NEWS

Judge won't bar teen from serving life without parole

Jimmie E. Gates
The Clarion-Ledger

Hinds County Circuit Judge Jeff Weill has denied a motion to bar teenager Gerome Moore from a life sentence without parole after his guilty verdict last year in the Jan. 7, 2015, shooting death of Carolyn Temple.

A Hinds County judge says Gerome Moore will face a life without parole sentence even though he was 17 when the crime occurred.

Moore faces up to life in prison without parole, but since he was 17 when the crime occurred, Weill held a hearing to determine an appropriate sentence based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving capital punishment for those younger than 18 during commission of the crime.

A capital murder conviction meant a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, but a 2012 Supreme Court ruling said judges must consider the unique circumstances of each juvenile offender. The court this year made the ruling retroactive to those sentenced prior to 2012.

Last week, Weill issued an order denying Moore’s motion to prohibit a life without parole sentence and the alternative of a sentencing hearing before a jury.

That order comes as the Mississippi House Judiciary B committee passed a bill Friday that would give a judge the option of sending a juvenile convicted of first-degree murder or capital murder to life in prison or to 25-50 years if it’s not a life sentence.

The bill goes to the full House and would be retroactively applied to all arrests and convictions should the legislation be approved. If the bill passes in the Legislature and is signed by the governor, it would become law July 1.

If passed, the bill isn’t expected to impact Moore’s case

Weill set Moore’s sentencing hearing before him at 1 p.m. on March 2.

A Hinds County Circuit Court jury found Moore guilty in September.  Moore wasn’t the shooter, but Hinds County Assistant District Attorney Randy Harris told the jury that while Moore didn't shoot Temple, he was just as guilty of capital murder because he aided and assisted in the crime.

"He drove the car and dropped off the robbers," Harris said. "He knew he was going to commit a robbery. He brought the gun. That is why we are here today. That gun is why Carolyn Temple is dead."

Weill said in last week’s ruling that based on the evidence presented at trial, it is clear Moore intended for the victim to be killed or at least could have reasonably foreseen such a result.

“During an interview with police, the defendant admitted that on the night of the crime, he drove his two co-defendants around Jackson and that the trio was specifically looking for someone to rob,” Weill said. “The defendant admitted to police that he had a gun in his possession and that he personally gave the gun to (Antwain) Dukes before Dukes approached the victim.”

In July, Dukes pleaded guilty to depraved-heart murder in Temple's death. He was given a 25-year sentence. He also pleaded guilty to armed robbery and house burglary in separate cases. He was given a total of 70 years in the three cases, but they will be served concurrently, meaning the maximum time he will serve is 25 years. Dukes also agreed to testify against his co-defendants.

A third suspect in the Temple case, Antreal Jones, is awaiting trial.

Temple, 69, was shot in the stomach just after she arrived at the Belhaven home of her boyfriend, Conner McAllister. She had gone to the street to retrieve the garbage cans from the curb when she was attacked by two men who attempted to take her purse. When she resisted, they hit her on the head with the gun and shot her. She was hospitalized for about a week, then took a turn for the worse and died. Temple's 40-year-old daughter, Tress Temple Gardner, died in November 2015 of natural causes, and McAllister, 69, died in April.

Moore’s attorney, Aafram Sellers, argued there was no evidence to convict his client of capital murder. He said Moore should have been convicted of a lesser crime.

Weill said there is no case law indicating that the law regarding aiding and abetting should be applied differently to juvenile offenders as opposed to adult offenders, and therefore he held that a life without parole sentence shouldn’t be barred for Moore.

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at 601-961-7212 or jgates@gannett.com . Follow him on Facebook and Twitter .