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Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Executed Offenders (James Moreland)

Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

AUSTIN - Wednesday, January 26, 2000 - Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers the following information on James Walter Moreland who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m., Thursday, January 27th:

FACTS OF THE CRIME

On October 9, 1982, at approximately 11p.m., the bodies of Clinton Abbott and John Cravey were discovered in Cravey's trailer home in Eustace, Texas, by Cravey's ex-wife Charlotte, his son and a neighbor. The victims had been stabbed in the back numerous times. Cravey's body was on the floor by a blood-stained couch in the front room. Abbott's body was in the back bedroom on the floor next to a bed.

Investigators from the Henderson County Sheriff's Department arrived at the scene where they found two bloody knives on top of a dresser in a hallway a few feet from Abbott's body. In addition, Cravey's empty wallet was discovered lying on a small table in the front room and $16 was found in the front pocket of Cravey's pants. Investigators also found Abbott's keys in the grass beside his Pinto. The trailer showed no signs of a struggle. Cravey's ex-wife, who lived across the street, told authorities and later testified that she last saw the victims alive about noon on the day they were murdered and that they had been drinking. She stated that Abbott's brown Pinto arrived in front of the trailer home around 8:00 p.m. Shortly before she discovered the victims, she saw a man trying to leave in Abbott's car. When the car became disabled on a steel rod in a neighbor's yard, the man got out and fled.

On October 12, 1982, authorities obtained two arrest warrants for James Walter Moreland in Henderson County based on their investigation of information they received the day before from Moreland's cousin, David Osborne. On October 13, 1982, local authorities arrested Moreland in Bedford, Indiana. Authorities in Bedford then searched the apartment of Barbara Brown, Moreland's sister, recovering cut-up remnants of Cravey's boots from a trash can. Moreland's father also gave them a medicine bottle with the name "Cravey, Jo" on the label.

After verbally confessing, Moreland gave a written confession to Bedford police. His confession revealed that on the day of the murders he was at home, drinking with his brother, when he decided to go into town for some more drinking. He claimed that he had "probably drank six to eight beers" by that time, which was between 5 and 6 p.m. He started hitchhiking into town when two men, Cravey and Abbott, driving an old car stopped to pick him up. According to Moreland, both of them had been drinking, and continued to drink from a 12-pack of Old Milwaukee beer. He then began to drink again as the three men were driving into town. Moreland stated that "he thought both of these guys were okay and were just having a good time," so he accepted their invitation to return to the driver's trailer home.

Moreland said that upon arrival at the trailer home, all three men entered the living room and continued to drink more beer for another hour and a half. He claimed Abbott left the room at some point, leaving himself and Cravey alone in the living room. Moreland claimed that Cravey began to behave amorously and started putting his hand on Moreland's leg and rubbing it. Moreland said that as he got up off the couch to leave, Cravey grabbed the back of his pants, pulling them about halfway down and causing him to fall to the floor. As he stood up and pulled his pants back up, Cravey followed him into the kitchen. Moreland stated that the man continued to pursue him, so he picked up a knife from the kitchen table and stabbed him. He said he did not remember how many times he stabbed him, but that he did remember that before he picked up the knife, Cravey struck him on top of the head with something. According to Moreland, it was when the man raised his arm to strike him a second time that he picked up the knife. Moreland stated that he thought "it was either him or me," and that the man was going to rape or hurt him. He also said that he didn't know if he had killed Cravey, but just wanted to get out of there. He claimed that when he started for the doorway, Abbott came out of the bedroom and yelled at him. Moreland stated that he panicked, and ran up to Abbott and stabbed him in the doorway of the bedroom. He then went to where Cravey was lying and took the money out of his billfold, in order to "get out of the area." Moreland also related that he took the car keys from the floor of the trailer, but was unable to drive because he was too scared. He revealed that after staying in the woods all night, he entered Dallas the next morning and bought a bus ticket to Bedford, Indiana. Upon his arrival, Moreland's father told him that both men were dead. Until that time, Moreland said he didn't know if he had killed them. He claimed that he was leaving to go back to Texas to turn himself in when police arrested him.

