Richard Moore was executed in South Carolina despite requests to have his life sentence reduced

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina executed Richard Moore by lethal injection on Friday for the fatal 1999 shooting of a supermarket employee, despite appeals for clemency from parties that included three jurors and the judge from his trial, a former prison warden. Pastor and his family.

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

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

Moore's lawyers asked Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to reduce his sentence to life without parole because he had a clean record in prison and a willingness to mentor other inmates. They also said it would be unfair to execute someone for self-defense, and it would be unfair that Moore, a Black man, was the only inmate on the state's death row to be convicted by a non-African American jury.

But McMaster refused to grant clemency. No South Carolina governor has reduced a death sentence, and since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to resume executions nearly 50 years ago, 45 executions have now been carried out.

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

Moore had his eyes closed and his head facing 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. He then took a few shallow breaths until he stopped breathing at around 6:04 am.

Vann cried as the clerk announced that the execution could begin. She clutched a prayer bracelet with a cross on it. A spiritual advisor sat next to her, his hands on his knees, palms up. Vann clutched a prayer bracelet with a cross on it.

Two family members of the victims also watched, along with attorney Barry Barnette, who was part of the prosecution team that convicted Moore. They all watched stoically.

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

They all said Moore, 59, was a changed man who loved God, cared as much as he could for his new grandchildren, helped guards keep the peace and mentored other prisoners after his drug addiction clouded his judgment and led to the shooting involving James. According to the clemency petition, Mahoney was killed.

Moore previously postponed two execution dates as the state resolved issues that led to a 13-year stay on the death penalty. This included the refusal of companies to sell lethal injection drugs to the state, a hurdle resolved by the passage of a secrecy law.

Moore is the second inmate executed in South Carolina since executions resumed. Four others have not been appealed, and the state appears poised to execute them every five weeks through the spring. There are now 30 people on death row.

The governor said he would carefully review everything Moore's lawyers submitted and, as usual, wait minutes before the execution began to announce his decision once he heard by phone that all appeals had been completed.

“Grace is a question of grace, a question of mercy. There is no standard. There’s no real law on this,” McMaster told reporters Thursday.

In an interview for a video accompanying his clemency petition, Moore expressed remorse for Mahoney's killing.

“It’s definitely a part of my life that I would like to change. I took a life. I took someone's life. I destroyed the family of the deceased,” Moore said. “I pray for the forgiveness of this special family.”

Prosecutors and Mahoney's relatives did not comment publicly in the weeks leading up to the execution. In the past, family members have said they have suffered deeply and that they should receive justice.

Moore's lawyers said his original attorneys did not carefully analyze the crime scene and left unchallenged prosecutors' contention that Moore, who came into the store unarmed, shot a customer and that his intent was robbery from the start.

According to their report, the clerk pointed a gun at Moore after the two argued because he was 12 cents short of what he wanted to buy.

Moore said he grabbed the gun out of Mahoney's hand and the employee pulled out a second gun. Moore was shot in the arm and fired back, 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 the intent to kill, Moore's current lawyers say.

Jon Ozmint, a former prosecutor who served as director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections from 2003 to 2011 and turned to clemency seekers, said Moore's case was not the worst type of crime that would typically come with a death penalty case.

There are many people who were not sentenced to death but committed far more heinous crimes, Ozmint said, citing the example of Todd Kohlhepp, who was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to killing seven people. including a woman 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.

Moore's son and daughter said he remained interested in their lives. He once asked them about school work and gave them advice in letters. He now has grandchildren who he sees on video calls. Several letter writers mentioned the harm that would occur to them if Moore were removed from their lives.

“Even though my father wasn't there, that didn't stop him from having a huge, positive influence on my life,” said Alexandria Moore, who joined the Air Force at her father's encouragement.