Micah Moore’s confession in Deaton death was untrue, lawyer says

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By GLENN E. RICE
The Kansas City Star

Attorneys for Micah Moore, the man charged with first-degree murder in the death of prayer-group friend Bethany Ann Deaton, said Wednesday that their client’s fragile mental state led him to make a false confession.

“We are aware of no evidence that a crime has occurred,” said Melanie S. Morgan, one of Moore’s attorneys, reading a statement after the brief court hearing. “The facts suggest Bethany Deaton’s death was an unfortunate suicide and Micah Moore had nothing to do with that suicide.

“Driven to the police station by representantives of his church community, Micah told a fictional account that was bizarre, nonsensical and most importantly, untrue. They were the figments of a distraught and confused young man under extreme psychological pressures as a result of his friend Bethany’s untimely suicide and the sudden removal of his spiritual leader, Tyler Deaton, from their extremely close-knit religious community.

“The doctrines taught in that community affected Micah’s mental state and, unfortunately, dominated his thinking. Micah’s fiction to the police led to the filing of the complaint in this case.”

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