THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, September 20, 1994            TAG: 9409200313
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                            LENGTH: Short :   49 lines

NORFOLK JUDGE WILL DECIDE IF ADMITTED KILLER IS EXECUTED DEFENDANT WAS PART OF A LARGE N.Y.- TO-VA. DRUG RING.

A judge will decide this week whether Todd Moore, a drug dealer and admitted killer, should be executed. No one has received the death penalty in Norfolk's federal court in modern times.

The decision rests with Judge Raymond A. Jackson, who heard testimony Monday that Moore has committed murder in Virginia and is accused of several other shootings in New York.

Moore, 22, was part of a large New York-to-Virginia drug ring. He has pleaded guilty to the 1992 murder in Hampton of Antwan ``A.J.'' Mathis, 19, another drug dealer who owed him money.

Moore also is accused of killing his girlfriend and a neighborhood acquaintance in separate shootings in New York. He initially agreed to plead guilty to those crimes, then withdrew his plea. Those cases are pending in New York.

In the Virginia case, Moore is believed to be the first person in the country to plead guilty to a new federal crime - murder in connection with a continuing drug enterprise - which was made a capital offense in the late 1980s.

Moore's sentencing trial began Monday, with prosecutors arguing that he has shown no remorse and cannot be rehabilitated. A psychiatrist testified that Moore's life has been one long, continuous exercise in violence since first grade.

A friend testified that Moore even ordered another man killed while Moore was in jail on New York's Rikers Island facing murder charges.

``At some point in time, early in his life, Todd Moore made a decision to run contrary to mainstream society,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Groene said. ``The evidence will show that the acts of violence committed by this man are not likely to stop. . . There is no hope for Todd Moore.''

But Moore's attorney, Charles R. Burke, said Moore should get life in prison, without parole, because the killer has cooperated with police and prosecutors in their investigation of the drug ring.

Two members of the drug ring got life sentences last week. Three others got sentences ranging from 15 1/2 to 27 years in prison. Moore's sentencing is expected to conclude Wednesday.

KEYWORDS: MURDER CAPITAL MURDER DRUG RING by CNB