Tuesday, June 24, 1997
Killer Moody to get another hearing
Condemned killer John Glenn Moody will get a hearing on whether
jurors in his 1989 trial should have been instructed on the definition
of reasonable doubt.
U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings on Friday issued a certificate
of appealability to Moody, agreeing with U.S. Magistrate Judge
J.Q. Warnick that the issue should be addressed.
Warnick ruled Moody offered a "substantial showing of
a denial of a Constitutional right" - whether or not, in
light of a 1990 Louisiana case, the U.S. Constitution should be
interpreted as requiring a definition of reasonable doubt in the
jury's charge or instructions.
Last year, Warnick and Cummings denied Moody's claim he was
incompetent to stand trial.
Moody, 44, was sentenced to die for the 1988 rape, robbery
and murder of Maureen Maulden. The elderly widow was beaten bloody
with a fireplace tool and strangled with a telephone cord in her
Elmwood home, where Moody had performed odd jobs.
Police found Moody's bloody fingerprint and one of his pubic
hairs at the murder scene. He was arrested two days later carrying
two of Maulden's rings.
He has maintained his innocence.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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