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Woman sentenced to life in prison in Polk Co. lottery winner's death

POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Dorice "Dee Dee" Moore, 40, was sentenced to mandatory life in prison without parole Monday in the 2009 murder of Polk County lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare.

Jurors deliberated for more than three hours before finding Moore guilty of first-degree murder.

She showed little emotion as a jury foreman read the verdict. Judge Emmett Battles also sentenced her to an additional minimum mandatory 25 years in prison for using a gun to commit a felony.

Prosecutors said Moore befriended Shakespeare in late 2008, claiming she was writing a book about how people were taking advantage of him. They claimed Moore later became his financial adviser, swindled him out of his dwindling fortune, then shot him and buried his body under a concrete slab in the back yard of her boyfriend, Shar Krasniqi.

Moore was briefly banned from the Tampa courtroom Monday over concerns that she may have threatened jurors.

She was allowed back a short time later for closing arguments, but refused to take the stand in her own defense.

Moore's attorney argued that his client was trying to help protect Shakespeare's assets from a pending child-support case when he was killed by drug dealers who haven't been caught.
Moore has 30 days to appeal the ruling.