A federal judge has affirmed South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster’s exclusive authority to decide whether to grant clemency in his state’s upcoming execution, though he once said he had no intention of doing so.
The ruling, issued on Oct. 21 by U.S. Judge Mary Geiger Lewis of the District of South Carolina, is a setback for Richard Moore, a death row inmate seeking to have someone other than McMaster review his clemency application.
“The Court is confident ... Governor McMaster will give full, thoughtful, and careful consideration to any clemency petition filed by Moore, giving both comprehensive and individualized attention to the unique circumstances of his case,” Lewis wrote.
Moore, 59, is scheduled to be executed on Nov. 1. He was sentenced to death in 2001 for shooting and killing James Mahoney, a convenience store clerk, during a robbery two years prior.
Moore’s lawyers argued that McMaster, who successfully fought Moore’s appeals during his tenure as South Carolina’s chief prosecutor, could not act as a “fair and impartial decision-maker” in this case.
The defense also highlighted McMaster’s remarks in 2022, in which the governor told reporters he had “no intention” to commute Moore’s sentence.
Moore’s lawyers asked the court to put his execution on hold and designate clemency power to the state parole board, which handles clemency in non-capital cases, or another neutral party, such as Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.
Lewis ruled that McMaster’s previous service as attorney general should not disqualify him from making a clemency decision in this case, nor should his previous statement.
“Governor McMaster’s statement was made nearly two-and-a-half years ago,” she wrote. “At the time, Moore had yet to file a petition proposing any grace-oriented grounds for clemency, and the only basis upon which Governor McMaster could evaluate Moore’s sentence was through his knowledge of Moore’s exhaustive legal proceedings, which had thus far been unfavorable to Moore and served only to reaffirm his sentence.”
Moore’s lawyers and social justice activists have been alleging that racial bias affected his sentencing given that Moore, who is black, was the last person in South Carolina to be sentenced to death by an all-white jury, especially when the victim, Mahoney, was white. They also noted that Moore was initially unarmed but killed Mahoney with a gun already in the store, arguing this indicates a lack of premeditation.
South Carolina’s highest court did not accept those arguments as grounds to overturn Moore’s sentence.
This year marks the first time South Carolina resumed executions following a 13-year pause that state officials attributed to difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs. If clemency is not granted, Moore would become the second individual put to death by the state this year.
On Sept. 20, the state executed 46-year-old Freddie Owens, who allowed his lawyer to choose lethal injection over the firing squad or electric chair as his method of execution. McMaster did not grant Owens’s request for clemency.
No South Carolina governor has granted such a request since the U.S. Supreme Court revived capital punishment in 1976.
