Bio

Stephen Lindsey Moody was born on July 16, 1957, in Texas. 

Murder Story

On October 19, 1991, Stephen Lindsey Moody and Calvin Doby went to the Houston home of 28-year-old Joseph Franz Hall. Court records and later reporting state that the two men forced their way inside the home with the intent to rob Hall. They demanded money and drugs.

Hall’s girlfriend, Rene Psenka, was inside the home during the robbery. She was in the bathroom and was not physically harmed. She later identified Moody from a photographic lineup, which became part of the evidence against him.

During the robbery, Hall pleaded for his life. Moody shot him at close range with a sawed-off shotgun. Court records reported by the Houston Chronicle state that Moody later said he shot Hall because Hall resisted or tried to get up from the ground.

After the shooting, Moody and Doby fled. According to the case summary, they left with about $1,200 in cash and later divided the money. The murder remained unsolved for nearly a year until police received information that helped identify Doby and Moody as suspects.

By the time Moody was connected to Hall’s murder, he was already in prison for a Houston bank robbery. He was later tried for capital murder in Harris County. On March 19, 1993, a jury convicted him and sentenced him to death.

Calvin Doby was also convicted in connection with the case and received a life sentence. Shortly before his execution, Moody reportedly signed a statement claiming Doby was innocent, but the courts did not stop the execution based on that claim.

Moody spent more than 15 years on Texas death row. In later years, he said he had undergone a religious conversion. Before execution, he directed his attorneys not to pursue a final appeal to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Stephen Lindsey Moody was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, on September 16, 2009. The lethal drugs began at 6:20 p.m., and he was declared dead eight minutes later.