Appeals court rules whether Sidney Moorer should get new obstruction of justice trial
A day after what would have been Heather Elvis’ 27th birthday, a South Carolina court rejected one of her convicted kidnapper’s appeals.
Sidney Moorer appealed his 2017 conviction for obstruction of justice related to the investigation into Elvis’ disappearance. On Wednesday, a South Carolina appeals court rejected that appeal.
The obstruction of justice case was separate from the overall kidnapping charges that both Sidney, and his wife, Tammy Moorer, faced. Last year, Sidney Moorer was convicted of kidnapping Elvis, and Tammy Moorer was convicted of kidnapping after a 2018 trial. The two were each sentenced to 30 years in prison on the kidnapping counts.
The appeals court rejection does not address the kidnapping case, only the obstruction of justice case. The decision means Sidney Moorer will continue to serve the remainder of his 10-year sentence on that count.
Sidney and Tammy Moorer have both appealed their kidnapping convictions and those cases remain active.
Prosecutors painted a case of Tammy Moorer growing jealous and angry over an affair between Sidney Moorer and Elvis. Elvis worked at a Myrtle Beach Tilted Kilt, where Sidney Moorer worked as a handyman.
In December 2013, prosecutors say Tammy and Sidney Moorer lured Elvis to Peachtree Landing. Her cell phone was last tracked to the boat landing around 3 a.m. She has not been seen since, and she has not been found.
A truck that was believed to belong to the Moorers was seen heading toward the landing around the same time Elvis went missing.
The Moorers were arrested in the months after Elvis disappeared, and the case drew national attention. Several high-profile trials followed and ended last year with the convictions.
Sidney argued in his appeal that he should have been granted a directed verdict of not guilty after his obstruction of justice trial. A defendant in a trial will often ask a judge for a directed verdict at the end of their trial, before a jury deliberates, and say the state did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The request is often procedural and often rejected by judges.
However, the appeals court ruled that there was enough circumstantial evidence to prove Sidney Moorer’s guilt.
The ruling noted that police testified about how Moorer lied during the investigation, experts discussed cell phone tracking and a witness described a photo Sidney Moorer allegedly showed after the kidnapping. The photo — which has not been seen publicly — supposedly shows Elvis, injured, on the night she went missing.
The court ruled that there was enough evidence to show a reasonable belief that Sydney Moorer mislead investigators.
