South Carolina Supreme Court Temporarily Halts State’s First Firing Squad Execution

Topline

The South Carolina Supreme Court temporarily halted the scheduled execution of death row inmate Richard Moore on Wednesday, blocking the state from carrying out what would have been its first execution by firing squad.

Key Facts

The state’s Supreme Court order, signed by all five justices, did not give a reason for the temporary hold, though the justices said a more detailed order “will follow.”

Moore, 57, on Friday chose a firing squad instead of an electric chair for his method of execution, after he was required by a new state law to choose or the state would pick electrocution for him.

Moore’s attorneys asked the state Supreme Court to issue a stay to delay his execution until pending litigation decides whether his two options for executions amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

Moore, who was convicted of murder in 2001, said in a court filing he more strongly opposed electrocution, but stressed he believed he was forced “to choose between two unconstitutional methods of execution.”

Following a decade-long pause in executions in South Carolina due to legal issues obtaining the drugs needed for lethal injections, the state passed a law last year that makes electrocution the default method of execution, but also allows three volunteer prison workers to fire rifles toward the inmate’s heart, in the case a prisoner chooses the firing squad.

An attorney representing Moore did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.

Key Background

Moore was found guilty of murder after he killed a convenience store clerk during an attempted robbery in 1999, though Moore claims he acted in self-defense. The Associated Press reports Moore, who was unarmed when he entered the store, got into a fight with the clerk, who pulled out a pistol. Moore wrestled the pistol from the clerk, who pulled out a second gun, leading to an exchange of gunfire that left Moore shot in the arm and the clerk dead from a gunshot wound to the chest. Moore’s attorneys have claimed he should not have been charged with a death-penalty offense in the first place, arguing he couldn’t have planned to kill anyone during the robbery because he was not armed when he entered the store.

Crucial Quote

Kaye Hearn, an associate justice on South Carolina’s Supreme Court, issued a rare dissent in Moore’s case earlier this month while ruling on whether Moore’s sentence was proportional to other death sentences for similar crimes. “The death penalty should be reserved for those who commit the most heinous crimes in our society, and I do not believe Moore’s crimes rise to that level,” Hearn said.

What To Watch For

Two court decisions. A state circuit court is deciding the constitutionality of Moore’s options for executions, and Moore’s lawyers have also indicated they plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh whether Moore’s death-penalty punishment was disproportionate to others charged with similar crimes.

Surprising Fact

Moore’s scheduled execution was set for April 29, and would have been the first execution by firing squad in the U.S. since 2010, when a Utah prisoner faced a five-person firing squad. Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah and South Carolina are the only states to authorize executions by firing squads.

Big Number

$53,400. That’s how much the South Carolina Department of Corrections said it spent on renovations to the state’s death chamber to restart executions. The state has not executed an inmate in over 10 years due to issues obtaining the drugs needed to complete lethal injections, leading lawmakers to pass a law last year reinstating firing squads.

Further Reading

S. Carolina Prisoner Chooses Firing Squad Over Electric Chair As He Challenges Law That Forces Death Row Inmates To Pick (Forbes)

The Return of the Firing Squad? (The Marshall Project)