PANAMA CITY — Joseph Moody’s voice trembled as he testified he intended to kill himself the day he shot and killed his ex-girlfriend.
“I loved her,” Moody said.
“We saw how much you loved her,” prosecutor Bob Sombathy replied.
Moody, 41, faces a life sentence if jurors convict him of first-degree murder for the March 19, 2013 slaying of 24-year-old Megan Pettis. Moody took the stand Wednesday to establish thoughts of suicide pervaded his judgment that day, but prosecutors argued his actions did not demonstrate a diminished capacity. Jurors will hear closing arguments from both sides today and are expected to begin deliberating a verdict.
Moody admitted to killing Pettis and gave his account of what transpired before following her to a Panama City shopping center parking lot “to confront her, talk to her,” he told the jury.
“On the way there, I’m thinking I’m going to kill myself,” Moody said. “I felt like it would show her how bad I felt, how much pain I had in me.”
But after seeing Pettis drive away, he reconsidered killing himself and decided to continue with his day — until she circled around the parking lot to leave, Moody said.
“I realized it was her car as she’s driving by, and I started shooting,” he said. “I was in a daze, like everything wasn’t real.”
Sombathy argued the moment of clarity Moody experienced between seeing Pettis drive off and his actions upon her passing dispelled his claim of being suicidal.
“He had changed his intent prior to the time of the shooting,” Sombathy said. “He’d abandoned any thoughts of suicide.”
Moody maintained he was dazed as he fired nine shots into Pettis’ car, but remembered unholstering the .45-caliber handgun that was used take her life.
Before hearing Moody’s testimony, jurors saw police interrogation video of Moody after he was beaten and subdued by bystanders in the shopping center parking lot; surveillance camera footage from nearby businesses and autopsy photos of the slain Pettis who suffered three bullet wounds to the head.
One contested exhibit eventually was admitted as evidence. Moody’s defense argued photos of a single, live round in the center console of Moody’s car after the shooting demonstrated his intent to end his life.
“There could be a defense argument he was headed back to the car to get another bullet to kill himself,” said defense attorney Rusty Shepard.
Judge Michael Overstreet scheduled closing arguments for 9 a.m. Thursday and jury deliberation could begin afterward.