South Carolina has set a date for its first death row execution since renovating its Death Chamber to accommodate inmates who choose execution by firing squad.
The state’s Department of Corrections (SCDC) announced Thursday that Richard Bernard Moore, 57, is scheduled to be executed on April 29, which would be the state’s first execution in over ten years. Moore was convicted of killing James Mahoney, a convenience store clerk, in Spartenburg and has spent over 20 years on death row, the Associated Press (AP) reported. He will choose between the available execution methods of either death by electric chair or death by firing squad.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) signed a law last year that made “the electric chair the primary means of execution but allows inmates to choose death by lethal injection or by firing squad if the methods are available,” Breitbart News previously reported. The legislation was sparked by a ten-year pause on executions due to a lack of lethal injection drug availability.
Three weeks ago, on March 18, the SCDC announced it had completed $53,600 worth of renovations to its death chamber to perform firing squad executions, Breitbart News reported:
The state implemented renovations in the “death chamber,” including a second chair in the corner of the room in addition to the electric chair, which is already in the chamber and cannot be moved. The new chair is metal with restraints and faces a rectangular opening about 15 feet away, which the firing squad will aim through to carry out an execution.
“Three firing squad members will be behind the wall, with rifles facing the inmate through the opening,” the SCDC said. “The rifles and open portal will not be visible from the witness room. All three rifles will be loaded with live ammunition.” The execution team members will be employees of the SCDC and will be required to meet specific criteria.
After the inmate is escorted to the death chamber, he or she will be allowed to make a final statement.
Witnesses, who will be behind newly installed bullet-proof glass between the witness room and death chamber, “will see the right-side profile of the inmate. The inmate will not face the witness room directly,” the release states. The inmate, wearing a prison uniform, will be strapped into the chair and a hood will be situated over his or her head. A firing squad member will place an aim point over the individual’s heart.
Once the warden reads the execution order, the team will fire at the aim point.
Moore stood trial for Mahoney’s death in 2001 when prosecutors said he entered the establishment in hopes of securing money for his cocaine addiction, the AP noted. A dispute then ensued between Moore and Mahoney, resulting in Mahoney drawing a pistol that Moore successfully procured from the victim, prosecutors said.
“Mahoney shot Moore in the arm, and Moore shot Mahoney in the chest,” the AP said. “Prosecutors said Moore left a trail of blood through the store as he looked for cash, stepping twice over Mahoney.”
Moore was “convicted of murder, assault with intent to kill, armed robbery and a firearms violation,” the SCDC said.
As Mahoney pulled the gun first, Moore claimed self-defense during the trial, and his appeals lawyers had since asserted their client did not intend to kill when he walked into the store as he did not have a gun at that point, the AP noted.
Those who support Moore have claimed that the killing was not on par with the atrociousness documented in other death penalty cases, per the AP. In 2020, the death row inmate exhausted his appeals, and earlier this week, the South Carolina Supreme Court denied another appeal. “Lindsey Vann, an attorney for Moore, said Thursday she will ask the court to stay the execution,” the AP said.
There are 35 men on death row in the state and the last execution occurred in 2011, when Jeffrey Motts chose the death chamber instead of moving forward with the appeals process, according to the AP. He was convicted of strangling his cellmate to death while serving a life sentence for murder.
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