THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605240508
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 60 lines
After two bungled attempts to convince authorities that his case should be thrown out, convicted murderer Samuel Lee Moyler apparently gave up Thursday.
He abandoned his latest motion, and Circuit Judge E. Preston Grissom reinstated the sentence recommended earlier by a jury. Moyler was given two life sentences for capital murder and rape in the beating and strangulation of 14-year-old Chernise N. ``Lady'' Simmons.
Simmons was killed Dec. 11, 1993, and Moyler was charged six months later.
In Moyler's most recent ruse, he apparently sent anonymous letters to an attorney and a reporter for The Virginian-Pilot describing himself as a convicted murderer and drug dealer who was present when someone other than Moyler raped and killed Simmons. One of the letters ended: ``By the time you get this, I will be long gone.''
The letters were carefully hand printed, with the word ``infeasible'' in place of a return address. They contained Moyler's fingerprints.
At one point in the letter, the author wrote: ``I give you this in hope that this girl soul will come to rest and I myself can be right and stop having these bad dreams about that early morning. . . . I can no longer live with this most stressful heartache, shouldn't no human have to go through such violent acts.''
With the fingerprint evidence indicating the letters were bogus, Moyler apparently decided not to pursue the matter.
Earlier, shortly after his conviction, Moyler had come up with a new witness - a jail inmate who said he saw the victim get into a car with someone other than Moyler. Based on the possible new information, Moyler's sentencing was postponed.
But authorities soon discredited that witness when they showed him a photo lineup of pictures taken from a school yearbook, including the picture of Simmons, and he picked out the wrong girl.
``I'm glad it's over,'' Chesapeake Commonwealth's Attorney David Williams said after Thursday's hearing. ``People in his position unfortunately take desperate measures to get some relief. Fortunately, we were able to ferret out the truth. Now Mr. Moyler is on his way to the penitentiary where he belongs.''
In April 1995, Moyler made a rambling, 20-minute claim of innocence to jurors as they prepared to decide whether to recommend death or a life term.
The former truck driver, then 35, claimed that Chesapeake detectives had framed him.
The case against Moyler was based largely on DNA evidence because detectives could find no fingerprints, murder weapon or witnesses.
Friends and relatives told police that Moyler was the last person to see Simmons alive.
The body of the girl, a cheerleader and honors student at Indian River Middle School, was found in a wooded, litter-strewn area in the 2300 block of Elbow Road. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Samuel Lee Moyler, according to friends and relatives, was the last
person to see the girl alive.
KEYWORDS: MURDER RAPE SEX CRIME ARREST
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