{"id":149890,"date":"2022-04-16T15:01:02","date_gmt":"2022-04-16T19:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=149890"},"modified":"2022-04-16T15:01:02","modified_gmt":"2022-04-16T19:01:02","slug":"south-carolina-death-row-inmate-richard-moore-chooses-firing-squad-over-electric-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/south-carolina-death-row-inmate-richard-moore-chooses-firing-squad-over-electric-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina death row inmate Richard Moore chooses firing squad over electric chair"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A\u00a0South Carolina prisoner on death row\u00a0has elected to be executed by firing squad rather than the electric chair at the end of this month, according to court documents filed Friday.<\/p>

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Richard Bernard Moore, 57, also became the first prisoner in the state forced to choose his form of capital punishment. A year-old law made the electric chair the default method, but allowed inmates the option to be shot.<\/p>\n

The prisoner has been on death row for decades following his conviction for the 1999 murder of a Spartanburg store clerk. He was scheduled to be killed via lethal injection in 2020 but officials\u00a0could not secure the lethal injection drugs\u00a0needed for the execution.<\/p>

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Richard Bernard Moore is scheduled to be killed by three armed prison employees on April 29, 2022, for the 1999 murder of a store clerk.<\/figcaption>
South Carolina Dept. of Corrections via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moore is now set to be gunned down by three prison workers with rifles on April 29, officials said. He would be only the fourth American to be executed by a firing squad since 1976.<\/p>

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Moore\u2019s lawyers had asked the state\u2019s Supreme Court to postpone his death while two other courts review the legality of the capital punishment.<\/p>\n

The attorneys argue that being forced to choose between a firing squad and the electric chair amounts to \u201ccruel and unusual punishment\u201d and allege South Carolina isn\u2019t trying hard enough to get the deadly drugs needed for lethal injection.<\/p>

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