South Carolina executes man despite calls for clemency by judge

 The 21st Execution of 2024

Richard Moore was executed Friday, November 1, 2024 by lethal injection, despite calls for clemency from three jurors and the judge who sent him to death row 23 years ago, reported the South Carolina Daily Gazette.

Gov. Henry McMaster denied Moore’s request for clemency. The governor was Moore’s last chance at avoiding the death chamber after the U.S. Supreme Court declined Thursday to halt the execution.

“I have carefully reviewed and thoughtfully considered the application, matters of record, including transcripts, briefs, and judicial decisions,” he wrote in his denial, noting he’d also spoken to family members of Moore’s victim, James Mahoney.

Moore was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m., 23 minutes after pentobarbital began flowing into his arm.

Moore kept his eyes closed and his face pointed toward the ceiling. He took several deep, loud breaths that sounded almost like snores, followed by short, shallow breaths. He seemed to stop moving around 6:04 p.m., said the three media witnesses who watched the execution.

He did not show any outward signs of pain, they said.

Moore’s attorney, Lindsey Vann with Justice 360, cried and held a small cross. His spiritual advisor held her hand after Moore appeared to take his last breath. Two unnamed members of Mahoney’s family and 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette watched stoically, media witnesses said.

Moore, 59, was sentenced to death in 2001 for killing Mahoney, a gas station clerk, in Spartanburg County two years prior. He was the second death row inmate to die since executions resumed in September.

In his final statement, Moore apologized to Mahoney’s family and told his children he loved them.

“To the family of Mr. Mahoney, I am deeply sorry for the pain and sorrow I caused you all,” Moore’s last statement read, said prison spokeswoman Chrysti Shain. “To my children and granddaughters, I love you, and I am so proud of you. Thank you for the joy you have brought to my life. To all of my family and friends, new and old, thank you for your love and support.”

Media witnesses did not hear his statement read.

 Two jurors, the trial judge, and the state’s former corrections director were among more than two dozen people who wrote letters to McMaster as part of a clemency application, submitted Wednesday, asking the governor to instead give Moore life in prison.

A third juror joined their calls Friday, saying Moore “appears to be a positive influence on his peers” while in prison, according to an email provided by Moore’s attorneys.

“I understand that Mr. Moore has shown much regret, and changed his life,” juror Jennifer Stone wrote. “I also see that he has children that love him and want him in their life.”

Four more inmates have exhausted their appeals processes, making them eligible for death warrants. Executions in the state are expected to continue every five weeks through March.

Moore entered Nikki’s Speedy Mart in Spartanburg around 3 a.m. on Sept. 16, 1999. He went first to the store’s cooler, then to the counter, where 42-year-old clerk Mahoney was watching the news for information on a hurricane, according to court documents.

Terry Hadden, a regular customer playing video poker nearby, testified during Moore’s trial that he turned after hearing Mahoney say, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Hadden, who was blind in one eye, told jurors that when he turned, he saw Moore holding both of Mahoney’s hands in one of his own, with a gun in the other hand.

What happened between Moore and Mahoney that night remains unclear. Prosecutors said Moore, who entered the store unarmed, took the gun the store owner kept behind the counter. Moore, who had just lost his job, wanted to rob the store to get money to buy crack cocaine, prosecutors argued.

Moore didn’t testify at his original trial, but in a later appeals hearing, he said he and Mahoney got into an argument because Moore was a few cents short on his purchase. Mahoney took out his gun, which he kept in his waistband for protection. Moore managed to get the other gun from behind the counter and shot Mahoney in self-defense, his attorneys have said.

Moore fired at Hadden, who fell to the floor and played dead, Hadden testified. He didn’t see what happened next. At some point, Mahoney shot Moore in the left arm, and Moore shot Mahoney through the heart.

Before he left, Moore stepped over Mahoney’s body and took a blue vinyl bag containing $1,408, according to court documents.

Moore, still bleeding, drove to his drug dealer’s house and asked to buy cocaine, or for his dealer, George Gibson, to take him to the hospital, Gibson testified. When Gibson refused, Moore drove off.

On his way out, he hit a pole, attracting the attention of a police officer. The officer came over, and Moore got out of the car, allegedly saying, “I did it. I did it. I give up. I give up,” the officer later testified.

The stolen money, covered in blood, sat in the front seat of Moore’s truck, alongside an open pocket knife, the officer testified.

Moore, who is Black, was convicted two years later, in 2001, by a jury with no Black members.

His attorneys have argued repeatedly and unsuccessfully that prosecutors struck potential Black jurors because of their race.

The state’s prosecutors have maintained the attorneys in that trial did not consider race in removing jurors. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Thursday in an order declining to halt Moore’s execution.

Moore’s attorneys claim they can prove Mahoney fired the first shot, which struck the wall above Hadden. The placement of shell casings found at the crime scene supports Moore firing in self-defense, private forensic investigator Robert Tressel said in a statement included with Moore’s clemency application.

But no court ever agreed to hear that evidence because the rules around appeals are so strict, said Vann, Moore’s attorney.

Retired Circuit Court Judge Gary Clary, who oversaw Moore’s 2001 trial and death sentence, called for Moore to receive clemency in a letter submitted to the governor Wednesday.

“In no way do I quibble with the jury’s verdict, and I make no excuse on behalf of Mr. Moore for his actions that resulted in the death of James Mahoney,” wrote Clary, a Republican who was elected to the state House after he retired from the bench.

“Over the years, I have studied the case of each person who resides on death row in South Carolina,” his letter continued. “Richard Bernard Moore’s case is unique, and after years of thought and reflection, I humbly ask that you grant executive clemency to Mr. Moore as an act of grace and mercy.”

Clary, who represented part of Pickens County for three terms, did not elaborate on what he felt made Moore’s case unique.

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