After 11 years of halting executions, Richard Moore, 57, who has spent over 20 years on death row, is scheduled to be executed in South Carolina this month, April 29th.  Moore was forced to make the decision to die by the state’s 110-year-old electric chair or a three-man firing squad, of which he chose firing squad. 

If Moore is executed as scheduled he will be the fourth person in the U.S. to die by firing squad in nearly 50 years.

Mr. Moore was convicted and sentenced to death for the alledged murder of a white male store owner by an all white jury (11 White and 1 Latino) during what was reported to be a robbery.  Mr. Moore did not own the gun, but a fight occurred and the owner of the store was killed during the incident. 

People of color have accounted for a disproportionate 43 % of total executions since 1976 and 55 % of those currently awaiting execution. Furthermore, as of October 2002, 12 people have been executed where the defendant was white and the murder victim black, compared with 178 black defendants executed for murders with white victims.

Please contact Governor Henry McMaster’s Office and urge a reprieve and/or commutation of Moore’s sentence. This can be done through email, fax, letters, and phone calls. Please also contact your state Representatives and Senators and urge them to also call for Moore’s sentencing to be reprieved and/or commuted. 

There are only 10 days left until his scheduled execution. Please speak up and speak out. Use the hashtag #saverichardmoore to spread awareness!