Choice of a 50s American Death Row Inmate: "I Prefer Execution by Firing Squad Over Electric Chair"

South Carolina State Revises Law Due to Difficulty in Supplying Drug Injection Solutions

Electric chair installed in a correctional facility in South Carolina, USA [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Nayeon] AP News reported on the 15th (local time) that the first execution by firing squad is scheduled to take place on the 29th in South Carolina, USA.

According to the report, Richard Bernard Moore (57), a death row inmate imprisoned in a South Carolina prison, recently refused execution by electric chair and chose execution by firing squad.

Moore was sentenced to death for killing a convenience store employee in 1999 and has been imprisoned in a South Carolina prison for over 20 years.

South Carolina has carried out executions by lethal injection until now, and the firing squad execution is scheduled to be carried out for the first time on the 29th.

Previously, South Carolina amended the law last year regarding execution methods to make the electric chair the default method but allowed death row inmates to choose execution by firing squad. This was due to pharmaceutical companies ceasing production of lethal injection drugs, making supply difficult.

Moore, facing execution, issued a statement saying that although he does not agree that either the electric chair or firing squad are legal and constitutional methods of execution, he strongly opposes the electric chair and therefore had no choice but to select the firing squad.

If Moore's execution proceeds as scheduled on the 29th, it will be the first firing squad execution in South Carolina and the first execution since 2011.

In the United States, firing squad executions have been carried out three times since 1976, and AP reported that there are currently a total of 35 death row inmates awaiting execution in South Carolina.