John Blume and Lindsey Vann, attorneys for Justice360 who represent Richard Moore, talk to reporters outside the federal courthouse in Columbia on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (Skylar Laird/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — A federal judge indicated Tuesday she’s unlikely to halt the state’s upcoming execution over arguments that Gov. Henry McMaster can’t fairly decide whether to grant an inmate clemency.
Attorneys for inmate Richard Moore asked a federal court to halt his Nov. 1 execution in order to hear out a new challenge. They claimed the governor is incapable of making an impartial decision because he was previously the state’s attorney general who successfully fought Moore’s appeals.
The last call on whether Moore’s sentence is commuted to life in prison should instead go to the state’s parole board, Moore’s attorneys argued.
But federal Judge Mary Geiger Lewis seemed skeptical of the attorneys’ arguments during Tuesday’s hearing. McMaster isn’t legally required to make an impartial decision, since he isn’t a judge overseeing a courtroom, Lewis repeatedly told Moore’s attorneys. As long as his decision isn’t arbitrary or impulsive, whatever decision he makes is entirely up to him, she said.