South Carolina death row inmate Richard Moore has more than 20 people asking the governor to spare his life in a clemency petition. The petition was filed just two days before he is scheduled to die by lethal injection.
Moore was convicted for the murder of James Mahoney after a shootout at a Spartanburg convenience store in September 1999. Included in the petition are pleas to reduce his punishment to life in prison from two jurors and the judge from his original trial.
A former director of the state prison system says Moore deeply regrets his crime and is a force for good behind bars both for fellow inmates and his children and grandchildren.
No governor has offered clemency to any of the 44 inmates executed in South Carolina since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to resume in 1976.
McMaster has promised to review Moore's petition thoroughly and said as is customary he won't announce his decision until minutes before Friday's scheduled 6PM execution.
