Mother testifies during son's preliminary hearing in murder case

Betty Mosley's anguish and grief reverberated throughout the Division III courtroom in Cape Girardeau County Courthouse Thursday, leaving few dry eyes in the courtroom gallery filled with her family and friends.

Her 23-year-old son, Clayton R. Mosley, is charged with murdering her husband of 25 years in their home at 1854 Martin Court on Jan. 5.

Clayton Mosley is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action. He is in custody at the Cape Girardeau County Jail on a $1 million cash bond.

Betty Mosley was summoned to testify before Associate Judge Gary Kamp about the events surrounding the death during her son's preliminary hearing.

When asked by Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle to describe what happened the morning of Jan. 5, Betty Mosley said the man who bludgeoned Charles Mosley, 55, to death with a hammer was her son, but also a stranger, someone she had never seen before.

"I don't think he knew who his dad was," she sobbed. "It wasn't my son."

Speaking barely above a whisper, Betty Mosley periodically gave way to tears as she detailed for the court the events of that night.

She said she was awakened about 3 a.m. by a low, grumbly, voice she did not recognize, cursing in another room. She followed that voice into another bedroom where she said she saw her son hit her husband in the face with a hammer.

Clayton Mosley ordered her not to look at his face and get all the cash in the house.

Betty Mosley said she got all the cash she could find -- about $20 and change -- and put in on the bed where her motionless husband lay. It was all the cash in the house, she said.

Her son kept saying "nobody has been protecting me from this thing," she said. She said she didn't know what he was referring to.

There was no reasoning with him, she said. He had never before acted aggressively toward either parent, he had always been the "quiet child," she said.

She said she pleaded with him that she was his mother, she loved him, and always protected him, to no avail.

"I started praying -- praying to God to get out of there," she said.

She finally ran outside and hid behind one of the family's cars in the driveway she said. When she saw her son come to the door, she ran to a neighbor's car for shelter. When she heard Clayton Mosley drive off, she called police.

"I love my son with all my heart," Betty Mosley said.

She looked at her son, shackled and seated on the defendant's bench.

"I love you, baby," she sobbed.

When questioned by assistant public defender Amy Metzinger, Betty Mosley described how her son had always been a stable and responsible individual until 2000, when he reportedly began having medical problems of a mental nature.

"I just started seeing these changes," she said.

Concerned, she took him to the Community Counseling Center in Cape Girardeau where doctors there reportedly told her Clayton Mosley could be suffering from schizophrenia or perhaps a hormonal problem that sometimes occurs in young adult men, she said.

A SEMO Drug Task Force officer and Pemiscot County deputy testified about the crime scene, finding the bloodied hammer in the front yard of the residence, and apprehending Clayton Mosley about 4:30 a.m. Jan. 5 near the Caruthersville city limits. Clayton Mosley cooperated with police, said deputy Brian Burgess. Burgess said he did not notice Clayton Mosley's clothing at the time of the arrest.

Betty Mosley left the courtroom during Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Clifton's description of the crime scene.

Clifton said he believed Charles Mosley was struck three or four times with the hammer, based on his observation of the wound and spattered blood patterns in the room.

"It was a very bloody scene," he said.

Clifton pronounced Charles Mosley dead due to head trauma at the scene at 4:05 a.m., he said.

Based on the testimony in court, Judge Kamp bound Clayton Mosley over to trial Feb. 13.

carel@semissourian.com

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