By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A black American on death row has been executed after the governor of South Carolina rejected a plea to commute the sentence to life imprisonment.
Richard Moore was put to death despite several appeal for mercy that included three jurors and the judge from his original trial.
Moore, now 59, had shot and killed a shop attendant, James Mahoney in a Spartanburg store in September 1999.
Moore was unarmed but wrestled a gun from his victim when it was pointed at him and shot him in the chest.
Mahoney shot him in the arm with a second gun while bleeding from the injury.
Moore’s lawyers said the incident happened following a row that ensued when he was short of 12 cents to make payment for the item he wanted to buy.
He made away with $1,400 (£1,083) and prosecutors said Moore intended to rob the shop from the beginning and also fired at a customer.
Lawyers asked the Republican Governor of South Carolina, Henry McMaster to commute the sentence due to Moore’s clean prison record and willingness to mentor other inmates.
They also argued that it was unjust to execute someone for an incident that could be seen as self-defence; that no one else on death row started their crime unarmed and with no intention to kill; and that he was the only black person on death row convicted by a jury without any African-Americans.
Their pleas were joined by letters from three jurors in the case, the judge, a former state prison director and Moore’s family and friends.
They said he was a reformed character who had turned to God and helped keep peace in prison, and that a drug addiction had influenced his action during the fatal shooting.
However, the governor declined the request.
No South Carolina governor has ever reversed a death sentence.
Moore died by lethal injection after being given an option to choose how he wanted his execution carried out.
Media witnesses said Moore’s eyes were closed and his head pointed at the ceiling when Friday’s execution began at 6.01pm local time – and that his lawyer of 10 years, Lindsey Vann, was crying.
They said Moore took some deep breaths over the next minute, followed by shallow breaths, until 6.04pm when his breathing stopped.
Two members of James Mahoney’s family watched as well as a lawyer who was on the prosecution team that convicted Moore.
The execution had been postponed twice as the state worked through issues that led to a 13-year pause in the death penalty between 2011 and September 2024.
