A death row inmate has been given three execution options as the deadline for him to make a decision has arrived.
Richard Moore, 59, is facing the death penalty for murdering store clerk, James Mahoney, 40, in South Carolina, US, in 1999.
Prosecutors said Mahoney was a family man who worked with some disabilities.
However, lawyers are arguing against the death row conviction on the grounds that Moore, who is black, was the first in the state, in modern times, to be convicted by a jury with no African Americans.
Richard Moore, 59, is sentenced to death in South Carolina (NBC)
Today (18 October) is the day Moore must decide how he wants to be executed on 1 November.
He has to choose between a firing squad, the electric chair, or a lethal injection.
If Moore does not make a decision by today, state law suggests that he will be electrocuted by default.
This comes after South Carolina ended a 13-year pause on executions with the lethal injection of Freddie Owens last month.
The inmate’s son, Lyndall Moore, has since hit out against his father’s sentence, as reported by AP.
He said: “He’s a human being who made mistakes.
“And this particular mistake led to the death of another human being. But his sentence is completely disproportionate to the actual crime.
“He’s not some menacing figure. He’s just a regular dude. … He’s had a lot of time to think about, to reflect on what’s gotten him to this point. He’s very clearly, very obviously regretful of everything.”
Moore is facing the death penalty for murdering store clerk James Mahoney in 1999 (SC Department of Corrections)
Moore’s attorney Lindsey Vann added: “He’s very remorseful and sorry for the horrible, tragic decisions he made in his life. But he spent the past 20 years really trying to make up for that by loving the people he still has in his life.
“I’m really struck by the image that I’ve had of Richard’s trial where there’s a white prosecutor, white judge, white defense attorneys, an all-white jury and he’s the only person in the room who is African American and he’s being judged by a jury who has no one who looks like him.”
Meanwhile, Spartanburg County solicitor, Trey Gowdy, argued: “The hopes and the goals and the dreams of a 40-year-old man are coming out of his heart, and the cold, wet drops of blood of a career criminal are dripping on his back.
“There is a time for mercy, ladies and gentlemen. That time has come and gone.”
Speaking in 2022, Moore told The Post and Courier: “I am not the same person I was the night I took Mr. Mahoney’s life.
“I have grown. I feel as though I still have a story to tell.”
