Stop the Execution of Stephen Stanko in South Carolina
Governor Henry McMaster
Stephen Stanko has spent nearly 20 years on South Carolina’s death row for the murders of Laura Ling and Henry Turner and has an execution date set for June 13, 2025. This execution is the 6th one scheduled in South Carolina in the last 9 months.
More on Stephen's case from South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty:
Experts diagnosed Stephen with brain damage, likely from numerous brain injuries including from a troubled birth, a blow to the back of the head as a teen while shielding a classmate from an assault, and repeated traumas from serious sports-related head injuries.
The brain damage resulted in tissue loss in the left frontal lobe and medial brain structures that place him in the bottom 2.4% of the population.The problems resulting from his brain damage are well controlled in the structured environment of prison. Stephen has not been a danger to prison staff or other inmates and has productively used his years on death row to repent of his crimes and seek God’s forgiveness, help other inmates, and write about his experiences.
South Carolina is making itself an outlier in its use of the death penalty. The majority of other states are on a downward trend of executions, and increasingly, states are abolishing the practice altogether, including the southern state of Virginia.
Please sign the petition asking Governor Henry McMaster to do everything within his power to stop this execution, including issuing a stay, and seeking a path to clemency in the case.
Petitions will be delivered on your behalf in advance of the execution.
Sponsored by
To:
Governor Henry McMaster
From:
[Your Name]
We are writing to ask that you to stop the June 13, 2025 execution of Stephen Stanko for the murders of Laura Ling and Henry Turner.
We are concerned that while the vast majority of states with capital punishment continue on a downward trend of executions, and states like Virginia have abolished the practice altogether, South Carolina has resumed executions at a disturbing pace after a 10 year hiatus. It is especially cruel and unusual that the state also is forcing prisoners to choose between the electric chair and firing squad for their execution.
In relation to Mr. Stanko specifically, experts diagnosed Stephen with brain damage, likely from numerous brain injuries including from a troubled birth, a blow to the back of the head as a teen while shielding a classmate from an assault, and repeated traumas from serious sports-related head injuries.
The brain damage resulted in tissue loss in the left frontal lobe and medial brain structures that place him in the bottom 2.4% of the population.
The problems resulting from his brain damage are well controlled in the structured environment of prison. Stephen has not been a danger to prison staff or other inmates and has productively used his years on death row to repent of his crimes and seek God’s forgiveness, help other inmates, and write about his experiences.
We, the undersigned, ask that you do everything within your power to stop this execution, including issuing a stay, and seeking a path to clemency in the case.
Thank you for your time and attention to this urgent and serious matter.