Jurors have reportedly done a u-turn just hours before Richard Moore's death row execution.
The inmate, 59, was convicted of the murder of store clerk, James Mahoney, 40, in South Carolina, US, in 1999.
Moore, who grew up outside of Detroit, was also convicted of armed robbery, despite having never been armed.
His sentence to death has remained a controversial one, after his lawyers and family argued that Moore, who is black, was the first person in the state in modern times to be convicted by a jury with no African Americans.
Richard Moore, 59, is sentenced to death in South Carolina (NBC)
Moore's attorney Lindsey Vann said: “He’s very remorseful and sorry for the horrible, tragic decisions he made in his life. But he spent the past 20 years really trying to make up for that by loving the people he still has in his life.
“I’m really struck by the image that I’ve had of Richard’s trial where there’s a white prosecutor, white judge, white defense attorneys, an all-white jury and he’s the only person in the room who is African American and he’s being judged by a jury who has no one who looks like him.”
The Daily Star also reports that there was no CCTV footage when the fatal shooting took place, and investigators were only relying on the account of one witness in the store.
Now, Moore's execution was scheduled via lethal injection in South Carolina at 10pm this evening (1 November), but the outlet reports that two jurors are pleading with Republican Governor Henry McMaster to have his sentence reduced to life without parole.
But according to the Washington Post, no governor in the last 44 executions in the state has granted clemency.
Moore is facing the death penalty for murdering store clerk James Mahoney in 1999 (SC Department of Corrections)
“Clemency is a matter of grace, a matter of mercy. There is no standard. There is no real law on it,” McMaster told reporters.
The inmate’s son, Lyndall Moore, has also hit out against his father's sentence, AP reports.
He said: “He’s a human being who made mistakes.
“And this particular mistake led to the death of another human being. But his sentence is completely disproportionate to the actual crime.
“He’s not some menacing figure. He’s just a regular dude.
“He’s had a lot of time to think about, to reflect on what’s gotten him to this point. He’s very clearly, very obviously regretful of everything.”
Speaking in 2022, Moore told The Post and Courier: “I am not the same person I was the night I took Mr. Mahoney’s life.
“I have grown.
“I feel as though I still have a story to tell.”
English (US) ·