CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – The hearing to decide whether or not Sidney Moorer violated a gag order placed on his case in March 2014 was held Friday morning.
The hearing began around 10 a.m. and News13’s Lucas Lalonde sat in to hear the judge’s decision. The judge first reviewed the contempt of court charge with Moorer and his attorney Kirk Truslow.
In Friday’s hearing, Moorer acknowledged that he did violate the gag order by doing an interview with WBTW on the second day of his kidnapping trial, June 21.
Truslow argued that the judge should consider the amount of time Moorer served in jail, nearly one year, after being charged with the murder of Heather Elvis. Moorer was released from jail June 22, 2015 on a $100,000 bond.
The murder charges against Sidney Moorer were dropped March 10.
Moorer apologized for his actions in court Friday morning, but the prosecution asked the judge to jail Moorer for the full six months allowed by the contempt of court charge. The judge opted for a five month jail sentence and had an order written to take Moorer into custody immediately following the hearing.
Moorer reached out to News13 following the second day of his kidnapping trial in June. He said he wanted to speak on the prosecution’s presentation of surveillance video showing him buying a pregnancy test on the night Elvis disappeared. Prosecutors suggested throughout the trial that Moorer kidnapped Elvis because she was pregnant.
“I was actually buying it for my wife. She was in the vehicle when I bought it for her. She took it that night, and it was negative, like so many before and after,” Moorer said during the interview.
Moorer says he and his wife had been trying to get pregnant for a long time, and that night would not be the only one he was seen buying a pregnancy test.
“I know the prosecution’s desperate. They need a conviction really, really bad, but I think what they need more than that is that they need the truth. They need to give the family peace, real peace, what really, really happened.”
Moorer says his wife was able to get pregnant after months of trying, but later, she lost the baby.
News13 asked Moorer why he wanted to speak while his case was in the middle of a trial, with a gag order in place, and he said it’s because of his wife.
He feels like she’s been brought into the case against her will, and he says while he doesn’t deny he had a sexual relationship with Elvis, he’s never bought a pregnancy test for anyone but his wife.
The prosecution later filed a motion stating, “The State believes that the contents of the Defendant’s statement to this news outlet violated the terms [of the order].”
During the hearing Friday morning, Truslow requested a continuance for Moorer’s scheduled retrial. The judge noted that unlike the last kidnapping trial against Moorer, the community has already seen and heard the case, and he has concerns over that.
The judge granted the continuance to delay Moorer’s kidnapping retrial. A new date has not yet been set. The judge adds he will decide on whether the retrial should involve a change of venue, allowing the case to be heard somewhere other than a Conway courtroom.
