The family of a slain Springfield, Massachusetts woman say they have waited far too long for their day in court.
Clutching family photographs, a half-dozen people demonstrated in front of the state courthouse in downtown Springfield to show their frustration with a system they say has failed to deliver justice for TayClair Moore, who died of strangulation by ligature at the age of 29 in March 2014.
Frederick Pinney, from whom Moore rented a room in his house where she was found dead, was arrested and charged with her murder. His trial ended without a verdict in 2016 because of juror misconduct.
Seven years later and a new trial has not been held or even been scheduled.
“This is ridiculous, ridiculous,” exclaimed Kenyetta Alston, one of Moore’s two sisters.
She said Pinney’s attorney has filed motion after motion that has delayed the scheduling of a second trial. She said each time the family, including her 68-year old-mother, show up in court to watch another pre-trial hearing it is an emotional strain.
“I can’t understand (how) they are allowing this to happen,” Alston said.
Adding to the family’s pain, she said, is that Pinney was released from custody in 2021 at the time that prisoners’ rights advocates were clamoring for jail populations to be thinned to reduce the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks.
“If anything hurts the most it is that my sister is not here and he is able to walk around on these streets,” Alston said. “This is unfair.”
Another of Moore’s sisters, Barbara Wells, said there can be no closure for the family until someone is convicted.
“I understand that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but allow this process to move along already,” Wells said.
Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said it is “tragic” that Moore’s family has had to wait so long for their day in court. In a written statement he said the delays and interruptions in the case “are beyond the pale and an undue burden for those who have already suffered too much.”
Linda Thompson, the attorney for Pinney, said her client also wants his day in court.
“I want to have a trial. I don’t want this tried in the media,” Thompson said. “TayClair Moore’s family is not our adversary.”
The defense argued at Pinney’s 2016 trial that evidence pointed to Moore’s boyfriend as the likely killer.
A status conference in the case is scheduled in Hampden Superior Court on February 28th.
