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Entries tagged with “Richard Moore”

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Prosecutorial Accountability

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Race

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Representation

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Methods of Execution

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Aug 04, 2022

As Trial in South Carolina Execution-Method Challenge Begins, Review of State’s Death Penalty Reveals System that is Biased, Arbitrary, and Error-Prone

As the tri­al chal­leng­ing South Carolina​’s exe­cu­tion meth­ods began on August 1, 2022, a review of the state’s death penal­ty by the Greenville News revealed a pat­tern of dis­crim­i­na­tion, geo­graph­ic arbi­trari­ness, and high error rates in the imple­men­ta­tion of the pun­ish­ment. In a two-part exam­i­na­tion, reporter Kathryn Casteel ana­lyzed racial and coun­ty demo­graph­ics on death row, rever­sal rates in cap­i­tal cas­es, and the tim­ing of death sen­tences to pro­vide con­text for the state’s efforts to insti­tute the elec­tric chair and fir­ing squad as its pri­ma­ry exe­cu­tion methods.

Policy Issues

Secrecy

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Lethal Injection

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Dec 02, 2020

Citing State’s Lack of Execution Drugs, South Carolina Supreme Court Stays Richard Moore’s Execution

Saying that the state lacked the abil­i­ty to car­ry out a lethal injec­tion, the South Carolina Supreme Court has stayed the sched­uled December 4, 2020 exe­cu­tion of Richard Moore (pic­tured). With no state exe­cu­tions sched­uled for the remain­der of the year, the stay means that states will car­ry out few­er exe­cu­tions in 2020 than in any year since 1983.

Policy Issues

Representation

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Military

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Mar 06, 2020

News Brief — Recent Death-Penalty Decisions Through March 6

NEWS (3/​6/​20): The United States Court of Military Appeals has upheld the con­vic­tion and death sen­tence of Timothy Hennis, fol­low­ing his acquit­tal in North Carolina on the same charges. The court’s rul­ing, issued on February 28, reject­ed Hennis’ chal­lenges to the mil­i­tary court’s juris­dic­tion to try him for a May 1985 rape and triple murder.

Executions

Executions Overview

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Methods of Execution

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Lethal Injection

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Aug 18, 2022

South Carolina Court Set to Rule on Prisoners’ Challenge to Electric Chair and Firing Squad Executions After Completion of Methods of Execution Trial

A deci­sion on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of South Carolina​’s new­ly adopt­ed exe­cu­tion meth­ods now rests in the hands a tri­al court judge after lawyers for death-row pris­on­ers and the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) pre­sent­ed four days of con­flict­ing expert tes­ti­mo­ny about the amount of pain suf­fered dur­ing fir­ing squad and elec­tric chair executions.

Policy Issues

Race

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History of the Death Penalty

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Recent Legislative Activity

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Methods of Execution

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May 06, 2021

South Carolina Legislature Authorizes Use of Electric Chair and Firing Squad as State Reaches 10 Years Without an Execution

One day shy of the tenth anniver­sary of the state’s last exe­cu­tion, the South Carolina leg­is­la­ture, frus­trat­ed by the state’s inabil­i­ty to obtain exe­cu­tion drugs, approved a bill that would autho­rize putting pris­on­ers to death in the elec­tric chair or by fir­ing squad.

Executions

Methods of Execution

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Feb 06, 2024

South Carolina Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Constitutionality of Electrocution and Firing Squad, Considers Scope of Secrecy Law

On February 6, 2024, the South Carolina Supreme Court heard oral argu­ments in Owens v. Stirling, a case in which death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers chal­lenged the state’s elec­tro­cu­tion and fir­ing squad exe­cu­tion meth­ods as uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. A South Carolina tri­al court had pre­vi­ous­ly held an exten­sive evi­den­tiary hear­ing and issued an injunc­tion against use of those meth­ods based on the state’s con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­hi­bi­tion against ​“cru­el,” ​“unusu­al,” or ​“cor­po­ral” pun­ish­ments. For almost 90 min­utes the par­ties dis­cussed the expert tes­ti­mo­ny and evi­dence con­sid­ered by the dis­trict court, while also spend­ing sub­stan­tial time debat­ing the…

Executions

Executions Overview

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Methods of Execution

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Sep 09, 2022

South Carolina Trial Court Rules in Favor of Death-Row Prisoners Challenging Execution Methods

A South Carolina tri­al court has issued an injunc­tion pre­vent­ing the state from car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions using a fir­ing squad or the elec­tric chair, rul­ing that those meth­ods vio­late the state’s con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­hi­bi­tion against ​“cru­el, unusu­al, and cor­po­ral punishments.”