Moore v. State
| Decision Date | 19 June 1985 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 42091,42092,s. 42091 |
| Citation | 330 S.E.2d 717,254 Ga. 525 |
| Parties | MOORE v. The STATE (two cases). |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Jack E. Carney, Jr., Franklin N. Biggins, Atlanta, Grover Hankins, George E. Hairston, Brooklyn, N.Y., Lloyd D. Murray, Pembroke, Court-appointed, for Michael K. Moore.
Dupont K. Cheney, Dist. Atty., Hinesville, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for the State.
Michael Moore was convicted of murdering Mrs. Rebecca Hagan Futch by striking her with a baseball bat and stabbing her with a kitchen knife. 1 The state sought, unsuccessfully, the death penalty, and Moore was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mrs. Futch lived with Sheri Futch and Johnny Mobley, two of her children, in Claxton, Georgia. Another daughter, Cathy Odom, lived nearby. Contrary to her mother's wishes, 17-year-old Sheri had maintained social company with Moore, a high school senior and athlete, for approximately one and a half years. Sheri became pregnant by Moore. She had an abortion in December, 1983, and became pregnant again by him in February, 1984. Sheri and her mother quarreled about the use of monthly Social Security payments, and about substantial department store and telephone bills incurred by Sheri. As a result, Sheri stayed at Cathy Odom's house for two weeks during January, 1984, and spent January 29th through the 31st with Laura Jones, a friend and neighbor.
Shortly after 5:00 P.M. on February 1, 1984, Mrs. Futch was observed leaving work, and, later, entering her home. A friend came by her house at 5:30 P.M., and observed Mrs. Futch's automobile parked in the driveway, but found the house locked. Unable to receive a response at the door, she returned home and telephoned Mrs. Futch, but there was no answer.
Wayne Barrow, a neighbor, testified that at 6:20 P.M. Sheri came to his house. She stated that after arriving at home she found a knife and blood on the dining room floor, and was afraid that something had happened to her mother. Barrow went to the house and found Mrs. Futch lying on the bed, beaten and stabbed. He called the police. When the neighbor told Sheri that her mother was dead, Sheri replied,
Emergency medical personnel, Claxton Police and Evans County Sheriff's deputies arrived to find Mrs. Futch dead. She was lying on her back in bed, partially covered by bedclothing. The investigating officers found a butcher knife in the dining room, a rag in the hallway, and a baseball bat in the bedroom--all covered with blood. Blood drops and smears led from the hallway into the bedroom, and blood splatterings were found on the bed, the bedroom wall, and floor. Bloody footprints were found next to the bed, on the bed sheets, and on the bat. Additional footprints were found in the dirt behind the house, which were consistent with a running stride.
Mrs. Futch's purse and keys were found on the dining room table, along with a note from Sheri advising that she had gone to Laura Jones' house. There were no signs of forced entry into the house.
Cathy Odom and Johnny Mobley determined that $40.00 and two rings belonging to their mother were missing. The rings ordinarily were kept on a partition between the living room and dining room.
Dr. Larry Howard of the State Crime Laboratory identified as the direct cause of death two stab wounds to the chest. In one instance, the fatal instrument had penetrated the heart. The victim also sustained five lacerations to the head and five cuts on the neck. Howard testified that the head wounds had required considerable force, and that strength was required to drive the knife through the victim's sternum. He concluded from an examination of the crime scene, the blood splatterings, and the victim's injuries, that Mrs. Futch was struck in the head with a blunt object in the hallway, was dragged face down into the bedroom, placed upon the bed, and cut in the neck and stabbed in the chest.
Police questioned Moore at his home on February 1, 1984, at approximately 9:30 P.M. They recovered from his bedroom a pair of white tennis shoes which Moore admitted he had worn earlier that day. The shoes had red stains on their tops, bottoms, and sides. Moore told the police that he had given the pants he wore earlier that day to Bernard Mincey. When the investigators recovered the pants from Mincey, one leg was rolled up, thereby concealing blood stains. A $20.00 bill was found in a pocket.
State Crime Laboratory officials testified that footprints in the hallway and back yard, and on the bed sheet and bat, all were similar in tread size, tread design and tread wear, and that they matched Moore's white tennis shoes; that the bloodstains on Moore's pants came from droplets, not smears, and matched the victim's blood, but not Moore's blood or the blood of one Isell Breuson. (Moore told the police that the blood on his pants was that of Isell Breuson, a fellow student, who had cut his finger at school that day.) A State Crime Laboratory serologist testified that Moore's white tennis shoes had been washed, but the red substance on them was blood; and that the blood on the knife, bat, and rag was the same type as the victim's.
