No trial in father's slaying

Clayton Mosley was incapable of knowing right from wrong when he bludgeoned his father to death.

The Missouri Department of Mental Health announced that finding Monday, determining the 23-year-old Cape Girardeau man suffered from paranoid schizophrenia when he committed the January slaying at the family home in Cape Girardeau.

The result of the finding is that Mosley will not stand trial and instead will undergo long-term treatment in a state mental health facility.

According to the probable cause statement issued at the time of the crime, at 3 a.m. Jan. 5, Mosley hit his 55-year-old father, Charles, in the head with a hammer at their home at 1854 Martin Court in Cape Girardeau. Clayton Mosley's mother, Betty, was awakened by screaming and cursing and went into one of the home's bedrooms where she saw the attack in progress.

After the attack, Clayton Mosley allegedly demanded cash from his mother and argued over the $23 she gave him, the report said. When Clayton Mosley said he didn't have time to wait for his mother to cash a check at an all-night store, she fled the residence and hid behind a car parked in the street, the report said.

Police say Clayton Mosley fled in his vehicle. The Pemiscot County Sheriff's Department spotted the suspect about 4:30 a.m. at a Caruthersville, Mo., truck stop and, with the assistance of the Hayti and Caruthersville police departments, arrested him at the Caruthersville city limits.

335-6611, extension 245