Bio

James Walter Moreland was born on May 15, 1960. Texas Department of Criminal Justice records list him as a white male from Jefferson County, Kentucky. At the time he was received by Texas death row in 1983, he was twenty-three years old. His listed prior occupation was laborer, and his education level was recorded as eight years.

Before the murders, Moreland had a criminal history involving burglary and alcohol-related offenses. At trial, he testified that he had been charged with burglarizing two homes in Texas when he was seventeen. He said he pleaded out of one burglary charge and was placed on felony probation for the other. He also testified that, within a week of receiving probation in Texas, he committed another burglary in Florida and stole a truck. He was placed on probation for the Florida offense as well.

Moreland also described several misdemeanor offenses in Indiana during the late 1970s, including illegal alcohol possession or consumption, public intoxication, and resisting arrest. He later testified that his legal problems were connected to drinking, although he denied having a drug or alcohol problem. His own confession stated that he had been drinking on the day of the murders and had consumed several beers before meeting the victims.

By October 1982, Moreland was twenty-two years old. He was in Texas when he began hitchhiking and was picked up by Clinton Abbott and John Cravey. The meeting led to the killings for which he was later convicted and executed.

Murder Story

On October 9, 1982, James Walter Moreland was drinking at home with his brother before deciding to go into town. He began hitchhiking and was picked up by two men, Clinton Corbet Abbott and John Cravey. The men had also been drinking, and Moreland later said they continued drinking together after he accepted their invitation to go to Cravey’s trailer home in Eustace, Texas.

Later that night, Abbott and Cravey were found dead inside Cravey’s trailer. Cravey’s body was discovered in the front room near a bloodstained couch, while Abbott’s body was found in a rear bedroom near a bed. Both men had been stabbed repeatedly in the back. Investigators found two bloody knives on a dresser, and the trailer showed no clear signs of a major struggle.

Moreland later gave police a written confession. He claimed that Cravey made unwanted sexual advances toward him and that he stabbed Cravey after feeling threatened. He also claimed that Abbott came out of the bedroom and yelled at him, causing him to panic and stab Abbott as well. After the stabbings, Moreland took money and car keys and tried to leave the area. He eventually traveled to Bedford, Indiana.

Medical evidence challenged Moreland’s version of events. A medical examiner testified that both victims had seven stab wounds in a small area of the upper middle back. The pattern of wounds was very similar for both men. The Fifth Circuit later summarized that the wound pattern and lack of resistance were consistent with the victims being asleep when they were stabbed.

On October 13, 1982, authorities arrested Moreland in Bedford, Indiana. Police recovered cut-up pieces of Cravey’s boots from a trash can at Moreland’s sister’s home. Moreland’s father also turned over a medicine bottle with the name “Cravey” on the label. Moreland then confessed to Bedford police.

Moreland was indicted on December 1, 1982, for the capital murder of Clinton Abbott. He was tried in Henderson County, Texas. On June 15, 1983, the jury found him guilty of capital murder. He was sentenced to death under Texas law. TDCJ’s death-row record states that Moreland was convicted and sentenced for the October 9, 1982 stabbing death of Clinton Corbet Abbott, and that he was also indicted in the death of John Cravey, though the prosecutor said he would not be tried for Cravey’s death because the jury returned a death sentence in Abbott’s case.

Moreland’s conviction and death sentence were reviewed for many years. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and sentence on January 13, 1993. The U.S. Supreme Court denied review on June 14, 1993. His later state and federal habeas petitions were denied. On May 10, 1999, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial of federal habeas relief.

James Walter Moreland was executed by lethal injection in Texas on January 27, 2000. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists him as executed offender number 206, age thirty-nine, from Henderson County. In his final statement, Moreland expressed love for his family, apologized, said he had taken two lives, and referred to alcohol as part of the story of his life.