Marysville killer gets 55 years, asks for forgiveness

Security was tripled Monday at the Yuba County courthouse out of fear that convicted killer Marcus Nelson Hume would lash out during his sentencing hearing.

Instead, the 33-year-old Marysville man asked the family of the man he murdered to consider forgiving him, though he offered no apologies.

"I know that you hate me," Hume said in court. "Maybe one day you can forgive me."

Hume gunned down Steven "Sam" Moore on the last day of 2011 on a quiet residential east Marysville street.

He was sentenced on Monday by Judge Julia Scrogin to serve 55 years to life in prison.

Forgiveness was too much to ask of Moore's family.

"When (Hume) gets to hell, he should tell them Sam sent him," Moore's sister, Sindy Bilyeu, said afterward.

Massalina Lane, another sister, agreed.

"I will never forgive him. Never," Lane said. "He wasn't man enough to fist fight because he knew he'd get his butt kicked."

Moore's oldest son, Steven Moore Jr., spoke publicly Monday for the first time since his father was killed.

"Now I walk the earth without a fatherly guide," the 17-year-old explained to Scrogin.

Steven Moore Jr. lamented his loss and said he wished his dad was still around to help him prepare for the military.

Moore's ex-wife, Jannette, hoped Hume would never again breathe free air.

"Please don't ever let him out of prison," Jannette Moore asked the court. "Because if he killed Sam without knowing him, he could do it again."

While Hume asked for forgiveness, he has waffled since his arrest between remorse about the murder and indignation toward his victim.

In a jailhouse letter recovered by guards, Hume confessed to the killing and said he hoped Moore "burns in hell."

In the letter, which was laced with white supremacist prison gang symbols, Hume graphically described watching Moore's body after he was shot.

"He ain't so tough now, is he. Ha, ha," Hume wrote.

Hume had been out of prison less than a month when he killed Moore. He was released from state prison on Dec. 5, 2011, under terms of the state's new prison realignment program, according to Hume's sentencing report.

Moore and Hume had been feuding over a then-18-year-old Roni Mulkey.

Mulkey's brother, Samson, and her sister, Kari, were present when Moore was killed.

Hume believed Moore had made a sex tape with Mulkey and said he was trying to retrieve the tape the day Moore died.

However, there has never been any proof the tape was real and prosecutors said they doubt the sex tape ever existed.

A week before the shooting, Moore and Hume had drawn guns on each other in Marysville, though nobody was hurt, according to Hume's probation report.

On New Year's Eve, Hume and five others gathered at co-defendant William Silliman's apartment. They plotted to break into Moore's apartment to retrieve the supposed tape, and beat and rob Moore.

Silliman drove Hume and others to confront Moore outside an apartment in the 1100 block of Arthur Street. Hume was seated in the passenger seat of Silliman's truck and shot Moore in the face with a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun as Moore advanced toward the truck.

While most of Moore's family was still too bitter to consider pardoning Hume on Monday, Sandra Smith, another of Moore's sisters, indicated forgiveness may be possible some day.

"I'm a very forgiving person. Even though it's hard for this tragedy," Smith wrote in a letter addressing Hume. "Pray during your lifetime and pray for God's forgiveness and I will always have you and your family in my prayers."

CONTACT Rob Parsons at rparsons@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4785. Find him on Facebook at /ADcrimebeat or on Twitter at @ADcrimebeat.