Death row inmate chooses firing squad execution with 'volunteers' to shoot him in heart

dailystar.co.uk:

death row inmate has chosen to be executed by firing squad rather than the electric chair. Richard Moore, 57, will be the first prisoner in over a decade to be executed in the state, on April 29, when he is put to death for the murder of a store clerk in Spartanburg County during a flawed robbery on September 19, 1999.He had faced an agonising decision over how he wanted to die amid a shortage of drugs used in executions by lethal injection.Moore could be executed in the electric chair, or shot by three "volunteer" prison guards aiming at a target on his heart.Moore entered Nikki’s Speedy Mart convenience store in Spartanburg, where James Mahoney was working, with the intention of stealing cash for his drug habit.But a fight broke out between the two men and Mahoney pulled out a gun but Moore wrestled it from him after initially entering the shop unarmed.Mr Mahoney then pulled out a second gun and shot Moore in the arm and Moor returned fire, shooting Mahoney in the chest - killing him, Moore admitted to killing the store clerk but insists he acted in self-defence.His execution date was determined by the Supreme Court last month and Moore was forced to make the impossible decision of how he will die - firing squad or the electric chair.It has been almost 11 years since an inmate has been executed in South Carolina due to a shortage of the lethal drug cocktail used for lethal injections.It is believed that this is due to the state not protecting drug companies from being sued if their products are used in executions.The state passed a law last year to make the electric chair the default method and reinstate the use of firing squads in order to resume executions.Moore will be the first inmate in South Carolina to die by.