John Blume and Lindsey Vann, attorneys for Justice360 who represent Richard Moore, talk to reporters outside the federal courthouse in Columbia on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (Skylar Laird/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — A federal judge indicated Tuesday she’s unlikely to halt the state’s upcoming execution over arguments that Gov. Henry McMaster can’t fairly decide whether to grant an inmate clemency.
Attorneys for inmate Richard Moore asked a federal court to halt his Nov. 1 execution in order to hear out a new challenge. They claimed the governor is incapable of making an impartial decision because he was previously the state’s attorney general who successfully fought Moore’s appeals.
The case instead should go to the state’s parole board, Moore’s attorneys argued.
But federal Judge Mary Geiger Lewis seemed skeptical of the attorneys’ arguments during Tuesday’s hearing. McMaster isn’t legally required to make an impartial decision, since he isn’t a judge overseeing a courtroom, Lewis repeatedly told Moore’s attorneys. As long as his decision isn’t arbitrary or impulsive, whatever decision he makes is entirely up to him, she said.
Richard Moore (Provided/Justice360)
“This is not the business of the courts,” Lewis said. “This truly is an executive right and an executive responsibility.”
McMaster’s consideration of Freddie Owens’ clemency petition before his execution last month suggested that the governor was thoughtful in his decision, Lewis said. Although the murder of which Owens was convicted was “much more egregious than the murder in this case,” McMaster still considered Owens’ petition before ultimately deciding minutes before his execution not to grant him clemency, she said.
Both Owens and Moore were convicted of shooting and killing gas station clerks. However, while Owens’ crime was committed during a string of armed robberies, Moore entered the gas station unarmed.
Moore, now 59, was convicted in 2001 of murder, armed robbery, and assault with intent to kill.
“I have no reason not to believe that” McMaster would fairly review the petition, Lewis said. “I’m pretty comfortable he would do that.”
Moore’s attorneys also pointed to comments McMaster made to reporters two years ago, when Moore was previously scheduled for execution, saying he had “no intention to commute a sentence,” The State newspaper reported.
That suggested McMaster made up his mind before Moore’s legal team submitted his official petition for clemency, said attorney Lindsey Vann with Justice 360.
“It’s not reasonable to deny clemency before Moore even gets to submit anything on clemency,” Vann said.
Again, Lewis disagreed.
“I come away with a firm conviction that (McMaster) would be fair and reasonable” in deciding whether to grant Moore clemency, Lewis said.
SC’s 2nd execution after a 13-year hiatus is scheduled
When asked by reporters Tuesday about his 2022 comments, McMaster said he planned to review the case and announce his decision shortly before the execution is scheduled, as he did for Owens.
“I try to have a thorough understanding of the nature of the crime, the nature of the people involved, and the law, and then make a decision,” McMaster told reporters following a meeting unrelated to the case. “It takes some time.”
Although Lewis said she didn’t believe an impartial decision was required by law, she asked McMaster’s attorneys to submit a signed statement saying the governor would fully consider Moore’s petition because it would be “nice to have,” she said.
Lewis said she would issue her order “as soon as I can,” but not give a timeline.
If the order is not in Moore’s favor, his attorneys plan to appeal to the next federal court, attorney John Blume told reporters after the hearing.
He pointed to the fact that Moore, who is Black, was the last person in the state to be sentenced to death by an all-white jury, an argument Moore’s attorneys are making to the U.S. Supreme Court. The state courts have declined to overturn Moore’s sentence on that basis.