In response to the execution of Richard Moore by the state of South Carolina, Justin Mazzola, researcher for Amnesty International USA, said the following:
“The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and it was devastating to see South Carolina end its 13-year pause on executions in September. Now, with the execution of Richard Moore less than two months later, it is disgraceful that the state’s machinery of death continues to push forward.
“Richard Moore’s case, like those of so many others on death row, was tainted with racial bias, including as the two prospective Black jurors were peremptorily dismissed, resulting in an all-white jury. In addition to the racial bias, the crime that Moore committed was not premeditated, which raised serious concerns as to whether it rose to the level for which the death penalty is reserved in U.S. constitutional law.
“It’s shameful that racial bias and lack of premeditation were not enough to convince Governor McMaster to grant clemency to Richard Moore. Governor McMaster could have used his clemency power instead of overseeing yet another execution in his state.
“This execution — like all executions no matter the circumstances — was a violation of human rights. The death penalty is too flawed to fix. Close to three quarters of the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice. In 2023, after China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia, the U.S. was the fifth country in the world when it comes to highest number of known executions. The U.S should drop off this list and move toward abolishing this cruel practice once and for all.”
Additional information:
- Through an Urgent Action, Amnesty International members across the world asked Governor McMaster to grant Richard Moore clemency.
- In her 2022 dissent, state Supreme Court Justice Kaye Hearn wrote that the case “highlights many of the pitfalls endemic to the death penalty, beginning with the role race plays.” Justice Hearn also accused her colleagues of wrongly “rejecting the significance of Moore’s unarmed status upon entering the store” and “completely los[ing] sight of the vast difference between a ‘robbery gone bad’ and a planned and premeditated murder”. Justice Hearn said she had been unable to find “any other case involving a defendant receiving the death penalty where he entered the place of business unarmed” and noted the “stunning admission” by the state at oral argument that it could not point to any case in South Carolina with this “distinguishing fact”.
- In 2024, ten states across the U.S. are on track to put to death 27 people, potentially surpassing last year’s total of 24 if all executions are carried out as scheduled.
- Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases and under any circumstances, regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to carry out the execution. The organization considers the death penalty a violation of the right to life as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
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