A State Crime Laboratory microanalyst testified that hairs found on top of Moore's shoes were similar to the victim's hair.
No blood was found on Sheri Futch's clothing, and her shoes did not match the bloody prints found on the bedroom floor.
Moore's statement was introduced after a Jackson-Denno hearing. He stated that Sheri Futch called him at 3:45 P.M. on February 1, 1984, and said she would see him at school the next day; that he played basketball with friends at two separate locations between 4:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M.; that he went to his brother's house to change pants then rode around Glenville until 9:00 P.M.; that Sheri called him at 9:15 P.M. to tell him that her mother committed suicide; that he knew nothing of the killing; and that the blood on his pants came from a fellow student who cut his finger at school that day. He also said he had been in the Futch residence only once.
Sarah Smith testified that between 4:00 P.M. and 4:30 P.M. she gave Moore a ride from Hagan to Claxton; that at Moore's instructions she circled the block where the victim lived and drove past the house one or two blocks; that he complained about the presence of traffic on the street; that he left the automobile and walked down the street toward the Futch house, instructing Smith not to tell anyone about these events.
Timothy Petreat testified that he saw Moore walking near the Futch home at 5:25 P.M. in a quick, nervous manner. Bernard Mincey and Greg Johnson testified that Moore came to the playground to play basketball at some time after 5:00 P.M.; that they later rode to Moore's brother's house to get Moore another pair of pants, then rode to Glenville; that on the way to Glenville, Moore changed into another pair of pants, and tried to throw his other pants out of the automobile; that Johnson took the pants and gave them to Mincey; that Moore asked Mincey to wash them and gave Mincey a $20.00 bill and two rings; that Mincey gave the rings back to Moore but kept the $20.00 bill. Mincey testified that he saw red stains on Moore's shoes. Jhonda Sharpe testified that she saw red stains on Moore's shoes at 7:15 P.M.
Sheri Futch testified that she came home from school, then left to call Moore at about 3:35 P.M., returning home at 3:50 P.M. She testified that at 4:50 P.M. she left a note for her mother stating that she was going to Laura Jones' house; that she locked the house and went to Laura Jones' house to retrieve her clothes, as she was planning to spend that night at home.
Laura Jones testified that Sheri came to her house at approximately 5:10 P.M. Sheri, Laura Jones and Fran McRae then left Laura Jones' house at 5:30 P.M. to visit a friend. Fran McRae drove Sheri home at 6:30 P.M.
Sheri testified that when she arrived home, she saw the knife and blood in the hallway and ran to Wayne Barrow's house for help; that she did not say to Barrow, "What have I done?"; that she did not harm her mother in any way; and that she and Moore had not been at her mother's home earlier that day. Sheri denied that she and Moore conspired to kill her mother, and denied that she admitted Moore to the house that afternoon. She denied having made any statement to Cathy Odom in reference to the Social Security checks.
At trial, Moore testified that Sheri called him and asked him to come to her house so both could tell Mrs. Futch about Sheri's second pregnancy. He admitted that Sarah Smith gave him a ride to the victim's house at 4:10 P.M. He testified that Mrs. Futch was not at home, and that he and Sheri had intercourse in Sheri's bedroom; that he left at approximately 4:45 P.M. and walked to a nearby store to wait for Mrs. Futch to come home; that when he saw Mrs. Futch drive by, he waited a few minutes and then walked to her home; that when he arrived, Sheri was standing in the dining room holding a knife, and Mrs. Futch was lying in the hallway, beaten and stabbed. Moore then admitted dragging the victim into her bedroom and placing her upon the bed. He testified that Sheri took $40.00 from her mother's purse and two rings from the dining room partition and put them in his pocket; that Sheri left by the front door and he by the back door. He denied that he stabbed, beat, or harmed Mrs. Futch, or that he conspired to harm Mrs. Futch, or had any prior knowledge of any plan to harm her. He admitted that he noticed bloodstains on his pants leg, first rolled the pants leg up, and then changed pants and gave the bloodstained pants to Mincey to wash. He denied that he had washed his shoes. He testified that he threw the victim's rings away.
The jury heard testimony that Carlton Phoenix, a Liberty County jail inmate, reported to law enforcement officers that Moore told him (Phoen...
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