MARIETTA, OKLA -- Joshua Moore stood in court Fri. as a judge read the first degree manslaughter charges against him. Loved ones of Keiona Hubbard - the woman Moore is accused of killing - say the initial appearance marks the beginning of the closure they're searching for.
Posted: 10:24 PM Feb 26, 2010
Reporter: Shelby Levins
Email Address: shelby.levins@kxii.com
Shelby Levins reports
MARIETTA, OKLA -- Joshua Dewayne Moore stood in court Friday as a judge read the first degree manslaughter charges against him. Loved ones of Keiona Hubbard -- the woman Moore is accused of killing -- say the initial appearance marks the beginning of the closure they've been searching for. Shelby Levins reports.
Joshua Moore sat with his attorney, as Keiona Hubbard's family lined the Love County courtroom. Moore is accused of beating Hubbard -- his live-in girlfriend -- to death.
"Mr. Moore should not be let out to harm some other lady,” Gertrude Tatum said.
Tatum, Hubbard's former mother-in-law and the biological grandmother of her three young girls, said last year she believed Hubbard was the victim of domestic abuse.
State prosecutors now think Moore killed Hubbard by hitting her in the head with his hands or another object. But say building that case with sufficient evidence took time.
"However when I felt like we had obtained enough evidence to proceed with the filing of charges we acted promptly,” District Attorney Craig Ladd said.
Now Hubbard's family says all they have left of their loved one is her three children. Tatum is fighting for custody of the girls. She says the young girls had already lost their father to a heart attack, now they don't have a mother either.
"I would like for the kids to be put with their family - the biological family - the grandmothers, the aunts and the uncles, the people they've known since the time they came into this world,” Tatum said.
Tatum says she's praying justice will be served for her former daughter-in-law, saying Moore's conviction would not only bring closure to her family - it might save someone else.
"Then I feel that her soul can rest - she will have peace knowing - they got him,” Gertrude said.
Moore's preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 12, 2010 - one day after the one year anniversary of Hubbard's death.
Moore is currently serving time for an unrelated weapons charge. He was sentenced to five years in prison for possession of a firearm after a felony conviction. According to court records he's also done time for burglary and drug charges.
Moore's defense attorney declined to comment on the current first degree manslaughter charges at this time.
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