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Up-to-date proceedings in Daniel Wade Moore trial

WAFF 48 News will provide regular updates on court proceedings in the Daniel Wade Moore trial from WAFF 48 News reporter Bobby Shuttleworth.

May 14

10:30 am

Jury has a question.

Judge says, "The jurors have given the bailiff a note wanting me to re-explain the charge with 7 elements on each charge of capital murder. Verdict sheet. Do all 5 have to be marked guilty or not guilty.

"I will have to explain all the charges. I will explain them again."

Judge Haddock is now going over the 4 capital murder charges again. Each charge has certain elements.

May 5

Before the jury came in this morning, the judge handled some business. He asks the defense if Moore will testify during this trial. The defense attorneys indicated that he wouldn't. Then the judge advised Moore of his right to testify in his own defense and asks him if she's being coerced in some way. Moore said he wasn't.

The last defense witness was Michael Troy Jones, who paved the Tiptons' driveway along with their neighbors on the day of Karen Tipton's death. Jones said it was a typical day for him and his crew. After lunch, they went to a driving range and hit some golfballs. Jones said he remembers this because his uncle broke a driver.

After that, they returned to the Tiptons' neighborhood to put down a second layer of asphalt. When they arrived about 2:30 p.m., Jones said he saw a white truck at the Tipton's residence that he recognized as Dr. Tipton's truck. He said that was a topic of discussion because a car driving over a partially-paved driveway can damage the asphalt. Jones said the truck never moved.

Jones said repaving the driveway took 1 1/2 hours. He was still at the driveway when the first patrol car arrived at the Tipton's.

After Jones' testimony ended, the defense rested their case. After a break, the prosecution will start calling rebuttal witnesses.

April 30

Before the jury was brought in this morning, the judge heard several motions. The prosecution rested their case, while defense attorneys asked for a motion for acquittal. They said that there was no proof of murder with sexual assault, murder with theft, and abduction. The prosecution said evidence found on the bed and the washcloth shows Moore was there, and they didn't have to prove breaking and entering or rape because of the nature of the injuries.

The judge denied those motions. However, he said that all of the evidence presented so far was circumstantial.

The prosecution said because of the age of the computer in comparison to ones built today, all investigators could pull out of it was emails.

After the jury came into the courtroom, Pamela Smith, who lived near the Tiptons, took the stand and said she had seen Karen Tipton getting her mail the afternoon of her slaying. However, defense attorneys presented testimony from one of Moore's previous trial saying that she realized that she'd seen Karen after seeing her picture in the newspaper the next day.

The defense attorney pointed out that Karen's picture wasn't in the newspaper the next day. They questioned the validity of her evidence because of the confusion over the day she'd seen her and when she saw the picture in the paper.

The next witness was the Tipton's neighbor, Vernon Oak Chance. He said he saw a white truck parked at the Tipton residence between 2 and 5 p.m. Previous testimony from Dr. David Tipton stated that he had come home and found Karen's body about 4:30 p.m. He also said he'd talked to someone who had to go "clean up" the Tipton's home.

Next was Howard Godby, who was Moore's former employer at a home security system company. He explained how the alarm system in the Tipton's home works.

The defense was having trouble getting their witnesses to the courthouse this morning, so court was ajourned until 1:30 p.m.

April 29

Bob Tessel, an expert crime investigator out of Georgia, was called to the stand by the defense this morning. He's a former police officer and has some college and seminars in crime scene investigation.

Tessel looked at photos and the police report. He gave his analysis of the crime scene, where he looked at where the body was and went backwards starting with blood on carpet, table and upstairs landing.

Tessel said he could tell the body had been moved said said the majority of the wounds to her body was inflicted in the bedroom. He said she could have been stabbed in the back going down the hallway.

Tessel agreed with some of the crime scene reporting that there were blood stains in the foyer that soomeone tried to clean up. He also agreed that Karen's jeans were inside out as if they were pulled off or taken off in a hurry. However, he maintains that the lethal assault took place in the bedroom.

