Firing squad execution in South Carolina set for next week halted by court

Moore, who was sentenced to death for the 1999 murder of a convenience store clerk, was scheduled to be executed April 29. In a court filing last week, he chose firing squad over the electric chair..

He did not have the option of choosing lethal injection, as South Carolina does not have the necessary drugs, according to the filing. The state Department of Corrections previously told CNN it has not been in possession of a usable dose of lethal injection drugs since 2013.

“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,” he said in the statement.

He chose firing squad, as required 14 days before the date of his execution, because “I more strongly oppose death by electrocution,” he wrote.

Moore, 57, would be the first person executed in South Carolina in more than a decade.

Last year, the state Legislature passed a law that made electrocution the state’s primary execution method, though death row prisoners have the option to choose a firing squad or lethal injection instead if the options are available.

On April 6, the South Carolina Supreme Court denied an appeal by Moore that argued his death sentence was disproportionate to penalties imposed in similar cases.

South Carolina is one of four states — Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah are the others — where execution by firing squad is legal.

Jeffrey Motts was the last person executed in the state, having died by lethal injection in May 2011. The last death by electrocution was in June 2008 when James Reed was executed.