Execution in May likely to go forward
Little, if anything, but a court order or a pardon will keep Carey Dean Moore from dying in the electric chair next month.
Neither seemed likely last week as Moore’s execution date of May 8 approached.
“Right now, we’re preparing for an execution,” said Eric Aspengren, executive director of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty. “He’s the one to make any decisions about his future.”
And Moore, on death row since 1980, seems ready to die.
In legal papers filed in March with the Nebraska Supreme Court, Moore, 49, said he would not oppose Attorney General Jon Bruning’s request to the court that it set an execution date.
Moore wrote he “will no longer place any further motions to delay the execution date,” and he asked the court to not accept motions filed on his behalf.
He then made one request: that the execution occur on May 7.
“I don’t think he’s expecting to try and stop it,” said George Eisele, who began visiting Moore on death row about 15 years ago.
“In fact, I think he’d be disappointed if it didn’t happen,” said Eisele, 77. “He’s tired of fighting it.”
Eisele met Moore as part of a prison ministry through the Church of the Brethren, 3645 Sumner St.
He said Moore is a born-again Christian who ministers to several of the death row inmates.
“He was a cold-blooded killer, but he’s not that anymore,” Eisele said.
He said Moore requested the May 7 date because the following day is the birthday of a fellow death row inmate. Moore did not want the inmate to be reminded on his birthdays of Moore’s execution, Eisele said.
Jose Sandoval, one of the men responsible for the Norfolk bank murders, has a birthday on May 8.
Moore received two death sentences for the 1979 murders of Omaha cab drivers Reuel Eugene Van Ness Jr. and Maynard D. Helgeland.
In 1994, a federal court vacated the death sentences, ruling that a portion of the state’s death penalty law used to sentence him was unconstitutionally vague. A three-judge panel resentenced Moore to death in Douglas County District Court in 1995.
In January, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling that barred Moore from challenging the constitutionality of the electric chair. The Nebraska court said in July that Moore was procedurally barred from attacking the electric chair’s constitutionality because he could have done it in earlier appeals.
Reach Clarence Mabin at cmabin@journalstar.com or 473-7234.
Neither seemed likely last week as Moore’s execution date of May 8 approached.
“Right now, we’re preparing for an execution,” said Eric Aspengren, executive director of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty. “He’s the one to make any decisions about his future.”
And Moore, on death row since 1980, seems ready to die.
In legal papers filed in March with the Nebraska Supreme Court, Moore, 49, said he would not oppose Attorney General Jon Bruning’s request to the court that it set an execution date.
Moore wrote he “will no longer place any further motions to delay the execution date,” and he asked the court to not accept motions filed on his behalf.
He then made one request: that the execution occur on May 7.
“I don’t think he’s expecting to try and stop it,” said George Eisele, who began visiting Moore on death row about 15 years ago.
“In fact, I think he’d be disappointed if it didn’t happen,” said Eisele, 77. “He’s tired of fighting it.”
Eisele met Moore as part of a prison ministry through the Church of the Brethren, 3645 Sumner St.
He said Moore is a born-again Christian who ministers to several of the death row inmates.
“He was a cold-blooded killer, but he’s not that anymore,” Eisele said.
He said Moore requested the May 7 date because the following day is the birthday of a fellow death row inmate. Moore did not want the inmate to be reminded on his birthdays of Moore’s execution, Eisele said.
Jose Sandoval, one of the men responsible for the Norfolk bank murders, has a birthday on May 8.
Moore received two death sentences for the 1979 murders of Omaha cab drivers Reuel Eugene Van Ness Jr. and Maynard D. Helgeland.
In 1994, a federal court vacated the death sentences, ruling that a portion of the state’s death penalty law used to sentence him was unconstitutionally vague. A three-judge panel resentenced Moore to death in Douglas County District Court in 1995.
In January, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling that barred Moore from challenging the constitutionality of the electric chair. The Nebraska court said in July that Moore was procedurally barred from attacking the electric chair’s constitutionality because he could have done it in earlier appeals.
Reach Clarence Mabin at cmabin@journalstar.com or 473-7234.
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