A condemned South Carolina inmate selected lethal injection over firing squad or electrocution on Friday to be executed for the 1999 murder of a store clerk.
State prison officials informed Richard Moore this month that he could choose his method of execution on November 1. State law had given him until Friday to make a decision, failing which he would face electrocution.
Moore’s execution, which he is appealing to the United States Supreme Court to block, would be the second in South Carolina following a 13-year delay caused by the state’s inability to secure a medication required for lethal injection.
South Carolina Corrections Director Bryan Stirling informed Moore in a certified letter that the state’s electric chair underwent testing last month, its firing squad possesses the necessary ammunition and training, and state crime lab technicians verified the purity of the lethal injection medicine.
The state will execute Moore using a single dose of pentobarbital, following the federal government’s execution protocol. Previously, the state utilized three medicines to carry out executions.
The executions resume as Moore’s supporters battle for his life
South Carolina overturned a 13-year moratorium on executions this month with the fatal injection of Freddie Owens. Moore’s execution date is November 1.
Moore’s lawyers have requested the United States Supreme Court to halt the execution, arguing that a lower court should evaluate whether it was fair since no African Americans served on the jury that decided Moore’s fate in Spartanburg County, which was 20% Black in the 2000 U.S. Census.
They also expect Moore will be the first South Carolina inmate to have his death sentence mitigated to life without parole since the United States resumed executing in 1976.
Only South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster can award clemency. McMaster, a former prosecutor, declined to grant it for Owens and has previously stated that he trusts juries and the justice system.
Moore’s lawyers claim McMaster cannot fairly decide whether to commute his death sentence to life in prison because he was a state attorney general who oversaw prosecutors fighting Moore’s appeals. Additionally, McMaster informed reporters that he had no plans to commute Moore’s sentence in 2022, following the cancellation of an execution date.
They want a court to delegate clemency powers to a parole board, the lieutenant governor, or someone else they think is more fair.
However, Judge Mary Geiger Lewis expressed her opposition to removing the governor’s constitutionally mandated power to decide clemency in South Carolina and expressed confidence in McMaster’s careful evaluation of Moore’s petition upon its filing.
Moore’s family and lawyers argue that killing Moore is an overly harsh penalty. Moore’s flawless record behind bars and reputation for assisting other offenders, they argue, justify a reprieve in a state where the governor and prison director have made it a mission to help inmates turn their lives around.
“He is deeply contrite and sorry for the dreadful, tragic decisions he made in his life. But he’s spent the last 20 years trying to make up for it by loving the people in his life,” said attorney Lindsey Vann.
Prosecutors argue for the death penalty. 25 years ago, Moore killed cashier James Mahoney, a 40-year-old man with disabilities who cared for his family and coworkers.
The prosecutors in Moore’s case included Trey Gowdy, a Republican who eventually spent four terms in Congress, and Barry Barnette, who is now the Spartanburg County solicitor. Both declined to comment, with Gowdy stating the 1999 trial speaks for itself.
In his request for the jury to condemn Moore to death, Gowdy cited Moore’s criminal record for stealing and robbing to obtain drug money.
He emphasized how, after shooting Mahoney, Moore, who was also shot in the arm during the battle, walked over the dying clerk’s corpse in search of cash.
“The hopes, goals, and dreams of a 40-year-old man are coming out of his heart, and the cold, wet drops of blood of a career criminal are dripping on his back,” she continued. “There is time for mercy, ladies and gentlemen. “That time has passed.”
The defense team had issues with the original trial
Moore’s supporters contended that the trial embodies all the flaws in South Carolina’s death penalty system, particularly its arbitrary nature, as prosecutors use it to score political points by presenting numerous death penalty cases that do not accurately reflect the most heinous, cruel, and unrepentant crimes.
Vann explained, “There’s the issue of a jury with no black representation.”
“I’m really struck by the image that I’ve had of Richard’s trial where there’s a white prosecutor, a white judge, white defense attorneys, and an all-white jury, and he’s the only person in the room who is African American, and he’s being judged by a jury who has no one who looks like him,” Vann told me.
The state had only the electric chair and the firing squad during the two previous postponements of Moore’s execution date. Since then, the enactment of legislation that allows sellers of lethal injection medications to remain anonymous has facilitated the addition of lethal injection as an option.
