Ronald Howard Moen

Marion County - Oregon

Born: 2/23/37

Sentenced to death: 4/24/1987

Moen was convicted of the 1986 gunshot killings of his ex-wife, Judith Ann Moen, and her mother, Elizabeth Hazel Chatfield, in their home south of Turner. Moen's sentence was later overturned because of a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Interesting fact: Moen's criminal history dated to 1959 and included a conviction for criminally negligent homicide.

Status: Life sentence.

Ronald Moen

On March 14, 1986 the bodies of two women, Hazel Chatfield and Judith Moen, were found in Chatfield's residence south of Salem. Both victims died of gunshot wounds to the head.

The defendant, Moen's husband, was indicted for the crimes, and a Marion County jury found him guilty of aggravated murder. He was sentenced to death. His death sentence was overturned in 1990 by the Oregon Supreme Court on Penry grounds.

Instead of facing a new sentencing-phase trial, the Marion County district attorney offered the defendant a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

The district attorney explained the apparent lenience of the sentence on remand with three observations: (1) the likelihood of further remands made quick execution of Moen impossible; (2) the age of Moen at the time made eventual execution unlikely (he was 53), and (3) the physical condition of Moen made it likely he would soon die (he was still alive shortly ago).