Tessel said Karen made no attempt to go out the front door. She was fleeing her assailant but was not trying to flee the residence.

Tessel said Karen could have had bleeding from the nose and the mouth, although the pathologist said there was no signs of cutting to the mouth. He went on to say that nothing was ransacked in the house, items that were stolen were of little value to what was left in the house.

Tessel classified the nature of the crime as an angry assault. He said he believes the perpetrator fought with Karen and smeared blood all over himself.

April 28

3:15 p.m.

During cross-examination this afternoon, Dr. Tipton was asked about what his friend Mike Ezzel said about wife-swapping. Tipton said that he had told Karen that he and Ezzel shouldn't disrespect him by discussing it.

Tipton said that he and their children moved into a new home about six weeks after Karen's slaying. Before that, he stayed with a friend and the girls stayed in another. He said the reason for that was because he didn't want them to see him in the mental state he was in afterwards.

Tipton also said that a black shirt that was found in the bed wasn't his. He said the only time he was left alone in the house was when an officer escorted him there to get some clothes and then left him five minutes before Tipton left. He also said that he didn't use the computer extensively after the slaying.

When asked why he didn't go looking for his girls immediately after the slaying if he was so concerned about their welfare, he said his focus when he found Karen was to let emergency officials know what had happened. He also stated again that he didn't want his girls to see him while he was in such bad shape afterwards,

After Tipton left the stand, former Department of Forensic Science investigator Roger Morrison was questioned about forensic evidence that was submitted. He said there were 21 items submitted for analysis.

10:45 a.m.

Next up on the stand is Dr. David Tipton, who was Karen Tipton's husband. He has lived in NC with the couple's daughters for four years, but he's originally from Rogersville.

Dr. Tipton explained what he did the day his wife was slain, and described his morning and day at work as "normal". The last time he said he saw his wife alive was at 7:30 that morning before he left for his office and before Karen took their children to school.

The only thing not normal about the day was that he left work early to take his family to a production of "The Sound of Music". Before he left his office that afternoon, his office assistant told him that he needed to call in a prescription for a patient. Phone records indicate that the call was made.

When Tipton arrived home, he said entered the house from the garage, noting that the door was locked but not the deadbolt. As he was entering the kitchen, he said he noticed that the alarm panel had been ripped off the wall, with only wires dangling from the wall. In the kitchen, he said he found the alarm panel there on the counter and the kitchen's TV turned on.

From there, Tipton said he went to the foyer and took off his shoes and coat. There, he said he noticed a few spots of blood on the floor. But then as he walked into the doorway between the foyer and great room, he found a big puddle of blood he described as looking like someone had attempted to clean it up.

Tipton said he then went upstairs and found his wife's body in the hallway. He checked her pulse and screamed and then attempted to call 911 via the bedroom's phone but found he had no dial tone.

Tipton said he was putting on his shoes again to run next door to a neighbor's house for help when he remembered his separate fax phone line. He then called 911 from there. He said he was especially concerned about his daughters, who Karen was supposed to pick up from school.

After greeting the first officer, Tipton said that he sat on the porch and then inside a police car for eight hours. Eventually, he found out that his daughters were with a friend of the family. He said he was questioned by investigators at the police station that night.

Tipton said he was escorted into the home twice in ensuing days by police officers to get clothes for him and his daughters. He also was walked through the house by investigators to determine what was missing. He said that a camcorder and jewelry were missing. He also said that a dresser drawer was open and clothes were messed up, which he said was abnormal because Karen was a very neat and tidy person.

April 27

2:45 p.m.

The defense continued their cross-examination of Petty. The points they focused on was about how Dr. Tipton (Karen's husband) was allowed back in his home before the computer was examined for evidence and all of the fingerprint evidence was collected. The defense also questioned whether evidence gathered from the washcloth and the bed was tampered with.

Under redirection by the prosecution, Petty said that when Ezzel was questioned, he had a valid alibi and only had one minor scratch on his face.

