The governor denies clemency to the S.C. death row inmate who is scheduled to be executed Friday evening

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (WCSC) – South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has denied clemency to a death row inmate convicted of a 1999 murder.

Richard Moore is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Friday evening for killing supermarket clerk James Mahoney in Spartanburg County.

He entered the store unarmed. Prosecutors said Moore intended to rob the store, but his attorneys claimed that an argument broke out between Moore and the clerk instead because Moore didn't have enough change.

He and Mahoney got into a shootout with Mahoney's guns, and Moore shot him and then left the store with stolen cash.

Moore's lawyers say his death sentence is an excessive punishment and argue he is also the only current death row inmate in South Carolina to be convicted by an all-white jury.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Thursday to stop Moore's execution.

So the only remaining option to save Moore's life would be for McMaster to grant clemency – something no South Carolina governor has done in modern history – and reduce his death sentence to life in prison.

The judge who presided over Moore's trial, several jurors in that trial and a former state corrections director were all among those who wrote letters to the governor asking for clemency.

They say Moore was a reformed man, a Christian who mentored other inmates, cared for his family behind prison walls and was remorseful for what he did 25 years ago.

McMaster has repeatedly stated that he would not announce his decision until he made a telephone call around 5:45 p.m., shortly before the scheduled execution and was required by law to announce his decision.

“Grace is a question of grace, a question of mercy. There is no standard. There is no real law about it. But as I have said all along and continue to say, I planned to check everything I can,” he said. “There is nothing insignificant about a death penalty case. I think they’re all a little different, but they’re all very serious considerations.”

South Carolinians who oppose the death penalty delivered a petition with more than 50,000 signatures to the governor Thursday asking for clemency.

Some of them are holding a vigil outside the prison here on Friday evening.

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