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Chris Urso / The Tampa Tribune via AP
Dorice Moore, right, and her lawyer Byron Hileman watch the jury after she was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare on Monday.
A woman was convicted Monday of first-degree murder in the slaying of a lottery winner in central Florida and sentenced to mandatory life without parole by a judge who called her "cold, calculating and cruel."
Dorice "Dee Dee" Moore showed no emotion as a jury foreman read the verdict. Judge Emmett Battles sentenced her to an additional minimum mandatory 25 years for using a gun in the commission of a felony.
Moore has 30 days to appeal. If she decides to, she will be assigned a public defender. The attorney appointed by the court to represent her at trial, Byron Hileman, will no longer represent her.
"I can sleep good at night because I know I had done the very best job," Hileman said. "I feel sad for the victim. I feel sad for their families. I feel sad for the defendant because these types of cases are no-win situations."
Jurors deliberated for more than three hours before finding Moore guilty of the first-degree murder charge prosecutors had lodged against her in the death of Abraham Shakespeare, who won millions in 2006. Shakespeare's mother was in the courtroom, but showed no emotion.
"She got every bit of his money," said Assistant State Attorney Jay Pruner in closing arguments. "He found out about it and threatened to kill her. She killed him first."
Woman arrested in Fla. lottery winner’s death
Hileman argued that there were other potential suspects whom prosecutors refused to consider.
"There were a lot of people who owed Mr. Shakespeare a lot of money. One guy owed him a million dollars," he said during his closing arguments. "The police focused on Dee Dee Moore and they didn't even consider other people."
Pruner could not be reached for comment immediately.
'Manipulative person'
Battles instructed the jury that it could convict the 40-year-old Moore of a lesser charge. Following the verdict, he called her "the most manipulative person" he had ever seen, describing her as "cold, calculating and cruel."
Prosecutors built much of their case from a confidential informant's statements and financial records.
Moore was briefly banned from the courtroom Monday over concerns that she may have threatened jurors. She was back a short time later for closing arguments, but said she did not want to take the stand in order to protect her family.
At times, Moore closed her eyes and averted her face from the jury as prosecutors played audio recordings made by an undercover officer posing as a criminal who would take the fall for Shakespeare's murder.
Prosecutors said Moore befriended Shakespeare in late 2008, claiming she was writing a book about how people were taking advantage of him.
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They claimed Moore later became his financial adviser, eventually controlling every asset he had left, including an expensive home, the debt owed to him and a $1.5 million annuity.
She ultimately swindled Shakespeare out of his dwindling fortune, then shot him and buried his body under a concrete slab in her backyard, Pruner said.
In opening statements, Moore's attorney told the jury that his client was trying to help protect Shakespeare's assets from a pending child-support case when he was killed by drug dealers who hadn't been caught.
Former inmate Rose Condora, who was locked up with Moore, told reporters during a break in the trial that she has visited her friend every night at the jail.
"She's not what people think she is," Condora said. "She did not kill that man."
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Leave a Comment:
Got off easy for such a hideous murderous crime!
Again Florida. I know things happen in other states, but you only get stuff that happens in Florida. The media must have it in for them. Or maybe they're that nuts down there.
I live in the same city as Shakespeare did and I can tell you there's a lot of whack people here, mix the bible belt Baptists, meth, crack, heavy booze, trailer life and a good ol boy justice system and you've got one of those terrible reality tv shows.
I met Shakespeare once in passing and he seemed like a gentle, easy going guy. Moore got what she deserved in my opinion.
Found GUILTY should have been taken out back and Shot..... Capital Punishment means nothing unless carried out and in a timely manner.....
Yes, Mary, thank you for noticing. We do get plenty of well deserved attention. And now we are trying to rid the rest of the country from further humiliation by seceding, again. If our application goes through we will become our own problem which we have been unable to handle so far. But at least the US can always point at us like Georgia does Alabama and Alabama does Mississippi. So write your Congressman and ask him to support our secession, again.
I could never be a defense attorney...He feels sorry for this woman?? What kind of person would you have to be to show compassion for a woman who brutally killed someone??
I couldn't ever be one either. But we live in a country where everyone gets their day in court. Even killers.
But justice is served here. With the exception that idealistically, this woman should be on death row.
Just another greedy Ho. Sad.
Mary Jones,
Wee do you live? Under a rock?! WTF kind of statement is that!?
Do you want to define "stuff"? There has to be 200 billion "stuff" in the world.
Jones huh? Hmmmm.... wow, that's like the 5th most common name in the US. Uh oh, that means there's like 1,362,754 more of you. Ahhhhh! ;-)
Have a nice day...
Lol just because you don't like who was elected does not mean you get to pout off in a corner by yourself.. Never going to happen dear Florida..
This crap happens all over.. Florida gets to be picked on because they are a cliche.. I hate to say it this way because I loathe politics.. Florida is typically a Conservative bible state, with moral fiber.. When something happens like that of course it's going to make news because well Florida thinks it is such an upstanding state with such high integrity..
Okay flame on.. I know I have pissed off all sides with my comment..
Oh btw, the broad in the article is a greedy disgusting pig of a human.. When a person takes a life in this fashion they should forfeit theirs..
We do seem to have been issued more than our fair share of whack-jobs in Florida. I think it might be the heat.
BTW, Florida voted for Obama. If the loonatics who always push for secession are upset about that, then they are clearly in the minority.
