Death row inmate chooses to die by firing squad rather than electric chair

• A South Carolina inmate has chosen to be executed by firing squad rather than the electric chair.
• He will be the first to be executed in the state since 2011 and the first to choose the type of execution.

A South Carolina death row inmate has chosen to die by firing squad rather than the electric chair when he is executed later this month, according to court documents filed Friday.

Richard Bernard Moore, 57, is the first person in the state to face the choice after a law went into effect last year, making electrocution the default and giving the option to die by firing squad.

The state passed the legislation after having issues with getting lethal injection drugs.

If executed as scheduled on April 29, Moore will become the first person to be executed in the state since 2011.

Moore was convicted of killing a convenience store clerk in 1999 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and has since spent more than two decades on death row.

He said in a written statement that he only chose the firing squad as he more strongly opposed death by electrocution and was forced to make a choice.

"I believe this election is forcing me to choose between two unconstitutional methods of execution, and I do not intend to waive any challenges to electrocution or firing squad by making an election," Moore said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.

Moore's attorneys asked the state Supreme Court to delay his execution while another court determines if either of the two available methods amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, AP reported.

His attorneys argue that prison officials are not trying hard enough to get the lethal injection drugs.

Corrections Department Director Bryan Stirling said in an affidavit last week that the agency still couldn't obtain the drugs because manufacturers and pharmacies refused to help, according to AP.

In March, South Carolina said they had completed around $53,000 worth of renovations needed to carry out firing squad executions, which would be carried out by three prison workers with rifles.

South Carolina is one of eight states to still use the electric chair and one of four to allow a firing squad, according to the Washington-based nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

If Moore is executed by firing squad he will become the fourth in the country to die that way since 1976, according to the center.

Some of Moore's supporters have argued that he should not have been given the death penalty in the first place.

During his 2001 trial, prosecutors argued that he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed convenience store clerk James Mahoney.

Moore had entered the store looking for money to support his drug habit, at which point the clerk pulled a gun on him. Moore wrestled the gun away from him, at which point the clerk pulled out a second gun.

A gunfight ensued in which the clerk shot Moore in the arm, and Moore fatally shot him in the chest.

Moore's appeals lawyers have argued that because Moore didn't bring a gun into the store, he couldn't have premeditated the murder.