US judges refuse to stop execution of South Carolina inmate who alleged racial bias

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stop the execution of a South Carolina inmate. Richard Moore a black inmate whose lawyers say he is the only person on the state’s death row convicted by a non-black jury.

There was no controversy in the summary order passed by the high court.

Moore is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Friday by lethal injection at a Columbia prison. The only chance to save his life is if Republican Gov. Henry McMaster decides to commute Moore’s sentence to life in prison. No governor of South Carolina has pardon granted in 44 executions in the state over the past 50 years.

Moore, 59, shot and killed a convenience store clerk in Spartanburg in 1999. Prosecutors said Moore entered the store to rob it and was unarmed but took a gun from the clerk, who then pulled out a second gun. They shot at each other and Moore was shot in the arm. Clerk James Mahoney was shot in the chest.

Moore said he came to buy cigarettes and beer and argued with Mahoney when he was 11 or 12 cents short. Moore said Mahoney pointed the gun at him and Moore took it away. The employee then shot him with a second weapon, and he shot back, Moore said.

After Mahoney was shot, Moore took about $1,400 from the store and left without calling for help.

Moore’s lawyers said no one on death row in South Carolina began his crime unarmed or killed someone in possible self-defense.

They also said Moore is the only inmate in the state convicted by a jury that did not include African Americans. At the time of the 2001 trial, about 20% of Spartanburg County residents were black.

Moore had two deadlines have been postponed as the state dealt with problems that led to a 13-year pause in executions, including the refusal of companies to sell lethal injections to the state. This problem was solved by the adoption of the secrecy law.

Moore would be second prisoner executed since the state reopened its death row in September. Four more people are unable to appeal, and the state appears poised to execute them in five week intervals through spring. If Moore dies on Friday, 30 inmates will remain on South Carolina’s death row.

On Wednesday, Moore’s lawyers submitted a clemency petition to the governor that was more than 40 pages long. letters begging for mercy. The letter writers included two jurors and the judge involved in the first trial, as well as a former director of the state prison system, six childhood friends, five relatives and several former lawyers who said Moore was still checking in on their families after they couldn’t hold him. from death row.

Moore is a born-again Christian who mentors fellow inmates on segregated death row, and if his sentence is reduced to life without parole, his good influence could spread to many more inmates, his lawyers say. According to the clemency petition, he remains involved in the lives of his children behind bars and now has grandchildren whom he calls regularly.

Moore is remorseful for his crime and would apologize to Mahoney’s family if he had the chance, his lawyers said.

“Although he could never make up for the life he lost, he was committed to doing everything he could to improve the lives of those around him while improving himself,” attorney Lindsey Vann wrote in documents sent to the governor. “Through prayer and study he became a more faithful Christian; Thanks to constant communication and love, he became a better father (and now grandfather); and through all this he has acquired a maturity and wisdom that makes him an asset to the prison system.”

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