Man put to death for '94 murder

He shot husband of his girlfriend

Patrick Moody was executed today for the 1994 murder of his girlfriend's husband in Thomasville.

The victim's sister, Peggy Robbins Smith, planned to watch Moody's death by lethal injection at Raleigh's Central Prison so she could keep a promise to her brother, Donnie Robbins.

"I made my brother a promise when I was with him at the casket," said Smith, 47, of Thomasville. "I promised him that I would see justice done. I feel like this will be a way to fulfill my promise."

Smith said she thinks Moody, 39, of Davidson County, deserves to die because he chose to proceed with the plot to kill her brother. Moody conspired with his girlfriend, Wanda Robbins, to kill her husband so the pair could split a $5,000 insurance policy. On Sept. 16, 1994, Moody pretended to be interested in purchasing a car owned by Donnie Robbins and shot him in the back of the head.

At 5:30 a.m. on the day after the murder, Wanda Robbins called the life insurance company seeking payment. Wanda Robbins is serving life in prison for her role in the murder.

This was not the first time that Moody had plotted with a woman to kill somebody. He spent five years in a Florida prison for a similar scheme that failed.

Moody spent Wednesday and Thursday visiting with his mother, siblings and other relatives from Canton, Ohio, where he grew up. At 5 p.m. Thursday, Moody took a break from his first contact visits with family in 10 years to eat his last meal: turkey with dressing, a tossed salad with blue cheese dressing, strawberry cheesecake and a Coke.

At 6:15 p.m. Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt the execution so Moody could legally challenge the state's method of lethal injection. A similar lawsuit derailed a California inmate's execution last month, and four other inmates across the country have seen their executions delayed on the same basis.

The litigation questions whether the drugs used in lethal injection adequately sedate an inmate before the lethal dose is administered or whether inmates are experiencing excruciatingly painful deaths, which might be unconstitutional.

Three hours later, Gov. Mike Easley declined a request to commute Moody's sentence to life in prison. Moody's attorneys say he had very limited mental skills and was manipulated by Wanda Robbins.

Though evidence at trial showed Moody had an IQ of 81, his attorneys say he had scored in the mid-60s on previous tests. That would exempt him from the death penalty under state law. Easley has granted clemency only twice.

Moody's sister-in-law, Sandy Moody, thought the governor should have granted clemency because Moody's poor mental skills made him less culpable. "How do you hold a retarded person accountable for this?" she asked.