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Texas Child Custody Dispute Turns Deadly

On Behalf of | Jul 21, 2010 | Child Custody

Family law is as personal as law gets. Divorce and child custody disputes, therefore, often result in extreme emotions, hostility and even violence. That is the case of a Texas father who plotted a violent plan in order to gain custody of his child.

Dwayne Lamont Moten was admirable in the fact that he was passionate about wanting to be a part of his child’s life by gaining child custody. However, any admiration one could have for the father quickly disappeared when he resorted to having someone shot to get what he wanted–and that person was himself.

The mother of his child is currently dating another man, and Moten didn’t want the new man in her life to become the new dad in his child’s life. In order to prevent that from happening, Moten acquired his friend’s services and created a criminal plan that would put the other man in jail and away from his child.

The plan was that Moten’s friend, Jacob Wheeler, would shoot Moten but not severely injure him. Moten would then tell Texas police that the other man was the shooter, get him put in jail and then Moten would have a better chance at getting child custody.

His plan couldn’t have played out more miserably than it did. Wheeler went through with shooting Moten, but something happened that led to the gunshot hitting Moten in the chest and killing him. Police think that Moten might have flinched when the gun was shot, which resulted in the wound being fatal rather than non-threatening.

It’s good to want to be with your child and to help your friends, but definitely not in a situation like this. A desperate attempt to gain the custody of his child led to Moten’s death at the age of 20. Wheeler, also 20 and now facing murder charges, has to live with the fact that he killed his friend. 

Resource

The Dallas Morning News: Father killed in failed plan to get custody of child

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