Hours away from execution, South Carolina man appeals to the governor for mercy

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina is scheduled to kill death row inmate Richard Moore by injection. Moore has one last chance to avoid death on Friday evening. Moore’s lawyers have filed a clemency request to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to reduce his sentence to life in prison for the 1999 killing of a Spartanburg store clerk during a shootout. Three jurors, the trial judge, a former state prison director and a number of relatives and pastors all say Moore is remorseful and is making a difference with inmates in prison. Moore’s lawyers also say it isn’t fair there were no African Americans on the jury that sentenced him to death. Moore is Black.