I guess they are right when they say that winning the lottery doesn't bring happiness...
It has been conclusively proved that money won't buy happiness. It has also been conclusively proved that it will rent it.
Bill, but you can only rent 'it' in Nevada correct??
It depends on the clauses in your contract. Depending on circumstances, it may be possible to rent to own.
That kinda depends on what it takes to make you happy ;)
Rent what????????????????.........................I know, if I have to ask, forget it.
Life without parole plus 25. After she dies will they resuscitate her so she can do the extra 25, or wait 25 years to take our of her cell and bury her?
Yeah, that sort of thing never made any sense to me either.
A "life" sentence is typically 20 years. If she is still alive after 20 years, she will automatically start serving her additional 25 years.
Happens to me all the time, "someone else" kills a guy and buries him in my backyard under a concrete slab -- Uh yeah, sure.
Life in prison for killing a lottery winner, what are the odds??
LOL @ William. Good one...
Agree! Yes, what are the odds?
About as good as winning one...............
There was another case of a lottery winner, who had a brother that attempted to murder him to inherit his fortune. Just one more example, that suddenly coming into big money, isn't all it is cracked up to be. Maybe being on the border of just barely having enough, has its distinct advantages.
As a friend of mine once said,"It could be a blessing, just scraping along in life. After all, it stops one from doing things that might not be wise or healthy in life. Or exposing sides to ones personality that are best left undiscovered, unfulfilled or undeveloped.Like indulging in vanities,selfish, taking advantage of others, things for granted, arrogant and just plain being ungrateful. "
It does seem clear enough, when money is involved, it brings out the worst in some people, that never is revealed otherwise. Like this woman. Had the victim never won the money, she likely might have never killed. Yet she still was manipulative and surely would have preyed upon someone else. Just in smaller ways perhaps. People can't hide the true nature of the beast inside.
I have decided if I ever win a lot of money, my relatives will be the last to know, if ever at all....
Hyennas and wolves could have more compassion about life. How cruel human beings can be!!!
Money is cause of mental illness. Ban MONEY
Hey warreren They have in my house and I'am still nuts.
takaneka, is that you?
(chuckle)
Warrren is taks first name......................
This sounds like a Columbo episode.
She looks like a stank hoe! Hope her cellmate is butch.
What is a stank hoe?.
A garden tool that emits an unpleasant odor.
Mindie: LOL!
Yes, a stinky ho'.
"Honest, I did not do it & have no idea why the murderer pur the body IN MY BACKYARD!"
Wow, his client got life in prison and he calls that a "very best job".
What a lawyer!!
Wonder how much the state had to pay this character (lawyer)?
If someone is guilty even the very best job won't get them off.
Example: Someone fires a shot at you and you do your very best to get out of the way, but you fail. Did you really do your very best??
You mean like OJ, Anthony, Blake etc???
Only that she got!!!! I hope she rots in prison
I don't get it. If she killed the guy and he's under some cement, why haven't they used xrays to check the ground for his body and dug him up? Wouldn't that provide some evidence?
They convicted her of first degree murder, Sherlock. What more evidence do they need?
People don't know that if you kill someone the body is evidence. Don't bury it, don't wrap it in plastic, don't put it in a drum. Don't do anything that will preserve the body. Nature will take a body and make it go away...really away. Nothing left but beetle dung. Think about how to get that body to decompose as rapidly as possible. Making it food for anamials works fastest.
I'm pretty sure the people who dig up dinosaur bones for a living don't subscribe to your theory.
Actually, people who dig up fossils would agree with slimy. Fossils only form under rare circumstances, which is why the fossil record of life on this planet has huge gaping holes in it. The vast majority of dinosaur skeletons on display in museums have only a few real fossils in them, and the rest is made from plaster molds of what we think the animal looked like, based on structures suggested by the real fossils.
Perhaps she might have thought about that before she murdered the guy.
She didn't kill him????....he must have crawled under the concrete slab in her backyard, then shot him self.
At least we now know who killed Shakespeare.
This person should have gotten the Needle the day after she was found guilty. Now, I, as a taxpayer in Florida have to support this person for the next forty years. I feel like there should be no Life Sentences when it is one hundred percent proven that a person committed a murder. It should be death, the very next day. This person will now enjoy three squares a day, swimming pool, gym membership, computer access. T.V. free healthcare etc, and not have to pay a penny for any of it. Who is the loser now. It is the taxpayer.
I agree with you about timely death penalties. But your assessment of prison is kind of out there. No prisons have Internet services or a pool, not even Federal Minimum Camps. If there is a t.v. set, it is watched by 25 or so people in a t.v. room with no sound, unless you own a radio and can to tune it to the designated frequency to hear it. Of which, you must scrub toilets and internal crime scenes to earn the money for batteries. The cold blooded murderers deserve death! But, don't try to make prison life sound like the Hyatt Regency. Makes it sound like you never get off the couch!!
Just another low life in America. The poor man she killed so she could get his money.
This conviction is many years' too late.
So, it's not ALL black on black crime after all huh?
Sick ass pilgrims
Yes, others may have bamboozled money from the gentleman but Ms. Moore SHOT him and buried him! That shows intent to kill and knowledge that it was wrong. May she ROT in jail.
When ya come into money,they come outta the woodwork.Fella got suckered.Oughta gas this Bitch...
All these mental cases should be executed!! It'll never stop unless the government OK's this!