South Carolina death row inmate Richard Moore has decided to be executed by firing squad instead of electric chair despite legally objecting to both forms of execution, local news outlet The State reported on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2022) South Carolina death row inmate Richard Moore has decided to be executed by firing squad instead of electric chair despite legally objecting to both forms of execution, local news outlet The State reported on Friday.
Moore, a 57-year old who has spent the last 21 years on death row for a murder committed during a convenience store robbery in 1999, was forced by the court to pick between the two options due to the inaccessibility of the drugs used for lethal injection.
"I believe this election is forcing me to choose between two unconstitutional methods of execution, and I do not intend to waive any challenges to electrocution or firing squad by making an election," Moore reportedly said in a statement accompanying the decision.
Moore chose to be executed by a firing squad because he more strongly opposes execution by electrocution, the statement said. The firing squad will consist of three volunteers.
Moore is scheduled to be executed on April 19 in the first execution in South Carolina since 2011. However, attorneys representing Moore continue to challenge South Carolina's execution methods, arguing that they cannot retroactively apply the firing squad option to his case, since it was only allowed by state law starting in 2021.
Moore's attorneys in court filings have also called both the electric chair and firing squads "antiquated, barbaric methods of execution."
The state law was passed in 2021 due to an inability to obtain the drugs necessary for lethal injection executions. Pharmaceutical manufacturers in recent years have been reluctant to provide states with the drugs.
South Carolina is one of four states in the United States that offers death row inmates the option of execution by firing squad. There are 35 men currently on death row in South Carolina.