At trial, the state presented medical testimony through the Dallas County Chief Medical Examiner who testified Abbott had a blood-alcohol level of .24 and Cravey had a blood-alcohol level of .19 at the time of their deaths. The medical examiner testified the results of various tests he performed were consistent with his theory that Cravey and Abbott had stopped drinking and probably fallen asleep from one and one-half to two and one-half hours before their deaths. He determined Abbott and Cravey each had seven stab wounds in a small area in the upper middle portion of their backs in a pattern so similar that the two victims were almost confusing in their similarity. Evidence showed the pattern and direction of the back wounds indicated neither victim struggled with his attacker and both victims were under the attacker's control and that the weapon used had punctured their lungs, causing their deaths. The back wounds on Cravey and Abbott were consistent with a sleeping person lying on his stomach on a bed or a couch repeatedly being stabbed by someone standing over him. The medical examiner also discovered shallow, defensive-type wounds on the back of the victims' right hands. Cravey had suffered a superficial stab wound to his front left shoulder, which the medical examiner stated could have been inflicted in a face-to-face confrontation. He said someone receiving the type of back wounds Cravey and Abbott had would be able to move around for a brief period of time before dying.

Moreland testified at trial and corroborated most of his confession; admitting to stabbing Abbott and Cravey numerous times in the back and taking some of their property. He also claimed Cravey gave him a pair of boots, and was wearing them when he left the trailer home. Moreland contradicted his confession on the circumstances of Abbott's death. He claimed that after he finished stabbing Cravey, Abbott ran out of the rear bedroom all the way down the hallway to the entrance of the living room, and was yelling something at him. He testified they met each other at the entrance of the living room, and started fighting. Moreland said Abbott had him by the neck in the hallway while Moreland still held the knife. They wrestled down the hallway into the rear bedroom, and fell on top of the bed. He could not remember how many times he stabbed Abbott. He also testified the money he took was laying on the floor, and that he took the car keys out of Cravey's pocket. On cross-examination, he testified he told the truth when he gave the written confession. The state used Moreland's confession to impeach his trial testimony on the circumstances of Abbott's death.

In his defense, Moreland also presented evidence that Cravey was a heavy drinker and had been arrested twice for public intoxication and once for disorderly conduct within 10 months of his death. The Eustace police chief, James Cook, testified Cravey never became violent during his arrests and was easy to handle when he was intoxicated. In rebuttal, the state presented several witnesses who knew Cravey. They testified he never exhibited homosexual tendencies or made homosexual advances. Other evidence showed Cravey was in poor health, and witnesses described him as being a physically weak person.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On December 1, 1982, Moreland was indicted for the capital murder of Clinton Abbott. Moreland was tried in the 173rd District Court of Henderson County, before a jury upon a plea of not guilty. On June 15, 1983, the jury found him guilty of the capital offense. In accordance with Texas law, the trial court sentenced Moreland to death. Moreland's conviction and sentence were automatically appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed the conviction and sentence on January 13, 1993. Moreland's petition for writ of certiorari was denied by the United States Supreme Court on June 14, 1993. Moreland originally filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal district court on August 26, 1993, and that court dismissed the petition without prejudice due to his failure to exhaust state remedies. Thereafter, he filed an application for writ of habeas corpus with the trial court on March 22, 1996. On July 12, 1996, the Court of Criminal Appeals denied habeas relief. Moreland filed his second federal petition for writ of habeas corpus on November 12, 1996. The district court denied the petition December 11, 1997. Moreland filed a notice of appeal which the district court denied permission March 30, 1998. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of habeas relief May 10, 1999. Moreland's subsequent petition for writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court was denied October 12, 1999, and rehearing was denied November 29, 1999. Moreland's clemency petition is currently pending, and he has requested permission to file a third federal habeas petition from the Fifth Circuit as of January 21, 2000.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

Moreland testified at trial that he had been charged with burglarizing two homes in Texas when he was 17, pled out of one burglary charge and was placed on felony probation for five years in the other charge. Within one week of being placed on probation for the Texas burglary, Moreland burglarized a Texaco station in Florida and stole a truck. He was placed on probation for five years for the Florida incident. Moreland also testified to committing several misdemeanor offenses in Indiana in 1977 and 1978 for illegal consumption and possession of alcohol, public intoxication and resisting arrest.

