COLUMBIA, S.C. - A South Carolina inmate, Richard Moore, who is scheduled to be executed in under a month is asking for a federal judge to transfer the power to grant clemency in his case away from the governor.
South Carolina state law grants the governor the sole right to spare a death row inmate's life, and Gov. Henry McMaster’s lawyers say he intends to retain it.
Moore's attorneys argue McMaster cannot fairly consider the inmate's request to reduce his death sentence to life without parole because for eight years, starting in 2003, McMaster was the state's attorney general and oversaw attorneys who successfully fought to uphold Moore’s death sentence. They say that the decision should instead be given to a parole board.
“For Moore to receive clemency, McMaster would have to renounce years of his own work and that of his former colleagues in the Office of the Attorney General,” the attorneys wrote in asking a federal judge to pause the execution until the matter can be fully resolved.
According to Moore's attorneys in court papers filed Monday, McMaster had previously stated in 2022 that he had no intention to commute Moore's sentence.
A hearing on Moore’s request is scheduled for Tuesday in federal court in Columbia.
Moore is facing the death penalty for the fatal 1999 shooting of Spartanburg County store clerk James Mahoney. According to the investigation, Moore went into the store unarmed to rob it, and the two ended up in a shootout after Moore was able to take one of Mahoney’s guns. Moore was wounded, while Mahoney died from a bullet to the chest.
Moore did not call 911. Instead, his blood droplets were found on Mahoney as he stepped over the clerk and stole money from the register.
Attorneys for Moore say that he is an ideal candidate for ending up with a life sentence because he is now a mentor for his fellow inmates.
“Over the past 20 years, Moore has worked to make up for his tragic mistakes by being a loving and supportive father, grandfather, and friend. He has an exemplary prison record,” they wrote.