Skip to main content
Press Release

22-Year-Old Sentenced to Life in Federal Prison for Murder During a Business Robbery

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Tennessee

Memphis, TN- Decardo Moore, 22, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder during a business robbery. Joseph C. Murphy, Jr., United States Attorney announced the sentence today.
According to information presented in court, on March 28, 2019, Decardo Moore entered the Exxon on Stage Road in Memphis and demanded money from the store clerk and two patrons. After all three complied, Moore fired a single shot, which struck and killed the store clerk. Moore then fired shots to break the glass in the front door and fled.
Three months later, on June 28, 2019, Decardo Moore, Joshua Beason, and an additional co-defendant robbed three Memphis-area gas stations. At approximately 1:10 a.m., Moore and Beason approached a store clerk outside of the Mapco Express on Raleigh Millington Road armed with semi-automatic handguns with extended magazines. They threatened the clerk, forced her inside, and removed money from the register. Less than an hour later, the group proceeded to the Murphy Express on Summer Avenue. Moore's co-defendants put a handgun to the side of a store clerk, forced him inside the store, and threatened the lives of both store clerks. They took money from the register and fled. Moore served as the getaway driver.
Approximately thirty minutes later, the group robbed the Exxon on Summer Avenue. They brandished firearms, removed the cash drawer then fled the scene. Moore served as the getaway driver.
Minutes later, the group participated in a home invasion on West Barbara Circle. During this incident, a resident, Moore and one of his co-defendants were shot. All three survived. Moore and his co-defendants were apprehended at the emergency room. Charges for the home invasion are pending for all three defendants before the State of Tennessee.
On October 25, 2021, Moore pled guilty to four counts of robbery and four counts of brandishing a firearm.
On April 21, 2022, United States District Judge Mark S. Norris sentenced Moore to life in federal prison plus 21 years’ incarceration. Joshua Beason was sentenced to 293 months in federal prison on March 14, 2021. Moore's other co-defendant is scheduled for trial in May 2022. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case was investigated by the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force.
Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin Whitmore and Greg Wagner prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.


###

Updated April 25, 2022