DRUGS AND/OR ALCOHOL

Moreland testified that the only times he had problems with the law was when he had been drinking. He attended a drug abuse center in Florida but quit after a month. Moreland denied he had a drug or alcohol problem. However, his confession revealed that he had consumed "six to eight beers" before meeting the victims, and that he continued to consume alcohol with the deceased prior to their deaths.

ProDeathPenalty.com

On October 9, 1982 James Moreland stabbed to death two men, 53-year-old Clinton Corbet and 41-year-old John Royce Cravey during a robbery. The men were stabbed multiple times in their backs. The 39-year-old Indiana native never denied killing Clinton Corbet Abbott and John Royce Cravey. The 2 friends were stabbed repeatedly in the back, robbed and left to die in a Eustace trailer home after a day of beer drinking on Oct. 9, 1982. Instead, Moreland maintained he acted out of fear after Cravey, a 41-year-old iron worker, allegedly made homosexual advances toward him. The claim is similar to the "gay panic" defense used last year in the trial of one of the men accused of fatally beating Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student. A judge disallowed the strategy. Relatives of Moreland's victims rankle at the suggestion. "My brother was by no means a homosexual. I know this for a fact," said Robert Cravey. "Neither was Clint. He'd have fought you if you even mentioned it to him." Jurors also rejected the idea, convicting Moreland of capital murder for Abbott's death on June 15, 1983.

He was indicted but never tried for Cravey's killing. Meanwhile, the victims' relatives remained steadfast in their determination to see Moreland receive a lethal injection. "I look at his picture in the paper, and he looks like a mad dog to me," said Fane Abbott Morton, Abbott's 72-year-old sister. "He needs to be put out of his misery." Abbott, a retired soldier, was 53 when he and Cravey were murdered in Eustace, a town of about 660 people 40 miles southeast of Dallas. In a written confession and on the witness stand at his trial, Moreland said he had been drinking heavily and was hitchhiking to buy beer when the men offered him a ride and invited him back to Cravey's trailer. Moreland said after about an hour and a half of drinking, he was left alone with Cravey, who began rubbing Moreland's leg and then attacked him. Moreland said he feared being raped or injured, so he grabbed a knife from the kitchen table and stabbed Cravey. He also stabbed Abbott when the older man confronted him. Prosecutors told a different story, though, producing evidence to suggest Moreland stabbed the 2 drunken men as they slept. A medical examiner testified that, at the time of their deaths, Cravey had a blood-alcohol level of .19 %, more than twice the legal standard of intoxication in Texas, while Abbott's blood tested at .24 %. The victims each had 7 stab wounds to the back in a pattern consistent with an attack from above while they slept on their stomachs, he testified. And prosecutors said that other than shallow cuts on the victims' hands, there was little evidence of a struggle in the trailer. Two bloody kitchen knives were found on a dresser.

Moreland, whose previous criminal history included burglaries in Texas and Florida, was arrested in Bedford, Ind., three days after the murders. Warrants were based on information a cousin provided. Authorities searched his sister's home in Bedford and found a shredded pair of boots belonging to Cravey in a trash can. Moreland's father gave authorities a medicine bottle he found with Cravey's name on it.

Q Online (South Africa)

"Murderer of Two Gay Men is Executed in US."

James Walter Moreland admitted to the killings, but claims he did it because he feared homosexual advances by the men. Jurors rejected the so-called "gay panic" defense, and families of the victims said neither were homosexuals.

