As his execution date looms, South Carolina man appeals to the governor for mercy

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Richard Moore, who is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Friday in South Carolina for the fatal shooting of a convenience store clerk in 1999, has one final chance to have his life spared.

Moore's lawyers have asked Republican Gov. Henry McMaster for clemency, which no governor in South Carolina has granted in the previous 44 executions in the state since the death penalty restarted in 1976. Governors in 24 other states have done so.

Two jurors who condemned Moore to death in 2001 also have sent letters asking McMaster to change his sentence to life without parole. They are joined by a former state prison director, Moore's trial judge, his son and daughter, a half-dozen childhood friends and several pastors.

They all say Moore, 59, is a changed man who loves God, dotes on his new grandchildren the best he can, helps guards keep the peace and mentors other prisoners after his addiction to drugs clouded his judgement and led to the shootout in which James Mahoney was killed, according to the clemency petition.

Moore is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. at a prison in Columbia. He has had two execution dates postponed as the state sorted through issues that created a 13-year pause in the death penalty, including companies' refusal to sell the state lethal injection drugs, a hurdle that was solved by passing a secrecy law.

Moore would be the second inmate executed in South Carolina since it resumed executions. Four more are out of appeals and the state appears ready to put them to death in five-week intervals through the spring. If Moore dies Friday, there would be 30 people remaining death row.

The governor said he is carefully reviewing everything sent by Moore's lawyers and, as is customary, will wait until minutes before the execution starts to announce his decision once he hears by phone that all appeals are finished.

“Clemency is a matter of grace, a matter of mercy. There is no standard. There is no real law on it,” McMaster told reporters Thursday.

In an interview for a video that accompanied his clemency petition, Moore expressed remorse for the killing of Mahoney.

“This is definitely part of my life I wish I could change. I took a life. I took someone’s life. I broke the family of the deceased,” Moore said. “I pray for the forgiveness of that particular family.”

Prosecutors and Mahoney's relatives have not spoken publicly in the weeks leading up to the execution. In the past, family members have said they suffered deeply and want justice to be served.

Moore’s lawyers say his original attorneys did not analyze the crime scene carefully and left unchallenged prosecutors' contention that Moore, who came into the store unarmed, fired at a customer and that his intention from the start was a robbery.

According to their account, the clerk pulled a gun on Moore after the two argued because he was 12 cents short for what he wanted to buy.

Moore said he wrestled the gun from Mahoney's hand and the clerk pulled a second weapon. Moore was shot in the arm and fired back, hitting Mahoney in the chest. Moore then went behind the counter and stole about $1,400.

No one else on South Carolina’s death row started their crime unarmed and with no intention to kill, Moore’s current attorneys say.

Jon Ozmint, a former prosecutor who was director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections from 2003 to 2011 and who has added his voice to those seeking clemency, said Moore's case is not the worst-of-the-worst kind of crime that would usually prompt a death penalty case.

There are plenty of people who were not sentenced to death but committed much more heinous crimes, Ozmint said, citing the example of Todd Kohlhepp, who was given a life sentence after pleading guilty to killing seven people including a woman he raped and tortured for days.

Lawyers for Moore, who is Black, also say his trial was not fair. There were no African Americans on the jury even though 20% of Spartanburg County residents were Black.

Moore, a born-again Christian, can continue to mentor and positively influence fellow inmates if his sentence is reduced to life without parole, Ozmint said.

“He wants to continue his work of having a positive impact on everyone around him he can reach,” Ozmint said in the clemency request video. “I hope that Gov. McMaster will give Richard the rest of his life to pour into others.”

Moore’s son and daughter said he has remained engaged in their lives. He once asked them about school work and gave advice in letters. He now has grandchildren whom he sees on video calls. Several letter writers mentioned the harm to them if Moore is removed from their lives.

“Even though my father has been away, that still has not stopped him from making a big impact on my life, a positive impact,” said Alexandria Moore, who joined the Air Force at her father’s encouragement.

She said her 5-year-old daughter asks “is that Pa Pa?” when the phone rings at their home at a miliary base in Spain.

“He is a great man, and I want her to know her grandfather as the man that he is,” she said.