ASHLEIGH MOORE - 12 yo (2003)/ Accused: Bobby Buckner - Savannah GA

Ashleigh Moore’s family members said
Monday the criminal justice system has failed the slain child, but they
are not ready to give up in wake of a judge’s dismissal of the
indictment against her accused murderer.
Click here to read the judge's order.
“I want to go to the (Georgia) Supreme Court,” Stacy Marcus, Ashleigh’s
aunt, said. “I want an appeal. Win or lose, I told the D.A. to roll the dice.
“The system failed and it failed miserably, and it started from the beginning.”.
Along the way, Ashleigh Moore has been repeatedly victimized, Marcus said.
“How many more times is she going to be victimized?”
Moore, a 12-year-old DeRenne Middle School honor student, disappeared from her
Weiner Drive home early April 18, 2003. Her body was found about three
weeks later near the Savannah Marriott Riverfront.
Bobby Lavon Buckner, the 36-year-old live-in boyfriend of Ashleigh’s mother,
Michelle Moore, was indicted three times on murder, kidnapping with
bodily injury and related offenses in the case, but last week Chatham
County Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann threw out the
indictment for violation of the defendant’s right to a speedy trial.
Prosecutors have 30 days in which to seek an appeal or accept the judge’s 36-page
order as final. They were reviewing the order for possible error. The
district attorney’s office Monday did not respond to questions
concerning the family members’ comments or whether they intend to file an appeal.
Marcus and her mother and Ashleigh’s grandmother.
Willie Mae Berry, met for two hours last Thursday with District Attorney
Larry Chisolm and his chief assistant, David Perry, to discuss the case.
“I’m very much aware of what happened,” Marcus said during
an interview at the Savannah Morning News. And she is realistic about
the possible outcomes.
“I understand we may or may not get an appeal,” she said. “There really needs to be an appeal.”
Marcus and her mother were at the Weiner Drive residence on the morning
Ashleigh Moore went missing and right away knew something was not right.
They remained largely silent over the nine years since but said they
are breaking that silence in a bid to ensure the prosecutor pursues the case.
They avoided any discussions of the facts in the case, which they hope again
will become a pending prosecution.
But say they are no longer leaving the case in the hands of what they consider the professionals.
“We relied on them,” Marcus said. “How are they going to fix this mess? I
don’t care about the excuses. I don’t want to hear it.”
Among other issues the family has with the case, she said, is the apparent
lack of passion from prosecutors who they feel did not take time to get
to know the victim.
Perry, a veteran prosecutor who is the third
lead prosecutor in the case, was not here from the start and was asked
to handle the case by himself against a team of death penalty defense
lawyers, they said, adding they felt that more manpower should have been
assigned to the case, especially to assist Perry.
“It is hard lessons learned, and it is all at Ashleigh’s expense,” Marcus said.
Added Berry, “If a jury can hear this, there still may be a chance.”
http://savannahnow.com/news/2012-06-05/ashleigh-moores-family-wants-challenge-judges-dismissal-murder-case#.T84eh1KwW1w

Ga. high court upholds Bobby Buckner ruling
Posted: Feb 04, 2013 10:02 AM CST
Updated: Mar 06, 2013 10:02 AM CST

ATLANTA (WTOC) -
The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously upheld the ruling by a Chatham County Superior Court judge dismissing charges against a man accused in the 2003 death, kidnapping and sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl.

Ashleigh Moore disappeared from her home early on the morning of April 18, 2003. The next day, Ashleigh's mother's live-in boyfriend Bobby Lavon Buckner was arrested in connection with her death.

Police said Buckner had been alone with Ashleigh and two other children, which violated of a condition of his probation. Buckner admitted that he violated his probation and pleaded guilty to sex crimes with four other children, according to court documents. Her body was found three weeks after Ashleigh's disappearance.

Buckner was sentenced to 20 years in prison and is an inmate at Calhoun State Prison.

Buckner was indicted in December 2007 by a grand jury on charges of murder, kidnapping and child molestation and was re-indicted in May 2009.

In 2010, the lead prosecutor resigned from the district attorney's office and the case was re-indicted a third time in March 2011. On the 10th time the case was set for trial, prosecutors announced in April 2011 that the state would seek the death penalty and the case was reassigned to another Judge Penny Haas Freesemann , according to the Georgia Supreme Court.

The case was reassigned to the Capital Defender's Office and Buckner was appointed two new attorneys and more than 140 motions were filed, according to the Georgia Supreme Court. In August 2011, the state announced it would not seek the death penalty and trial was reset for February 2012.

In December 2011, Buckner filed his motion to dismiss the indictment, arguing that his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial had been violated.

On May 30, 2012, Freesemann granted Buckner's motion to dismiss the indictment because on prosecutors violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial.

An appeal was filed by Larry Chisolm, the Chatham County District Attorney at the time, to the state Supreme Court.

"Upon our review, we cannot say that the trial court clearly erred in its assessment of the relevant facts, and we cannot say that its ultimate conclusion, which appears reasoned and reasonable, amounts to an abuse of discretion," Justice Keith Blackwell wrote for the high court. "Accordingly, we must affirm the judgment below."

The Georgia Supreme Court opinion: "The State's explanation for the significantly delayed decision to seek the death penalty fails to persuade us that the trial court was unreasonable in its assessment of the delay occasioned by that decision."

"The trial court appears to have thought that someone in the office of the prosecuting attorney ought to have carefully reviewed the case file long before December 2010, and that it should have occurred to someone in that office long before March 2011 that the death penalty perhaps ought to be sought. Such thoughts are not unreasonable ones. After all, in a case like this one – involving a convicted sex offender accused of murdering, kidnapping, and sexually abusing a child – the idea that the death penalty perhaps might be warranted is hardly a novel one."

http://www.wtoc.com/story/20957381/court-upholds-sixth-amendement-violation-in-bobby-buckner-case