Austin, Texas - The state of Texas executed James Walter Moreland Thursday, making him the third prisoner this week and the seventh this month to be executed in the state. Moreland, 39, was sentenced to die by lethal injection for the murder of two gay men in a 1982 stabbing attack. Moreland admitted the killings, but claims he did it because he feared homosexual advances by the men. Jurors rejected the so-called "gay panic" defense, and families of the victims said neither were homosexuals.

In a recent interview with a small East Texas newspaper, Moreland seemed resigned to his fate. "For me, after 16 and a half, almost 17 years in the penitentiary, dying isn't hard," Moreland told the Athens Daily Review. "It's living that's hard." Moreland's execution was the last in a controversial string of executions here -- two of which had drawn strong protests from the Vatican and the European Union due to the mental condition of one prisoner and the relatively young age of the other. Last week, Larry Keith Robison, who had been diagnosed as mentally ill before his murderous rampage, was executed. Then on Tuesday, Glen McGinnis, a juvenile at the time he shot a woman dead, was put to death.

The protests and controversy helped shed light on the "extreme" rate at which executions are carried out in Texas, according to one death row opponent. "There certainly was some attention, probably more than the norm for Texas executions -- which have become quite routine," said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington. "After a while, it does begin to say there is a pattern, that compassion doesn't even seem to enter the equation."

State officials said the reason there was an unusually high number of executions in January was because during the end-of-year holiday season it is not usual to carry out death sentences, causing a backlog in the first month of the new year. In June 1997, however, eight executions were carried out in Texas, officials note. Governor George W. Bush, who has been out of the state campaigning for the White House while most of the executions took place, is a strong supporter of the death penalty. So is Robert Cravey, brother of one of Moreland's victims. He said Moreland should have been executed years ago for his crime. "That's what I hate about it the most," Cravey said. "It should have already been done, and I blame the state for it."

ABOLISH Archives (Associated Press & Rick Halperin)

01-27-00 - TEXAS EXECUTION:

James Walter Moreland, condemned for a knife attack that left 2 East Texas men dead more than 17 years ago, was executed Thursday evening. Strapped to the gurney, Moreland's first words were "Jesus, God, Lord." Then he gave a lengthy final statement in which he told his father and brother, watching through a window nearby, that he loved them. "You've been the best. All of you have truly been the best," he said. "I believe I'm going home."

Moreland then turned to his victims' relatives and apologized. "I really mean that. It's not just words. My life is all I can give. I stole 2 lives and I know it was precious to y'all," he said, and they nodded in acknowledgment as he spoke. "That's what alcohol will do for you." He sang the words "take me home Lord," as the lethal drugs were administered through his veins. He took 2 deep breaths, then exhaled four times before falling into unconsciousness. Moreland was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m., 8 minutes after the flow of lethal drugs began.

The 39-year-old Indiana native never denied killing Clinton Corbet Abbott and John Royce Cravey. The 2 friends were stabbed repeatedly in the back, robbed and left to die in a Eustace trailer home after a day of beer drinking on Oct. 9, 1982. Instead, Moreland maintained he acted out of fear after Cravey, a 41-year-old iron worker, allegedly made homosexual advances toward him. The claim is similar to the "gay panic" defense used last year in the trial of one of the men accused of fatally beating Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student. A judge disallowed the strategy.

Relatives of Moreland's victims rankle at the suggestion. "My brother was by no means a homosexual. I know this for a fact," said Robert Cravey. "Neither was Clint. He'd have fought you if you even mentioned it to him." Jurors also rejected the idea, convicting Moreland of capital murder for Abbott's death on June 15, 1983. He was indicted but never tried for Cravey's killing.

"There's no doubt in my mind that what I did was wrong," Moreland told the Athens Daily Review in a recent death row interview. "But some of the things they did at that trial were wrong, too. If you're going to convict a man, especially if you're going to take his life, I'd think you'd have to do it fairly." Moreland said his trial attorneys, Hank Skelton and the late Bill Bandy, mishandled his case, a claim attorney James T. Maloney supports. "There were a number of errors in Mr. Moreland's trial dealing with the nature of the indictment ... the jury selection process and the sufficiency of evidence that were not properly preserved," Maloney said. Skelton, who practices in Athens, declined to discuss the trial.

