A South Carolina death row inmate with only days to live claims prosecutors rejected qualified jurors to be on his case because they were Black.
In 2001, Richard Moore, a 56-year-old Black man, was convicted by a nearly all-white jury in the murder of 42-year-old store clerk James Mahoney in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
He is slated to die by lethal injection Friday.
In a last minute effort to stay his execution, Moore's attorneys have filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court claiming prosecutors turned away potential Black jurors to guarantee an all-white or nearly all-white jury.
"An all-white jury, especially one where all qualified Black prospective jurors were removed by the State, casts serious doubt on the integrity of a capital trial and undermines the public confidence in the criminal justice system," Moore's attorneys, Lindsey Vann and John Blume, wrote in their filing, according to The State.
During jury selection, lawyers for both sides have the discretion to strike jurors without reason, so long as it is not race-based.
At Moore's trial, prosecutor Trey Gowdy dismissed two qualified Black jurors, his attorneys claimed. The defense tried to challenge the strikes, but Judge Gary Clary subsequently ruled Gowdy's rejection of the jurors was without prejudice, and the outcome was an all-white or nearly all-white jury, according to the paper.
In 1999, Moore went into a convenience store unarmed and got into an argument with Mahoney over change, court documents stated, according to the paper. Mahoney drew a gun and Moore disarmed him, prompting the clerk to draw another firearm. Both men shot each other, but Mahoney died from his injuries.
