SCOTUS denies stay of execution for SC death row inmates

GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) – The U.S. Supreme Court will not intervene in the upcoming execution of a South Carolina death row inmate whose death sentence has sparked controversy.

Two jurors and the judge at Richard Moore's original trial are among more than 20 people who have asked Gov. Henry McMaster to spare his life.

Moore shot and killed James Mahoney in September 1999 at Nikki's Speedy Mart in Spartanburg County. Moore was unarmed but took one of Mahoney's guns and killed him.

Amnesty International has raised concerns that the killing was premeditated because Moore did not bring a weapon into the supermarket, and that the jury that convicted him was all white.

The former director of the state prison system also asked for clemency for Moore and said he deeply regretted the killing.

A day before his execution, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Moore's request for an emergency stay of execution.

Moore is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Friday.

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