State prisoner James R. Moore was denied parole Tuesday, according to his wife Joyce Hackett Smith.

Hackett Smith, of Moravia, said Moore immediately called to notify her the parole hearing had been held when he was told by a Cayuga Correctional Facility correction officer that he needed to go back in front of the board to receive the decision about his release.

She said there was no point for a parole board hearing when the issue of Moore's parole had already been decided.

Moore pleaded guilty July 11, 1963, to strangling and raping 14-year-old Pamela Moss in Penfield, Monroe County, Oct. 22, 1962. It was the 14th parole hearing since 1982 for the state's second-longest serving prisoner.

Past parole boards have said they denied Moore parole based on the crime he was convicted of. A copy of the parole decision was not available Tuesday evening.

Hackett Smith said such a position defeats the purpose of inmates working to improve themselves in order to receive parole based on an exemplary inside record.

A petition drive in opposition to Moore's release was organized -- as is an annual tradition -- by the Monroe County District Attorney's Office.

For more, read Wednesday's Citizen.