south carolina

20 Apr

South Carolina inmate picks firing squad over electric chair

Associated PressNation, Newsdeath penalty, electric chair, execution, firing squad, Richard Bernard Moore, south carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina prisoner scheduled to be the first man executed in the state in more than a decade has decided to die by firing squad rather than in the electric chair later this month, according to court documents filed Friday. Richard Bernard Moore, 57, is the also first state prisoner to face the choice of execution methods after a law went into effect last year making electrocution the default and giving inmates the option to face three prison workers with rifles instead. Moore has spent more than two decades on death row after being convicted of…

25 Jan

Prosecutor: Alex Murdaugh now faces 71 charges; $8.5M stolen

Jeffrey Collins, Associated PressNewsMurdaugh, south carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A once-prominent South Carolina lawyer now faces 71 charges that he stole nearly $8.5 million in wrongful death and wreck settlements from more than a dozen people after another round of indictments against Alex Murdaugh were handed up Friday. The 23 new charges issued by the state grand jury covered new victims but similar schemes, prosecutors said. Murdaugh, 53, would negotiate settlement money for his clients without telling them what they earned, then deposit the checks meant to pay for their pain and suffering or the anguish of the death of a loved one into his own…