughter, Kimberly Dees, known as him a number of occasions and grew nervous when he didn't reply. She testified {that a} unusual voice answered on her sixth name to her father.

She demanded that the particular person on the different finish of the road permit her to talk to her father.

"And he stated 'you may’t, I killed him.' And I stated, ‘this isn’t humorous, who're you?’ He stated, ‘I’m the prowler. And I stated, ‘excuse me, who're you?’ He stated, ‘I’m the prowler,’" Dees stated earlier than a decide who decided Bryant’s sentence.

Prosecutors stated Bryant additionally killed two other men , with one earlier than Tietjen's homicide and one after. He gave the 2 males rides and shot them within the again after they exited the car to urinate on the aspect of rural roads.

Stephen Bryant could have till Oct. 31 to decide on if he needs to die by deadly injection, firing squad or the electrical chair. (AP)

Bryant's attorneys stated he had been sexually abused by 4 male kin when he was a baby, which troubled him within the months earlier than the killing. His attorneys stated he begged a probation agent and his aunt to get him assist as a result of he couldn't cease eager about the abuse.

"He was very upset. He regarded like he was being tortured. It’s like his soul was simply laid large open. In his eyes you might see he was hurting and struggling and he was residing the abuse over once more because it was popping out," his aunt, Terry Caulder testified.

Bryant resorted to utilizing meth and smoking joints he sprayed with bug killer to assist himself via the ache, his attorneys stated.

The six inmates put to dying in South Carolina because the state restarted executions in September of final yr had argued forward of their deaths that the state's strategies quantity to merciless and weird punishment.

Attorneys for the inmates say the three volunteers with rifles within the second firing squad execution practically missed Mikal Mahdi's coronary heart. They stated Mahdi was in agonizing ache for 3 or 4 occasions longer than consultants say he would have been if the bullets had hit his coronary heart straight.

The deadly injection procedures have additionally been criticized by dying row inmates. The state seems to now use two doses of the sedative pentobarbital, with the attorneys saying the inmates drown in a rush of fluid into their lungs however are paralyzed and can't react.

FLORIDA CONTINUES TO EXTEND RECORD EXECUTION YEAR WITH MAN PUT TO DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE'S FAMILY

Stephen Bryant confessed to killing Willard "TJ" Tietjen after stopping by his house in rural Sumter County and saying he had automotive hassle. (South Carolina Division of Corrections by way of AP)

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As soon as one of many busiest states for executions, South Carolina had a 13-year pause in executions earlier than resuming in September 2024 attributable to hassle acquiring deadly injection medication after its provide expired due to pharmaceutical firms' issues that they must disclose that that they had offered the medication to state officers.

However the state legislature later handed a defend legislation permitting officers to maintain deadly injection drug suppliers personal. The firing squad was additionally added as an execution methodology.

Bryant is about to be the fiftieth particular person put to dying in South Carolina because the state restarted the dying penalty in 1985 and the seventh executed because the state resumed executions a yr in the past.

Throughout the U.S., a complete of 39 males have been executed to this point this yr. No less than 5 different executions are scheduled within the U.S. for the rest of the yr.