Death row inmate in US state of South Carolina chooses firing squad

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - An inmate in the US state of South Carola has chosen to be executed by firing squad, according to court documents made public on Friday

Richard Moore, 57, was convicted in 2001of multiple crimes, including murder, for a robbery two years prior that led to the death of a store employee. Moore did not dispute his guilt, according to the State, a South Carolina newspaper.

Under a state law passed in 2021, South Carolina death row inmates can choose their means of execution from the electric chair, to firing squads and lethal injection. The electric chair is the state's selected default method.

The state's Department of Corrections said on March 18 that the Capital Punishment Facility at Broad River Correctional Institution was fully overhauled to perform executions by firing squad.

It said the facility's death chamber was renovated to include a chair in which an inmate will sit if they choose to be executed by firing squad, and bullet-resistant glass was installed between the witness room and the death chamber. The chair, it said, is metal and fitted with restraints.

South Carolina, like many other states where the death penalty is legal, has said it faces difficulties in procuring the drug cocktail used to put inmates to death. Many manufacturers have refused to sell the drugs for lethal injections.

The director of the state Department of Corrections said in court documents that "despite diligent efforts, the Department has been unable to obtain or acquire the necessary drugs for execution by lethal injection."

Moore said he does not "believe or concede that either the firing squad or electrocution is legal or constitutional," but said the Department of Corrections is "forcing me to elect my method of execution."

"I do not believe the Department should be allowed to certify that a statutorily prescribed method, such as lethal injection, is unavailable without demonstrating a good faith effort to make it available," he said.

"However, I more strongly oppose death by electrocution. Because the Department says I must choose between firing squad or electrocution or be executed by electrocution I will elect firing squad," he added.

Moore is scheduled to be executed on April 29, according to CBS News.