Other witnesses were then called. One was Jennifer Moore, who was with Paging USA; otheres were Casey Anderson, who worked in customer service with Compass Bank, and Scott Altrey with AT&T. Anderson's testimony centered on Moore's history of overdrafts on his bank account, and Altrey testified about the record of phone calls made between the Tipton residence and Dr. Tipton's office phone.

Finally, John Case with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences was used as evidence. Case was too ill to attend the trial, so the prosecution read his previous testimony. When asked if the evidence was tampered with, he said, "No way."

10:45 a.m.

Today was investigator Mike Petty's third day on the stand, and second under cross-examination.

When asked if Petty had taken computer evidence from the Tipton home, he said that a friend of an investigator with computer experience came in and downloaded files from the computer onto floppy drives. Petty said that the amount of information to be gleaned from computer files was completely different when the crime occurred. That evidence was given to Julie Stapf with the FBI.

When he was asked again why he threw his handwritten notes away, Petty said that he transcribed them, added additional information that was found in the investigation, and all of that was included in the file.

When asked if he had attended Karen Tipton's funeral, Petty said yes. He also confirmed that he observed injuries to the face of pallbearer Mike Ezzel during the funeral. Later when he was questioned, Ezzel had one minor scratch on his face. He also said that he and his wife would frequently visit the Tipton home for "picking parties."

Petty said that potential person of interest Mark Scott Lane was found in Illinois. Petty was then identifying cars that were at the Tipton home when Karen's body was found when the court took a break.

April 23

5 p.m.

Dr. Pistona told jurors Karen Tipton had 28 stab wounds to her body.

During opening statements, the defense said evidence would show this was a ritualistic killing from someone who knew Tipton. Pistona is a Yale-educated expert on such crimes.

He told jurors neither scenario was true in this case. He called it a frenzy killing, one which could have been committed by someone under the influence of crack cocaine.

Monday is Confederate Memorial Day, which is a state holiday. But it won't be recognized at the Morgan County courthouse and testimony will continue Monday at 9 a.m.

2:30 p.m.

Next on the stand was Stephen Pineda, who works for Religene out of New Orleans. She gave the jurors a lesson in bionuclear evidence involving mitochondrial DNA.

Pineda told the court that she matched Moore's pubic hair with blood found in the washcloth in Karen Tipton's bed after the attack. She said that two different sources of DNA data showed the match.

Under cross-examination, the defense attorneys said there was sloppy police work when the evidence was gathered.

11:15 a.m.

Michael A. Petty, the former lead investigator in the Karen Tipton homicide case, began a second day of testimony. This morning, he said he had established that the Tiptons hadn't spoken on the day of the homicide.

Petty also gave his own account of what happened during the slaying. According to his investigation, the assault began in the first floor great room, where Karen was said to have been stabbed in the shoulder. She was wearing an Alabama shirt, which she pulled off after that stabbing as she tried to escape. A handprint indicated Karen slipped on the floor, and her attacker then took her upstairs.

Karen then attempted to get to a "panic button" that was built into the house, but the attacker prevented her from getting the panel open and took her into the bedroom, where evidence showed she was physically and sexually assaulted.

Karen's jeans had been pulled off with her underwear and were found inside-out. A palm print was found in the bed but didn't have enough detail to obtain fingerprints. Also, a washcloth was found in the bed, which investigators believe was used by the attacker to clean themselves off afterwards.

Karen made one last attempt to escape, but she was caught in the hallway and stabbed again. Her head and a major artery was severed, but investigators believe that happened after she had already died.

Karen's purse, jewelry, and a camcorder were taken from the home.

Under cross examination, Petty was asked how long Moore's hair was at the time of the attack. When he described it as shoulder-length, that was disputed by the defense.

Also, Petty said that Dr. Tipton was at the home when he arrived and was worried about the couple's children, who were not at the scene. He also said there was no sign of forcible entry.

April 22

11:30 a.m.

