By Louis Hansen
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK, Va. — A Circuit Court judge on Wednesday sentenced a man wrongfully released from jail to 106 years in prison for stalking and killing a woman who had tried to help him.
James A. Moore, 45, stalked and dragged Katrina Wilson from her car and stabbed her repeatedly in her driveway on Evelyn T. Butts Avenue. Wilson, 42, and her family tried to assist Moore, a homeless ex-convict, in straightening out his life.
Judge Charles E. Poston ordered the maximum sentences for the convictions against Moore. In April, Moore pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and five other felonies. Poston also found that he violated his probation.
Special prosecutor S. Catherine Dodson, a senior commonwealth’s attorney in Virginia Beach, argued that Moore deserved a stiff sentence. Before the murder, Dodson said, Moore told Wilson he would kill her. “He did exactly what he threatened to do,” she said.
Members of Wilson’s family said nothing can replace her.
“They could have given him 500 years or the death penalty, and it still wouldn’t bring my sister back,” said Cornell B. Wilson Jr., Wilson’s younger brother.
Confusion over two sets of charges against Moore and an error in a court order allowed Moore to post bond.
In January 2009, Moore was charged with statutory burglary and destruction of property. Prosecutors accused Moore of kicking in Wilson’s door and threatening to kill her, according to court transcripts. Moore went to jail.
In April, a grand jury indicted Moore on unrelated charges of grand larceny.
At a hearing a day later , a judge ordered bond for only the first set of charges. However, a clerical error on the court order allowed Moore to post bond on both sets of charges, according to court transcripts. The judge signed the order, according to records. Moore posted bond and was released April 10. Wilson was killed April 26.
The clerk’s office has since changed its procedures.
Wilson’s mother, Antionette Logan, said her daughter was generous and devoted to her family and her church, First Baptist Bolling Brook. The two lived together.
Wilson was a trustee in the church and volunteered at outreach programs for the poor and homeless, she said.
Her daughter’s giving nature led her to help Moore, she said. He was homeless but settled into a vacant property next to their home, she said. The two women fed him and brought him to church.
Moore had a criminal record in Norfolk dating to 1983, including felony convictions for malicious wounding, statutory burglary and abduction, according to a court notice filed by the prosecutor.
When Moore wanted a closer relationship, Wilson pushed away, Logan said.
After he was released from jail, Moore returned to the neighborhood and was regularly seen walking their street, Logan said.
Logan and a few other family members drove to church on the morning of April 26, 2009, leaving Wilson alone at the house. Logan expected her daughter to arrive at the service a few minutes after them.
“I live with that every day,” Logan said.
A clerical error on a court order allowed James A. Moore to post bond on two sets of charges. Moore was released April 10, 2009. Katrina Wilson was killed April 26.
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