South Carolina prison officials told death row inmate Richard Moore on Tuesday that he can choose between a firing squad, the electric chair and lethal injection for his Nov. 1 execution.
State law gives Moore until Oct. 18 to decide or by default he will be electrocuted. His execution would mark the second in South Carolina after a 13-year pause due to the state not being able to obtain a drug needed for lethal injection.
Moore, 59, is facing the death penalty for the September 1999 shooting of store clerk James Mahoney. Moore went into the Spartanburg County store unarmed to rob it and the two ended up in a shootout after Moore was able to take one of Mahoney’s guns. Moore was wounded, while Mahoney died from a bullet to the chest.
As divers can tell you, you gasp from carbon dioxide buildup, not from lack of oxygen. That’s why repeatedly breathing in helium to pitch up your voice can be really dangerous, you don’t notice your body is out of oxygen. I believe nitrogen has potential for assisted suicide, like in the Swiss case that has gained some controversy recently.
The death penalty, however, is barbaric no matter how it’s performed. Cruelty is the point.