Meanwhile, the victims' relatives remained steadfast in their determination to see Moreland receive a lethal injection Thursday. "I look at his picture in the paper, and he looks like a mad dog to me," said Fane Abbott Morton, Abbott's 72-year-old sister. "He needs to be put out of his misery." Abbott, a retired soldier, was 53 when he and Cravey were murdered in Eustace, a town of about 660 people 40 miles southeast of Dallas.

In a written confession and on the witness stand at his trial, Moreland said he had been drinking heavily and was hitchhiking to buy beer when the men offered him a ride and invited him back to Cravey's trailer. Moreland said after about an hour and a half of drinking, he was left alone with Cravey, who began rubbing Moreland's leg and then attacked him. Moreland said he feared being raped or injured, so he grabbed a knife from the kitchen table and stabbed Cravey. He also stabbed Abbott when the older man confronted him.

Prosecutors told a different story, though, producing evidence to suggest Moreland stabbed the 2 drunken men as they slept. A medical examiner testified that, at the time of their deaths, Cravey had a blood-alcohol level of .19 %, more than twice the legal standard of intoxication in Texas, while Abbott's blood tested at .24 %. The victims each had 7 stab wounds to the back in a pattern consistent with an attack from above while they slept on their stomachs, he testified. And prosecutors said that other than shallow cuts on the victims' hands, there was little evidence of a struggle in the trailer. 2 bloody kitchen knives were found on a dresser.

Moreland, whose previous criminal history included burglaries in Texas and Florida, was arrested in Bedford, Ind., three days after the murders. Warrants were based on information a cousin provided. Authorities searched his sister's home in Bedford and found a shredded pair of boots belonging to Cravey in a trash can. Moreland's father gave authorities a medicine bottle he found with Cravey's name on it.

Moreland becomes the 7th condemned inmate to be put to death this year and the 206th overall since Texas resumed capital punishment on Dec. 7, 1982. The 7 men put to death this month is the 2nd highest total, falling just 1 short of the 8 men put to death in June 1997. Moreland also becomes the 12th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 610th overall since America resumed executions on Jan. 17, 1977.

Moreland v. Scott, 175 F.3d 347 (5th Cir. 1999) (Habeas).

James Walter Moreland seeks review of the district court's denial of his application for federal habeas relief from his judgment of conviction in 1983 of capital murder and sentence of death by the State of Texas. We will not describe the crime here. It is sufficient to explain that the two victims were each stabbed numerous times in a small area of the upper portion of their backs. The pattern of wounds and absence of resistance are consistent with their being asleep when stabbed.

Moreland's first federal habeas petition was dismissed in October 1995 for failure to exhaust state remedies. The state denied on the merits his application for collateral relief on July 12, 1996, and the present federal suit followed. The district court granted the state's motion for summary judgment on the recommendation of the magistrate judge, refused leave to amend the application, and denied Moreland's request for a certificate of appealability. Moreland has applied to this court for a certificate of appealability. Having filed his federal habeas petition after November 14, 1996, the effective date of AEDPA, he must obtain this certificate in order to appeal.

Moreland asks that we grant a certificate of appealability upon eight issues. We decline to issue a COA on any issue except Moreland's contention that he did not have the effective assistance of counsel in making his decision to reject a tendered plea bargain. We have the benefit of briefing and oral argument of counsel and proceed directly to the question supported by a COA.

Moreland contends that his attorneys rendered ineffective assistance in rejecting a favorable plea bargain. Moreland contended in his habeas application that the state had offered him a 50-year maximum sentence in exchange for his guilty plea. Because he believed that a trial-court ruling, denying Moreland's motion to suppress a custodial statement, would be reversed on appeal, Moreland's attorney, Billy Bandy, urged him to reject the offer. Mr. Bandy added that he would be running for district attorney in the next election and would arrange for a more favorable plea agreement after the conviction was reversed. Moreland rejected the proposed plea bargain before trial.