Greg McCollum, the attorney for newly convicted kidnapper Tammy Moorer, says they are appealing her case. Things will proceed without him, however. He told the Law&Crime Network that another legal team will take over.
McCollum added that his firm handles trials, but even so, it doesn’t seem like Moorer would’ve wanted to keep working with him anyway. She threw her trial team under the bus in her sentencing Tuesday.
“I felt like I had to do my own trial,” she said, adding that she didn’t think her attorneys “fought” for her. She complained about evidence not being entered into the trial.
“First of all, I don’t judge her for that,” McCollum said. He pointed that she had just been convicted, and dealt with a lot of problems since being accused in the 2013 disappearance of 20-year-old Heather Elvis. Shots were fired at her and her family, as well as at her house, McCollum said. So he doesn’t have a “huge problem” with her criticizing her legal team, considering the circumstances she is in.
“If that’s the way she feels, she can own that,” he said.
Attorneys have yet to settle on a main argument in Moorer’s appeal. McCollum said there are several appealable issues that are being fleshed out. McCollum said that the evidence mentioned by Moorer regarded the harassment aimed at her family.
“But that’s really not part of the case,” he said. “That’s something else.”
Law&Crime Networkls Rachel Stockman pointed out that prosecutors had a circumstantial case, and McCollum said they were confident after Moorer’s sister took the stand.
But then the defendant herself testified. Some pundits on the Law&Crime Network argued that Moorer’s combative testimony might have hurt her case. McCollum declined to say whether he advised her to take the stand or not.
The defendant was convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy. She was sentenced to 30-years in prison. Her husband Sidney Moorer was also accused of kidnapping Heather. Jurors last year were deadlocked in the matter, but he is serving a 10-year sentence for obstruction of justice.
[Screengrab via WMBF]
