A federal judge refused to halt the execution of Stephen Stanko, set for Friday, saying his lawyers provided no evidence that South Carolina’s lethal injection process causes unconstitutional pain.

A federal judge doesn't plan to stop the execution of a South Carolina inmate in two days because the convicted man's lawyers didn’t have evidence of problems with the state’s lethal injection process ...

Despite the associated blood and gore, the firing squad — condemned inmates like himself were told — offered a quick, sure and less-agonizing death than the state's alternatives of lethal injection ...