South Carolina inmate Richard Moore was executed by lethal injection Friday for the 1999 killing of a supermarket employee, despite widespread pleas for clemency.

Moore was the second person executed in just over a month after a 13-year hiatus caused by difficulties obtaining drugs for the lethal injection protocol. The 59-year-old was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m. after Gov. Henry McMaster and the Supreme Court rejected his request to stay the execution. When McMaster, a Republican, discussed Moore's case two years ago, he said he would not commutation.

As the execution began, Moore was strapped to a stretcher with a blanket covering most of his body. Witnesses said he looked up at the ceiling with his eyes closed as the deadly drug entered his body, before taking between four and six deep, gasping breaths. The State reported.

The witnesses included two family members of James Mahoney, Moore's attorney, Lindsey Vann, his spiritual advisor, three journalists, a South Carolina Department of Corrections official, a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agent and Spartanburg attorney Barry Barnette, the one Barnette and members of Mahoney's family stared stoically as Moore took his final breaths The State. Outside, about 40 people, including a lawyer representing Moore, death penalty opponents and members of the clergy, held a prayer vigil.

In a final statement read out at a press conference, Moore said: “To the family of Mr. James Mahoney, I am deeply sorry for the pain and sadness I am causing you all. To my children and granddaughters, I love you and I am so proud of you. Thank you for the joy you have brought into my life.

“To all my family and friends – new and old – thank you for your love and support.”

His last meal consisted of medium steak, fried catfish and shrimp, scalloped potatoes, green peas, broccoli with cheese, sweet potato cake, German chocolate cake and grape juice.

Moore was the last person on South Carolina's death row to be convicted by a jury with no black members, his defense attorneys say. He is also believed to be the only person in South Carolina history to receive the death penalty for an armed robbery and not bring the deadly weapon to the scene.

Moore was convicted of killing supermarket clerk Mahoney during a robbery in Spartanburg County in 1999. According to prosecutors, Moore entered the store without a weapon and managed to wrestle the pistol from Mahoney, which he drew after getting into an argument with Moore over 12 cents missing. Mahoney then grabbed a second gun and shot Moore in the arm, but Moore responded by fatally shooting Mahoney in the head. Prosecutors said Moore then fled the scene with a bag containing over $1,400 in cash.

Prosecutors accused Moore of robbing the store to support his crack addiction. However, over the years, Moore claimed he was there to buy beer and cigarettes. In 2001 he was sentenced to death.

Unsuccessful appeals

Moore appealed his verdict multiple times, most recently on the grounds that prosecutors in his 2001 murder case improperly punished two black jurors because of their race, which the state denied. In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors could not punish a potential juror based solely on race. In the event of a challenge, the state must provide a “race-neutral” reason for disqualifying the candidate.

Trey Gowdy – a prosecutor in Moore's case who later served four terms as a Republican congressman – told the judge that one black jury candidate was punished primarily because she allegedly concealed her criminal record during questioning, while another was excluded, because her son had been convicted of murder. Gowdy noted that a white juror with a similar family situation was also removed. Additionally, he noted that the final jury included a Hispanic member.

But in a brief filed Tuesday with the Supreme Court, South Carolina's attorney general argued that it was too late for Moore to raise the issue of juror race because it had not been mentioned in previous appeals. They argued that Moore killed Mahoney in self-defense.

His appeals drew national attention as more than 20 people — including two jurors, the judge from Moore's original trial and a former state prison warden — pleaded with McMaster to save Moore's life by granting him clemency, The Associated Press reported.

Moore's son Lyndall, who was four years old at the time his father was charged, also argued that his father deserved mercy.

“He’s not a monster,” Lyndall said The State. “He's just a guy who's had problems, but always a guy with a good heart, you know, a normal guy trying to be a good father.”

Moore reportedly became a devout Christian while in prison, devoted himself to mentoring other inmates, and began painting. He also encouraged his children to avoid his own missteps.

Former Department of Corrections Director Jon Ozmint described Moore as a “dependable, consistent force for good on death row,” according to the statement The Stateand argued that commuting Moore's sentence could be a powerful example of reparation. Ozmint added: “Perhaps the most compelling reason to commute Richard's sentence is precisely because he agrees with every decision you make.”