April 20, 2024

Bruner found guilty for the murder of Newton native Derek Moore

By Jeff Lehr

Jeffrey Bruner breaks down in tears Wednesday following testimony from his wife, Dawn Michelle Hale, in Jasper County Circuit Court. Bruner is accused of confronting Derek Moore and Hale as they were leaving a movie, and ultimately shooting Moore six times and then kicking his head two or three times. (Roger Nomer)

JOPLIN, Mo. — After deliberating about three hours Thursday afternoon, a Jasper County jury found Jeffrey Bruner guilty as charged in the murder of a man who was out on a date with Bruner's wife.

Bruner was found guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action, and the jury, shortly after 3:30 p.m. moved into its consideration of the penalty in the case. The judge also had given the jury of eight women and four men the option of finding Bruner guilty of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, in addition to the option of finding the defendant innocent.

Bruner, 41, was found guilty of killing 37-year-old Derek Moore outside a Joplin movie theater complex in 2013. Testimony has shown that the shooting was prompted by the posting on Facebook of a photo of Bruner’s estranged wife out on a date with Moore, a Missouri Southern State University assistant football coach.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” assistant prosecutor Norman Rouse told the jury during closing arguments, “It’s pretty clear (Bruner) started deliberating about killing Derek Moore the minute he saw that photograph.”

Bruner saw the photo while eating with his daughter at a restaurant and subsequently went to the theater looking for the couple. The defense maintains he had no intention of killing Moore when he went there.

“He wants to save his marriage,” defense attorney Ross Rhoades said. "He hasn’t given thought to killing anybody.”

Rhoades argued that his client suffered a moment of acute stress disorder when he confronted the couple as they were emerging after seeing a movie together. Rhoades said the abnormal psychological reaction Bruner experienced caused him to not have any memory of five of the seven shots he fired at Moore or kicking him in the head once the victim had fallen to the pavement, as described by several eyewitnesses.

The defense claimed that Bruner took two fully loaded handguns and an extra ammunition clip with him to the theater as a precaution because he had seen the photo of Moore and knew he was a big man and feared a physical altercation. Prosecutors argued that there was no evidence that Bruner was facing any life-threatening situation during the confrontation.

“He took 37 bullets to the scene,” assistant prosecutor Kimberly Fisher said, “that is not a precaution. That is a death intent on Mr. Moore.”