Moore convicted in home invasion

By By Suzanne Monk / managing editor
Dec. 3, 2003
A jury convicted Tracy Darnell Moore of armed robbery and kidnapping Tuesday in Lauderdale County Circuit Court but did not impose a life sentence on the 30-year-old defendant.
The charges stem from a home invasion Jan. 10, 2002, at the home of Meridian businessman Ralph Morgan and his wife, Elizabeth.
Picture this, a crime Assistant District Attorney Dan Angero described as "domestic terrorism."
An elderly couple is asleep in their bedroom. They're awakened violently by two men in masks screaming obscenities and racial epithets.
They cover Elizabeth's eyes with duct tape and tie her up with a telephone cord. A belt is used to bind Ralph. And, the invaders want to know where the money is. They take all the cash they can find. They take the couple's jewelry even forcing Elizabeth to work a tight ring off her hand with lotion.
Elizabeth Morgan choked up on the stand, and it was too much for her husband, who had been shaky but composed a moment before during his testimony. And, truth is, something funny happens inside your chest as you watch a man of Ralph Morgan's age and dignity wipe tears from his eyes.
The defendant, in the courtroom Tuesday for the first time since his trial began the day before, seemed unaffected.
Strange twists
It wasn't that Moore was prevented from attending his own trial. It's that he refused, preferring to sit at the Lauderdale County jail instead.
Circuit Judge Robert Bailey ordered him brought to the courtroom Tuesday afternoon after the state rested its case. The judge had a question: Are you sure you don't want to testify? Asked to raise his right hand, Moore said he couldn't because his arm hurt. He refused to be sworn in.
He did tell the judge he didn't want to testify and his defense attorney, David Stephenson, rested his case without calling a witness.
In closing, Stephenson attempted to cast doubt on a written confession transcribed by sheriff's investigators and signed by the defendant. Why, he asked, didn't the deputies record the confession or film it on videotape?
Angero pointed out that everything in Moore's written statement turned out to be true. Right down to where he hid the Morgans' jewelry (in a bicycle seat) and a cell phone Moore said he lost at the scene.
Broken promise
How Moore ended up being tried in the first place is another strange twist because at one time he had a plea bargain with the district attorney's office. He received a reduced sentence, 15 years, in exchange for promising to testify against co-defendant Lee Amerson.
Prosecutors believe Amerson was the second invader at Ralph Morgan's house.
But, when it came time for Moore to testify at Amerson's trial in April, he refused, answering all questions put to him with, "I don't remember anything about that day."
District Attorney Bilbo Mitchell's case was thrown into disarray and the jury acquitted Amerson. In response, the DA revoked Moore's deal and re-indicted him on both the kidnapping and armed robbery charges.
And, Mitchell also had a surprise for Amerson, who didn't even make it out of the courthouse after his acquittal. Mitchell moved to revoke his probation on an earlier conviction for motor vehicle theft and he's serving five years now.
Quick takes
The verdict: The jury deliberated 30 minutes before finding Moore guilty, and another 30 before declining to impose a life sentence. The panel was half black, half white but female by a 3-1 margin. Several members of the jury smiled and nodded at the Morgans as they filed out of the courtroom.
No life sentence: The panel had only two choices during the sentencing phase of the trial: 1) sentence him to life; or 2) leave sentencing to the judge. They chose the second option.
Angero and Assistant District Attorney Andy Davis had urged the jury to "do the right thing" and impose a life sentence based partly on their belief that Moore's refusal to testify at Amerson's trial meant a guilty man went unpunished.
No explanation: There was some suggestion that Moore refused to testify against Amerson because he had been threatened. But, as Moore did not take the stand at his own trial, the question remained unasked and unanswered.
What's next: The judge ordered a pre-sentence investigation of Moore and set his sentencing hearing for Jan. 30. By law, the sentence must be more than three years but less than life although in light of all that's happened, Moore is likely to get more than the 15 years offered in his original plea bargain.