A day after jurors returned a swift not guilty verdict in the murder trial of James Dudley Jr. — who was charged in one of Tallahassee’s oldest cold cases — Public Defender Jessica Yeary harshly criticized State Attorney Jack Campbell for prosecuting him in the first place.
Dudley, 64, was charged in the nearly 50-year-old murder of Richard Moore, who was shot and killed on Dec. 29, 1976, at the now-closed Sasser’s Beer City on Basin Street, where he worked as a clerk. Dudley was 15 years old when the crime occurred.
During his two-day trial at the Leon County Courthouse, the state presented three eyewitnesses who identified Dudley as the culprit — though all of them were children at the time of the murder…