South Carolina executes man despite widely supported plea to reduce sentence to life in prison

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina put Richard Moore to death by lethal injection Friday for the fatal 1999 shooting of a store clerk, despite widespread calls for mercy from parties including three jurors and the judge of his trial, a former prison warden, ministers and members of his family.

Moore, 59, was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m

Moore was convicted in September 1999 of murdering Spartanburg clerk James Mahoney and sentenced to death two years later. Moore entered the store unarmed, grabbed a gun from the victim when it was pointed at him and fatally shot him in the chest while the victim shot him with a second gun in the arm.

Moore’s attorneys asked Republican Governor Henry McMaster to reduce his sentence to life without parole because of his spotless criminal record and his willingness to be a mentor to other inmates. They also said it would be unjust to execute someone for what could be considered self-defense, and that it would be unfair that Moore, who was black, was the only state death row inmate tried by a jury without an Afro Americans had been convicted.

But McMaster refused to grant clemency. In a letter, he did not give a reason why, but said he had reviewed all documents submitted by Moore’s lawyers and spoken to the victim’s family.

No South Carolina governor has reduced the death sentence, and there have now been 45 executions in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to restart them nearly fifty years ago.

Unlike previous executions, the death chamber curtain was open when media witnesses arrived. Moore’s final words had already been read by Lindsey Vann, his attorney of 10 years.

Moore had his eyes closed and his head toward the ceiling. A prison official announced that the execution could begin at 6:01 p.m. Moore took several deep breaths over the next minute, which sounded like snoring. Then he took a few shallow breaths until about four past six, when his breathing stopped. Moore showed no obvious signs of discomfort.

Vann cried when the employee announced that the execution could begin. She was holding a prayer bracelet with a cross. Beside her sat a spiritual advisor, his hands on his knees, palms up.

Two members of the victims’ family were also present, along with attorney Barry Barnette, who was part of the prosecution team that convicted Moore. They all looked stoic.

Afterwards, prison spokeswoman Chrysti Shain read his final words at a news conference.

“To the family of Mr. James Mahoney, I am deeply sorry for the pain and sorrow I have caused you all,” he said. “To my children and granddaughters: I love you and am so proud of you. Thank you for the joy you have brought into my life. To all my family and friends, new and old, thank you for your love and support.”

His last meal was medium cooked steak, fried catfish and shrimp, scalloped potatoes, green peas, broccoli and cheese, sweet potato pie, German chocolate cake, and grape juice.

Three jurors who sentenced Moore to death in 2001, including one who wrote Friday, sent letters asking McMaster to change his sentence to life without parole. They were accompanied by a former state prison warden, Moore’s judge, his son and daughter, a half-dozen childhood friends and several ministers.

They all said Moore, a 59-year-old, was a changed man who loved God, loved his new grandchildren as much as he could, helped guards keep the peace and mentored other inmates after his addiction to drugs clouded his judgment and led to the shootout in which Mahoney was killed, the clemency petition said.

“He posed a danger to no one, and the state has eliminated a shining example of reform and rehabilitation,” law firm Justice 360, which represented Moore, said in a statement. “By killing Richard, the state also created more victims. Richard’s children are now fatherless, and his grandchildren will have to grow up without their ‘Pa Pa.’”

Moore had previously postponed two execution dates as the state resolved issues that caused a 13-year pause in the death penalty, including companies’ refusal to sell the state lethal injection drugs, a hurdle that was resolved by passing a secrecy law.

Moore is the second inmate to be executed in South Carolina since executions resumed. Four more have no further appeals, and the state appears prepared to execute them at five-week intervals throughout the spring. There are now thirty people on death row.

The governor said before the execution that he would carefully review everything Moore’s attorneys sent and, as usual, wait until minutes before the execution began to announce his decision after hearing that all appeals had been completed.

“Clemency is a matter of grace, a matter of mercy. There is no standard. There is no real law on it,” McMaster told reporters Thursday.

Prosecutors and Mahoney’s relatives did not speak publicly in the weeks leading up to the execution, nor since. In the past, family members have said they suffered deeply and that justice would be served.

Moore’s attorneys said his original attorneys did not carefully analyze the crime scene and left unchallenged prosecutors’ claim that Moore, who entered the store unarmed, shot a customer and that his intent from the start was robbery.

According to their story, the clerk pulled a gun on Moore after the two argued because he was 12 cents short of what he wanted to buy.

Moore said he wrestled the gun from Mahoney’s hand and the clerk pulled a second gun. Moore was shot in the arm and returned fire, hitting Mahoney in the chest. Moore then went behind the counter and stole approximately $1,400.

No one else on South Carolina’s death row began their crime unarmed and without intent to kill, Moore’s current attorneys say.

Jon Ozmint, a former prosecutor who served as director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections from 2003 to 2011 and who added his voice to those seeking clemency, said Moore’s case was not the worst crime that would usually trigger a death penalty trial .

There are plenty of people who were not sentenced to death but committed far more heinous crimes, Ozmint said, citing the example of Todd Kohlhepp, who was given a life sentence after pleading guilty to the murders of seven people, including a woman whom he had raped and tortured for days. .

Lawyers for Moore, who is black, also said his trial was not fair. There were no African Americans on the jury, even though 20% of Spartanburg County residents were black.

“This execution highlights the flaws in South Carolina’s death penalty system. Who gets executed versus who gets to spend their life in prison seems to be based solely on chance, race, or status. It is intolerable that our state metes out the ultimate punishment in such a haphazard manner,” Justice 360 ​​said.