May 1



TEXAS----stay of execution

Supreme Court halts execution of Fort Worth killer


Less than 3 hours before he was to have been put to death today, the U.S.
Supreme Court halted the execution of a Texas parolee convicted of
killing 3 people in a drug-ripoff robbery some 7 years ago in Fort Worth.

Curtis Moore, 34, already was in a small holding cell adjacent to the
death chamber at the Huntsville Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice when he received word the high court had given him a reprieve.

He immediately was removed and returned to death row at the Polunsky
Unit, about 45 miles to the east.

There was no word from prison officials of his reaction.

Attorneys had been attempting to show Moore was mentally retarded and
cited a Virginia case now before the Supreme Court as reason why they
should look at Moore's case. The Virginia case questions the
constitutionality of executed the mentally retarded.

State prosecutors questioned why the issue should surface now because
Moore's mental ability had never before been an issue and was not
addressed at his trial in Fort Worth.

The petition for the reprieve was filed to Justice Antonin Scalia, who
referred it to the entire court. It will remain in effect indefinitely
until the court decides whether to review Moore's case. If the court
refuses to review the case, the reprieve automatically is canceled and a
new execution date could be set.

A decision in the Virginia case is expected before July.

Moore would have been the 2nd Texas inmate to die in as many days and the
11th this year. At least 7 other condemned Texas prisoners are scheduled
for lethal injection this month, including 2 more next week.

Moore already had an extensive juvenile record when in 1985 he received
six years for robbery but was released 9 months later under mandatory
supervision during a time when Texas was known for a revolving door
criminal justice system because of a lack of prison space. He was
convicted three more times over the next 10 years and was paroled after
short stays in prison.

He was arrested for capital murder for killing t3 people in a pair of
shootings Nov. 30, 1995.

Roderick Moore, 24, no relation to the inmate, and LaTanya Boone, 21,
both of Fort Worth, were found shot to death in a roadside ditch across
from a Fort Worth elementary school.

The same night, Darrel Hoyle, then 21, and from Fort Worth, and Henry
Truevillain Jr., 20, of Forest Hill, were found shot and burned. Hoyle,
however, survived his wounds and helped lead police to the arrest of
Curtis Moore and his nephew, Anthony Moore, who then was 17.

The 3 men were abducted after agreeing to meet Curtis Moore and his
nephew at a stable where Roderick Moore boarded and trained horses. Then
Boone was abducted from the apartment she shared with Roderick Moore, her
boyfriend.

Testimony at Curtis Moore's trial showed the shootings culminated a drug
rip-off robbery, that he doused Hoyle and Truevillain with gasoline and
ignited them as they were bound and in the trunk of a car parked in a
deserted lot outside a club.

Hoyle regained consciousness 6 days after he was attacked and gave
information that led authorities to Anthony Moore. Curtis Moore was
arrested about 2 weeks later.

Anthony Moore, now 23, pleaded guilty to 2 counts of murder under a plea
agreement and is serving2o life prison sentences.

(source: Houston Chronicle)