Death Row man to be useless inside hours regardless that ‘the gun was pulled on him’

A man on Death Row convicted of murder during an armed robbery, despite having never been armed, is set to be executed within hours.

South Carolina man Richard Moore, 59, is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection on Friday but his children are begging for clemency because advocates and even a state supreme court justice say he should not be executed due to the circumstances surrounding the case. They say there are serious concerns of racial bias in the convenience store armed robbery murder in which Moore, a black man, was convicted by an all-white jury and handed the death sentence.

Despite his conviction, Moore was never actually armed when he entered the store back in 1999. White store worker James Mahoney did, however, pull a gun on Moore – to which they then scuffled and both men ended up shot, Moore in the arm and Mahoney fatally in the chest.

Lawyers acting on behalf of Moore say he was simply defending himself and that no one in South Carolina has been executed for a robbery that began unarmed under the modern death penalty in the last 50 years, reports Guardian. They are pleading that his conviction came about as a result of “discriminating proceedings” and that his sentence violated legal standards stating executions be reserved for the most serious murders.

Moore’s attorneys said he grew up outside of Detroit, Michigan, and struggled with a crack cocaine addition from a young age. Circumstances surrounding the September 16, 1999, fatal shooting remain unclear because there was no CCTV footage, with investigators relying on the account of one witness inside the convenience store who claimed he heard an argument. He said he saw Moore with his hands on the worker’s hands before Moore pointed a gun and fired in his direction. The witness, who was not shot, said he played dead and did not see the rest of the altercation but that he heard further gunshots.

Moore has claimed he tried to buy something from the worker but didn’t have enough money. He said when he refused to leave, the shop clerk pulled his gun out, which then prompted a struggle between the pair. Lindsey Vann, one of his attorneys, said: “He has always maintained that he did not go in intending to rob the store or kill anyone and this was simply a reaction to being threatened.”

Crime scene evidence was reviewed by a forensic investigator and in 2017 they concluded the first shot was fired while the pair were struggling over the gun. It’s never been suggested that Moore was armed when he arrived in the shop, despite his armed robbery conviction. However, shop worker Mahoney was known to carry a gun on his person and the store also had two firearms behind the counter.

Moore took cash from the store after the shooting but in 2021 his lawyers argued to the state supreme court that his death sentence was disproportionate. There has been no comparable case of a deadly robbery that began unarmed across 183 people sentenced to death in the state since 1976, which is when capital punishment was reinstated.

While the court rejected his lawyers’ arguments, Justice Kaye Hearn said Moore’s sentence was “invalid” and “disproportionate”. They said it was “stunning” that prosecutors couldn’t identify a similar case, adding: “Richard Moore will be put to death for a sentence that I do not believe is legal.

“Moore’s case highlights many of the pitfalls endemic to the death penalty, beginning with the role race plays … Moore’s death sentence is a relic of a bygone era, where he was convicted by a jury comprised of eleven Caucasians and one Hispanic.” Moore’s attorneys say records actually reveal the Hispanic juror identified as white.

Justice Hearn further detailed “alarming” disparities in the Spartanburg county where Moore was prosecuted, adding that from 1985 to 2001 – out of 21 death sentence cases – all but one involved white victims. Across eight years prosecutors sought the death penalty in 43% of cases involving white victims, but none whatsoever with black victims.

Moore’s legal team recently argued in a US supreme court petition that prosecutors in his case “unlawfully” removed two black jurors from the jury. Moore is now the only remaining on South Carolina’s Death Row to have been convicted by an all-white jury.

Trey Gowdy, a Fox News host who previously served in Congress leading investigations into Hillary Clinton, was one of Moore’s prosecutors in 2001. He said in an email that his predecessor had initially chosen to seek the death penalty because “murder committed during the commission of a robbery” was “sufficient justification” for execution.

Moore’s son Lyndall, 30, told the Guardian: “He has always made an effort to be there for us and be a presence in our lives. He’s a human being. He made some mistakes, but he’s not a menace. He’s not a monster. There is no gain in allowing the state to take his life, it doesn’t make anything better … He’s a changed man. He deserves to keep living. We want him here.”

Up until last month South Carolina had not executed anyone in 13 years. Executions started with Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah, 46, who was killed despite the state’s lead witness saying he lied at trial and that Allah was in fact innocent. Missouri then executed Marcellus Williams days later even though prosecutors supported his wrongful conviction claims.

Robert Roberson, who is on Death Row in Texas, had his execution delayed earlier this month following protests into the ‘shaken baby syndrome’ case in which he was convicted. He has always maintained his innocence.

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