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A man charged with the 1994 sexual assault and death of his then-girlfriend's 5-year-old daughter will become Hinds County's first death penalty case in nearly 10 years.
Peterson's office said in court papers that it decided to seek the death penalty after new evidence became available, including DNA results that revealed the presence of semen in the victim. A pathologist said the child, Felicia Griffin, was brutally raped. An autopsy showed the child could have died from strangulation, blows to the head or blood loss from the tearing in her genital area.
Moffett's capital murder trial is set for Feb. 6 and he is being held without bond at the Hinds County Detention Center at Raymond.
Felicia died at the home her mother shared with Moffett on Lynda Street. Moffett reported to police he found Felicia on the bed bleeding after he came home from a bar. Her sisters, about 4 and 7 at the time, also were home, according to police reports.
Moffett originally was charged with capital murder in 1994, jailed for several months and then released because prosecutors took too long to forward the case to a grand jury. The district attorney's office lacked forensic evidence at the time to tie Moffett to the crime.
The grand jury later reviewed the case but did not return an indictment.
The child's mother, Pennie Griffin, couldn't be reached for comment.
Griffin immediately accused Moffett and told police she had suspected he sexually abused her children before.
She said she had taken all three of her children to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for exams for sexual abuse, according to police reports. A doctor examined the girls but found no signs of trauma, bruising or tearing.
Felicia told an uncle in the summer of 1994 that she had been touched between her legs by Moffett, but Griffin didn't file charges.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050829/NEWS01/508290373/1002
Peterson's office said in court papers that it decided to seek the death penalty after new evidence became available, including DNA results that revealed the presence of semen in the victim. A pathologist said the child, Felicia Griffin, was brutally raped. An autopsy showed the child could have died from strangulation, blows to the head or blood loss from the tearing in her genital area.
Moffett's capital murder trial is set for Feb. 6 and he is being held without bond at the Hinds County Detention Center at Raymond.
Felicia died at the home her mother shared with Moffett on Lynda Street. Moffett reported to police he found Felicia on the bed bleeding after he came home from a bar. Her sisters, about 4 and 7 at the time, also were home, according to police reports.
Moffett originally was charged with capital murder in 1994, jailed for several months and then released because prosecutors took too long to forward the case to a grand jury. The district attorney's office lacked forensic evidence at the time to tie Moffett to the crime.
The grand jury later reviewed the case but did not return an indictment.
The child's mother, Pennie Griffin, couldn't be reached for comment.
Griffin immediately accused Moffett and told police she had suspected he sexually abused her children before.
She said she had taken all three of her children to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for exams for sexual abuse, according to police reports. A doctor examined the girls but found no signs of trauma, bruising or tearing.
Felicia told an uncle in the summer of 1994 that she had been touched between her legs by Moffett, but Griffin didn't file charges.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050829/NEWS01/508290373/1002
