The South Carolina Department of Corrections’ Columbia prisons complex for executions, as seen from the witness room. The firing squad chair (left) was added following a 2021 state law that made death by firing squad an option. The electric chair is under the cover. A South Carolina inmate scheduled for execution argued this week that the state governor can’t fairly decide whether to commute his sentence, since he was the state’s chief prosecutor who fought to keep the condemned on death row. (South Carolina Department of Corrections)
This story originally appeared on South Carolina Daily Gazette .
A South Carolina inmate scheduled for execution argues Gov. Henry McMaster can’t fairly decide whether to commute his sentence, since he was the state’s chief prosecutor who fought to keep the condemned on death row.
The final decision on whether Richard Moore lives or dies should instead go to the state’s pardon and parole board, his attorneys argued in a lawsuit filed in federal court Monday. Moore’s attorneys also asked the court to halt his Nov. 1 execution in order to hear out the lawsuit.