US: Black man convicted by all-white jury executed

A Black man, convicted by an all-white jury, was executed in the US state of South Carolina for the fatal shooting of a convenience store clerk, despite a broad appeal for mercy.

59-year-old Richard Moore received a lethal injection on Friday and was pronounced dead at 6:24 pm (11:24 pm CET) at a prison in state capital Columbia, US media reports said.

What was Moore convicted of?

Moore was sentenced to death in 2001 after being convicted of killing James Mahoney, a clerk from Spartanburg.

Moore entered the store unarmed, his lawyers said. He got into an argument with Mahoney because he was short of money while making his purchase.

Mahoney allegedly pulled out two guns when Moore took one away, shooting the store clerk in the chest as he was shot in the arm with the second gun.

The lawyers say Moore's shooting was an act of self-defense. He was also shot in the arm by the victim.

Clemency denied

On Thursday, the US Supreme Court declined Moore's request for a stay of execution.

Governor Henry McMaster also refused to issue a last-minute grant of clemency.

Moore's lawyers had asked McMaster to cut his sentence to life in prison without parole because of a good jail time record and willingness to be a mentor to other inmates.

The lawyers said that it would be unjust to execute someone for what could be considered self-defense.

"No other South Carolina death penalty case has involved an unarmed defendant who defended himself when the victim threatened him with a weapon," Moore's lawyers said in a statement.

They also added that it was unfair as Moore was the only inmate on the state's death row convicted by an all-white jury.

"Moore is not the 'worst of the worst' for whom the death penalty is supposed to be reserved," they added. "Instead, his death sentence is based on racial discrimination."

Three jury members who had condemned Moore to death sent letters asking McMaster to change his sentence to life without parole. A former state prison director, Moore's trial judge, his son and daughter, his childhood friends and several pastors were also among those who appealed to the governor.

Twenty-one people have been executed in the US this year, with Moore being the second prisoner to be put to death in South Carolina.

dvv/rmt (AFP, AP)