Richard Moore Granted Stay Before April 29, 2022, Execution in South Carolina
Richard Moore, South Carolina
Updated: Monday, April 25, 2022
South Carolina planned to execute Richard Bernard Moore on Friday, April 29, 2022, at the Broad River Capital Punishment Facility at the Broad River Correctional Institute in Columbia, South Carolina. He execution has been stayed. Fifty-seven-year-old Richard is convicted of murdering Jamie Mahoney during a robbery on September 16, 1999. Richard has spent the last 20 years of South Carolina’s death row.
Richard was allegedly raised in a community that had a prevalence of drugs. He began abusing drugs during his youth. Before turning to robbery to support his drug habit, Richard performed well in the classroom and on the athletic field.
Around 3 am on September 16, 1999, Richard Moore walked into a Nikki’s convenience store in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Jamie Mahoney was the store clerk. Terry Hadden was also at the store, playing a video game. Terry heard Jamie yell, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” and turned toward the sound. Moore was holding both of Jamie’s hands and pointing a gun. Moore pointed the gun at Terry, telling him not to move. Terry fell to the floor and pretended to be dead after Moore fired in his direction. Terry heard several more shots fired, and then the bell at the door ring. He opened his eyes and saw a pickup truck leave the store.
Terry then went over to Jamie, who was lying face down, with a gun next to him. Terry called the police, however, Jamie died shortly after being shot through his heart. The store had also been robbed of $1,408.00. Moore allegedly needed the money to buy drugs, as he did not have enough money to buy drugs before the robbery.
Moore was found by police a short time later, approximately a mile and a half from the store. He was bleeding profusely from his left arm. As the police officer approached, Moore quickly confessed to the crime and surrendered himself without a fight. Police found the murder weapon nearby later that morning.
DNA evidence was found inside the store and on the murder weapon. Moore attempted to argue that he shot the store clerk, Jamie, out of self-defense, as Jamie pulled a gun on him first as the two argued over change for a purchase. Moore also claimed that Jamie shot him first. Further, Moore denied intentionally shooting at a customer, arguing that the gun simply went off during the struggle with Jamie. Moore was tried and convicted during a jury trial. He was sentenced to death.
South Carolina recently passed a law allowing for execution by firing squad. The Department of Corrections has now announced they have finished renovating the execution chamber and developing an execution protocol for a firing squad execution. Richard Moore will likely be able to choose between electrocution and a firing squad as his method of execution. If he declines to select a method, electrocution is the state’s default method of execution. Execution by lethal injection is also allowed in South Carolina, however, the state has not been able to obtain execution drugs in recent years, leading to the legislature changing the law. Richard was previously scheduled to be executed in 2020. That execution was stayed after the state was unable to obtain the necessary drugs.
The South Carolina Supreme Court granted a temporary stay of execution to Richard. Richard was the first inmate scheduled to be executed by firing squad in the state. In his request to halt his execution, Richard alleged that South Carolina had not made a “good faith effort” to locate lethal injection drugs. He also alleges that the other two methods of execution allowed by state law, the firing squad and electrocution, are both unconstitutional.
Pray for peace and healing for the family of Jamie Mahoney. Pray for peace and healing for Terry Hadden. Please pray that if Richard Moore is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason, that evidence will be provided before his execution. Pray that Richard may come to find peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
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