After a day of pretrial motions, attorneys in death penalty trial start witness testimony Tuesday

A trial to debate the constitutionality of South Carolina's recently imposed death penalty statute that would make the electric chair the default method of execution and implement a firing squad as a second option began Monday . 

Because the state Supreme Court ordered the matter be resolved within 90 days in early May, the trial is expected to finish by Aug. 4th. 

Attorneys representing the plaintiffs, death row inmates, Richard Moore of Spartanburg, Freddie Eugene Owens and Brad Sigmon and Gary Dubose Terry of Lexington, and the defense, the South Carolina Department of Corrections and Gov. Henry McMaster, went back and forth on pre-trial agreements. Much of the focus was on the constraints of a confidentiality order that was filed last month and whether or not to include certain witnesses.

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Here were some of the key takeaways: 

• In June, attorneys for SCDC and the state filed a motion for a protective order that would limit the scope of discovery. The attorneys argued that because a state statute prohibits disclosing the identity of anyone on an execution team and that disclosure of execution protocols present a security risk to SCDC, discovery should be prohibited into certain matters that could harm the defense. 
• Circuit judge Jocelyn Newman denied the order when it came to execution protocols but granted it in part when it came to matters regarding lethal injection, which the state argued was irrelevant, and information about members of the execution team. However, the court entered into a confidentiality agreement to designate any testimony or documents as confidential if they contain information that is a safety concern to employees or inmates at SCDC, present trade secrets or any other information that would normally be considered confidential in litigation. This means details of execution protocols would be subject to the agreement and only available to some parties for review. 
• Monday morning, Joshua Kendrick, an attorney representing the inmates, presented a motion to compel the state to provide autopsy reports of executions, saying it was unclear if that information was part of the protective order. Kendrick argued autopsies would present direct evidence for a theory by one of their expert witnesses "that electricity does not produce instantaneous death."
• "I can’t fathom a reason why you’d hold back information from an execution [method] that you claim is a humane way to kill someone," Kendrick said. 
• Daniel Plyler, attorney for SCDC, said there aren't autopsies for every execution. "Historically, it wasn't required," Plyler said.
• Judge Newman granted the order for the state to disclose autopsies from executions by electrocution and ordered the defense to provide them within 24 hours. Autopsies from executions by lethal injection are prohibited by the protective order. 
• Other pre-trial arrangements included striking one of the plaintiff's expert witnesses because they were disclosed too late into the case. The state also attempted to strike another of the plaintiff's expert witnesses based on their reliability, but Judge Newman denied the motion. 

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Tuesday, the court will move into the trial phase, starting with opening statements. SCDC Director Bryan Stirling will testify for the defense. John Wikswo, a professor from Vanderbilt with experience in molecular physiology and biomedical engineering, will testify for the plaintiffs as an expert witness on executions by electrocution. 

Kathryn Casteel is an investigative reporter with The Greenville News and can be reached at KCasteel@gannett.com or on Twitter @kathryncasteel.