Testimony today began with Barry Hamilton, a former Decatur police sergeant and the former head of the Violent Crimes unit of the department. He was one of the first officers to arrive at the Tipton home, and he talked about the crime scene.

During the investigation, a person of interest in the case -- Mark Scott Lane -- was located in Illinois, but Hamilton said it's now believed that he wasn't involved in the slaying.

Hamilton also talked about the relationship between the Decatur Police Department and the FBI, who were asked to develop a profile for a possible killer.

Hamilton and another officer found Daniel Wade Moore at a Ramada Hotel in Morgan County. During questioning, Moore first denied any connection to the slaying or visiting the Tipton house before the slaying.

However, Hamilton said that when the name of his former employer was mentioned, Moore then remembered working at the house and became nervous and uncooperative. When the officer left the room briefly, Moore pulled out a pocket knife and began to stab himself.

Hamilton obtained a statement from Moore's uncle, Sparky Moore, who claimed that his nephew had confessed to involvement in the slaying. Sparky said that he was not lying in his statement.

In Daniel Wade Moore's hotel room, investigators found letters to his family. In his apartment in Hanceville, they also found a tool box with a sticker advertising his former employer.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Jake Watson implied that Hamilton had destroyed evidence by throwing away the handwritten notes from the investigation. Hamilton said all of the content from those notes was included in investigation files that are now public record.

Hamilton was also asked if investigators had tested the tools found in Moore's apartment or anything from his pickup truck. He said no.

April 21

11 a.m.

Jurors heard from Darnell Ellison, who was identified as Moore's drug dealer. He said he met him in Stonegate Village. He said Moore would page him for drugs and that he was paid with either money or with camcorders that Moore would buy at area stores with bad checks.

The prosecution is making an unusual move in this trial. Since Moore may not testify, they are taking the stand and reading testimony from Moore's first trial. According to what the transcripts said, Moore said that he was suicidal and wanting to die. Also, when he was out on bond, his grandfather had paid the bondsman and Moore was very anxious about that and wanted to get off bond.

In the testimony, Moore said he looked in the paper and saw and recognized the Tipton house, where he had previously worked. He said that he and two other students from the school he was attending broke into the house. He said he was upstairs burglarizing things while the other two people killed Karen Tipton. Later, two police officers arrested Moore in Decatur in connection with Tipton's death.

April 20

1:03 p.m.

One juror was excused before the opening statements. Now there are 17 jurrors. His boss says he is not a full time worker and will not be paid, so the judge let him go.

After the state gave their opening statements, the defense got their turn. Sherman Powell pointed to previous statements made by the husband of victim, Dr. Tipton, stating "Her purse is missing from the kitchen counter". Sherman says, "Think about it. How would he know it was on the counter?" He intimated that Karen Tipton was killed in the heat of passion, not by someone looking to rob her.

He set up a scenario that she saw porn on the computer (from her husband's mailbox), and accused her husband of looking at it and a fight broke out. He said he expects evidence to show that cops were not careful with crime scene and contaminated it. That would "explain" Daniel's pubic hair mixed with Karen's blood on a wash cloth.

Powell also points to a "wet" shower on 3rd floor, indicating Tipton cleaned himself up after the deed.

Testimony began with daughter Caroline describing what she did as a first grader when her mom didn't show up to get her from school that day. Then two cops testified. Bobby Willis was the first cop on the scene. He went to see the body and stayed with Dr. Tipton outside until help arrived. His supervisor, Lt. William Darvy described Dr. Tipton as being in a state of shock. He was not speaking unless spoken to.

Break for lunch.

10:23 a.m.

Assistant Attorney General Will Dill gave his opening statement Monday morning, basically giving jurors a roadmap of the case. He said he will go into detail about DNA matches between Daniel Wade Moore and evidence found at the slaying.

He also said he sill give a timeline of Moore's activities on the day of the slaying, as well as a timeline of Karen Tipton's husband before he called 911 to report his wife's stabbing.

The court called a 10 minute recess, after which lead defense attorney Sherman Powell will begin his opening statement