South Carolina executes Richard Moore despite widely supported pleas to reduce sentence: NPR

This photo provided by Justice 360 ​​shows death row inmate Richard Moore at the Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center in Columbia, South Carolina on August 17, 2018.

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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 members of his family.

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

Moore was convicted of murdering Spartanburg clerk James Mahoney in September 1999 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, who was black, 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. In a letter, he gave no reason but said he had reviewed all documents provided by Moore's attorneys and spoken to the victim's family.

No South Carolina governor has reduced a death sentence, and the state has now carried out 45 executions since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to resume them nearly 50 years ago.

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. Moore showed no obvious signs of discomfort.

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.

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

Prison spokeswoman Chrysti Shain then read his final words at a press conference.

“To the family of Mr. James Mahoney: I am deeply sorry for the pain and grief I have caused you all,” he said. “To my children and granddaughters: I love you and am so proud of you. Thank you for the joy you have brought into my life. Thank you to all my family and friends old and new for your love and support.”

His last meal consisted of medium steak, fried catfish and shrimp, scalloped potatoes, green peas, broccoli with cheese, sweet potato cake, German chocolate cake and grape juice.

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 best 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 in which Mahoney was killed, according to the clemency petition.

“He posed no threat to anyone, and the state has removed a shining example of reform and rehabilitation,” the law firm Justice 360, which represented Moore, said in a statement. “By killing Richard, the state also created more victims. Richard's children are now fatherless and his grandchildren will have to grow up without their 'Pa Pa'.”

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 other people 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 before the execution that he would carefully review everything sent by Moore's lawyers and, as usual, wait minutes before the execution began to announce his decision after learning 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.

Prosecutors and Mahoney's relatives did not comment publicly in the weeks before the execution and did not speak afterward. In the past, family members have said they suffered deeply and wanted 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.

“This execution highlights the flaws in South Carolina’s death penalty system. Who gets executed and who gets to spend their life in prison seems to be based solely on chance, race or status. It is intolerable that our state metes out the ultimate punishment in such an arbitrary manner,” Justice 360 ​​said.