Pair Plead Guilty in Murder Outside Motel

March 15, 2022 – Two men who were set for trial Monday entered guilty pleas in the shooting death of a 54-year-old man outside of a motel on Sycamore View two years ago, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

Defendants Joshua Black, 23, and Daron Clayborne, 21, pled guilty to second-degree murder in Criminal Court, and were sentenced to 40 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

The case involved the shooting of Jimmy A. Moore shortly after midnight on Dec. 8, 2020, while he smoked a cigarette outside of the American Best Value Inn and Suites in the 1500 block of Sycamore View Road.

Investigators said the two defendants attacked him, struck him in the head with an object, and then went through his pockets. During the robbery attempt, one of the suspects shot Moore in the stomach. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Surveillance video showed the assailants driving away in a white Ford Taurus with a temporary license tag. Sheriff’s deputies located the car at a residence in Raleigh where Black was located and arrested. Clayborne was arrested later at another location.

The case was handled by Asst. Dist. Attys. Brad Reasonover and Forrest Edwards of the District Attorney’s Vertical Team 3 which prosecutes cases in General Sessions Division 11 and in Criminal Court Division 3.