SC delays execution, citing lack of lethal injection drugs

COLUMBIA, SC (AP) — South Carolina prison officials say they have to delay an execution scheduled for Friday because they won’t be able to obtain the lethal injection drugs needed.

The South Carolina Supreme Court scheduled Richard Bernard Moore’s execution for Friday after he exhausted his federal appeals.

Moore has spent nearly two decades on death row for his conviction in the 1999 fatal shooting of a convenience store clerk in Spartanburg County.

The South Carolina Department of Corrections said in a letter to the state Supreme Court last week that it won’t be able to find drugs by Friday.

They have not been able to secure the drugs since their last stock expired in 2013.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter.