Court Blocks South Carolina Prisoner From State's First Ever Firing Squad Execution

A South Carolina court temporarily blocked the execution of death row inmate Richard Moore, 57, on Wednesday, 20 April. 

Moore was set to become the first person in South Carolina to be executed by firing squad. 

The state Supreme Court’s order means Moore will no longer die on 29 April, however the block is just temporary; a more detailed order from the court will follow the temporary stay issued today, 20 April. 

Moore, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2001, had been given the choice between the firing squad or the electric chair. He chose to face a firing squad this month, which meant he would have been wearing a hood while three prison-volunteers fired at a target placed over his heart. 

In 1999, Moore entered a South Carolina convenience store with the intention of robbing it to fund his drug habit.

Moore was unarmed, but James Mahoney, the convenience store’s clerk, was carrying a gun. 

Moore was shot in the arm by Mahoney during a struggle. He then got hold of Mahoney’s gun and returned fire, fatally wounding Mahoney.

Prosecutors argued that Moore didn’t stop to help Mahoney after he shot him and instead started searching the premises for money.

Moore’s case was covered by VICE on 14 April, and Moore’s daughter Alexandria told the outlet: “What occurred the night my father was arrested was devastating and sad – but a mistake. Sentencing my dad to be executed is just another mistake being made that we are desperate to avoid.”

Lindsey Vann, Moore’s lawyer, filed a motion last Friday in which she argued that client is facing a ‘cruel and unusual punishment’.

Vann wrote: “The electric chair and the firing squad are antiquated, barbaric methods of execution that virtually all American jurisdictions have left behind.”

Jon Ozmint, the former director of South Carolina's Department of Corrections, spoke in Moore’s favour and told VICE that his punishment is ‘far out of proportion to any other death penalty case he’s seen’.

Kaye Hearn, an associate justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, echoed: “The death penalty should be reserved for those who commit the most heinous crimes in our society, and I do not believe Moore’s crimes rise to that level.”

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]