Associated PressAssociated Press
This photo provided by South Carolina Dept. of Corrections shows Richard Moore. Moore, an inmate set to die either by a firing squad or in the electric chair later this month is asking the state Supreme Court to halt his execution, Friday, April 8, 2022. Lawyers for 57-year-old Richard Moore say he shouldn't face execution until judges can determine if either method is cruel and unusual punishment. ( South Carolina Dept. of Corrections via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The first man to be executed in South Carolina in more than a decade decided to die by firing squad instead of the electric chair, according to court documents.

The first state prisoner to face the choice of execution methods is Richard Bernard Moore, 57, who is the first state prisoner to face the choice of execution methods.

Moore was sentenced to death for the 1999 killing of a convenience store clerk. He would be the first person put to death in the state since 2011.

The decadelong break prompted the new law because of an inability to procure the drugs needed to carry out lethal injections.

Moore said in a written statement that he didn't concede that either method was legal or constitutional, but that he preferred the firing squad because he was required to make a choice.

Moore said in the statement that he would not waive any challenges to electrocution or firing squad by making an election, and that he believed this election was forcing him to choose between two unconstitutional methods of execution.

Moore's attorneys have asked the state Supreme Court to delay his death while another court decides if either method is cruel and unusual punishment. The attorneys argue that prisons officials aren't trying hard enough to get the lethal injection drugs, instead forcing prisoners to choose between two barbaric methods.

The state Supreme Court is being asked to delay the execution so the U.S. Supreme Court can review the death sentence. The justices denied the appeal last week.

Last month, the state corrections agency said it had finished developing protocols for firing squad executions and had finished renovations on the death chamber in Columbia, installing a metal chair with a rectangular opening. In the case of a firing squad execution, three volunteer prison workers will train their rifles on the condemned prisoner.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, South Carolina is one of eight states that still use the electric chair.

35 men are on South Carolina's death row. After prison officials said they couldn't obtain lethal injection drugs, the state delayed the execution of Moore in 2020.

Moore wrestled a pistol away from Mahoney during his 2001 trial after he entered the store looking for money to support his cocaine habit.

There was a gunfight after Mahoney pulled a second gun. Moore shot Mahoney in the chest. Moore left a trail of blood in the store as he tried to get money.

Moore claimed that he acted in self-defense after Mahoney drew the first gun.

Moore's supporters argue that his crime does not rise to the level of a death penalty offense. Moore couldn't have killed someone when he walked in because he didn't have a gun.

Jeffrey Motts was the last person to be executed in South Carolina.

There is a

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  • A judge ruled Thursday that a lawsuit brought by four death row inmates challenging South Carolina's execution methods can move forward as the state attempts to carry out its first execution in more than a decade. The lawyers for the prisoners requested that the judge closely examine the officials claims that they can't get lethal injection drugs, leaving the electric chair and the firing squad as the only options for capital punishment. Attorneys for the inmates argued that dying by gunshot or electrocution would be a brutal process which violates a state ban on cruel, corporal and unusual punishments, and that prison officials have shown little proof they can get the drugs needed to carry out lethal injections.

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