Death row inmate Richard Moore has been executed after South Carolina’s governor rejected a plea to change his sentence to life in prison.
He was put to death despite a wide-ranging appeal for mercy that included three jurors and the judge from his original trial.
The 59-year-old shot dead shop assistant James Mahoney in a Spartanburg store in September 1999.
Moore was unarmed but wrestled a gun from his victim when it was pointed at him and shot him in the chest. Mr Mahoney shot him in the arm with a second gun at the same time.
Moore’s lawyers said it was sparked by a row when he was 12 cents short of what he wanted to buy.
He made off with $1,400 (£1,083) and prosecutors claimed he intended to rob the shop from the start and also fired at a customer.
Lawyers asked the state’s Republican governor, Henry McMaster, to change the sentence due to Moore’s spotless prison record and willingness to mentor other inmates.
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They also argued it was unjust to execute someone for an incident that could be seen as self-defence; that no one else on death row started their crime unarmed and with no intention to kill; and that he was the only black person on death row convicted by a jury without any African Americans.
Their pleas were joined by letters from three jurors in the case, the judge, a former state prison director and Moore’s family and friends.
They said he was a reformed character who had turned to God and helped keep peace in prison, and that a drug addiction had clouded his judgement during the fatal shooting.
However, the governor refused the request – and no South Carolina governor has ever altered a death sentence.
Moore died by lethal injection after being given the choice of how he wanted to be executed.
Victim’s family watched
Media witnesses said Moore’s eyes were closed and his head pointed at the ceiling when Friday’s execution began at 6.01pm local time – and that his lawyer of 10 years, Lindsey Vann, was crying.
They described Moore taking some deep breaths over the next minute, followed by shallow breaths, until 6.04pm when his breathing stopped.
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Two members of James Mahoney’s family watched as well as a lawyer who was on the prosecution team that convicted Moore.
The execution had been postponed twice as the state worked through issues that led to a 13-year pause in the death penalty between 2011 and September 2024.
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One impediment had been a refusal by companies to sell the lethal drugs. However, the state overcame it by passing a secrecy law that granted them anonymity.
Moore’s execution is the second since the death penalty resumed in South Carolina. Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah was put to death just over a month ago.
In a video interview that accompanied Moore’s clemency petition, he expressed his regret over the killing 25 years ago.
“This is definitely part of my life I wish I could change,” he said.
“I took a life. I took someone’s life. I broke the family of the deceased. I pray for the forgiveness of that particular family.”
