State v. Moore

STORCKMAN, Judge.

The defendant, Thomas Erwin Moore, was charged in the Circuit Court of Jackson County with the crime of murder in the first degree. The information alleged that he killed his wife by shooting her with a shotgun. A jury found him guilty as charged and assessed his punishment at death. Sentence and judgment were rendered against him in accordance with the verdict.

The defendant, 40 years of age, had been previously married and was divorced in the spring of 1954. He had no children of his first marriage. On June 26, 1954, he married Opal Irene Searcy, a widow. After the marriage…