Bio

Patrick Lane Moody was born on July 4, 1966. He grew up in Canton, Ohio, and later became involved in a relationship with Wanda Robbins, the wife of Donnie Ray Robbins. Before the killing of Donnie Robbins, Moody had already been involved in a similar criminal scheme in Florida. Reports state that he attempted to kill a man at a woman’s urging and served time in a Florida prison for attempted murder and conspiracy. This earlier case later became important during clemency arguments and public reporting because prosecutors used it to show that the Robbins murder was not the first time Moody had become involved in a murder plot connected to a woman.

By 1994, Moody was having an affair with Wanda Robbins. Wanda was married to Donnie Ray Robbins. According to court and news records, Wanda persuaded Moody to kill her husband so they could collect and divide the proceeds from a $5,000 life insurance policy. Moody’s attorneys later argued that Wanda was the main planner and that Moody had limited mental ability, but the courts and governor did not accept those arguments as a reason to stop the death sentence.

Murder Story

On September 16, 1994, Patrick Lane Moody went to the home of Donnie Ray Robbins in Thomasville, North Carolina. Moody had been having an affair with Donnie’s wife, Wanda Robbins. The plan was to kill Donnie so Moody and Wanda could collect money from a $5,000 life insurance policy.

Moody pretended that he was interested in buying a car owned by Donnie Robbins. While Donnie was showing him the vehicle in a nearby field, Moody shot him in the back of the head. Donnie Robbins died from the gunshot wound. The killing was later treated as a planned murder for financial gain.

The next morning, Wanda Robbins contacted the life insurance company seeking payment. This call became one of the details used to show the financial motive behind the murder. Wanda later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and insurance fraud. She received life imprisonment plus 65 years.

Moody was arrested after the murder and indicted on January 9, 1995. His murder trial began in 1995, but on July 14, 1995, during the prosecution’s presentation of evidence, he changed his plea to guilty of first-degree murder. After the guilty plea was accepted, the court held a capital sentencing proceeding, and the jury recommended a death sentence.

On July 20, 1995, Moody was sentenced to death in Davidson County Superior Court. The North Carolina Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and death sentence in 1997. His later federal habeas appeal was also rejected, and the United States Supreme Court denied review in January 2006.

Before his execution, Moody’s lawyers argued that he should be spared because of questions about his mental capacity and because Wanda Robbins, who helped plan the killing, received a life sentence instead of death. His attorneys also challenged North Carolina’s lethal injection procedure, arguing that it could cause unconstitutional pain and suffering. The courts denied the final appeals, and Governor Mike Easley denied clemency.

Patrick Lane Moody was executed by lethal injection at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, on March 17, 2006. He was pronounced dead at 2:19 a.m. His last meal was reported as turkey with dressing, tossed salad with blue cheese dressing, strawberry cheesecake, and a soda or Coke.

The case remains a North Carolina murder-for-hire and insurance-money case involving an affair, a planned killing, and a death sentence carried out more than 11 years after the murder.