Dominique Greer wanted money for a mix tape.

Darrian Moore held a job and made money.

Greer took a gun to Moore's house. Moore fought back.

Greer fired a .380-caliber bullet into Moore's head.

A jury Thursday deliberated less than three hours before finding Greer guilty of first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery.

Greer got an automatic life sentence. He's 21 years old today. He'll likely be in his 70s if he ever again sees freedom.

At stake? $1,500.

That amount was going to be his cut of possibly $3,000 he and his co-conspirators believed Moore had in a bank account.

After the verdict, Darrian's father, Charles Moore, said what Greer did was "a terrible tragedy" that ruined three families. It was "senseless, stupid and ignorant."

On July 21, 2010, Charles Moore found his son bleeding in his car in the driveway of their family home at 5802 Shady Hollow Lane in Harrison.

That night, the son Charles Moore had raised, a son he was teaching to manage his money, work hard and get ahead, was dying in his arms.

As he carried his son to the hospital, Charles Moore immediately suspected someone -- Franklin Wood Jr.

"He was one of the first names I gave to detectives. I knew it had to be somebody in the neighborhood, somebody who knew how to traverse the neighborhood," Charles Moore said Thursday.

Wood had been a friend of Darrian's until a recent falling-out. Wood knew Darrian's schedule, knew he had a job.

Turns out, Charles Moore was right.

The week before Greer killed Darrian Moore, he plotted with Wood and Dwight Turner Jr. to rob him.

Wood and Turner both testified about the plot. Turner backed out days before, fearful of what might happen if something went wrong.

After the killing, Wood and Greer were charged together. It wasn't until 2012 that Wood told prosecutors the full story. For his help and promise to testify he was allowed to plead guilty to facilitation of especially aggravated robbery. He'll be sentenced in December. Wood faces eight to 12 years but likely will be eligible for parole in three to four years.

Turner was not charged in the crime.

Greer's defense attorney, Dan Ripper, attacked the pair's testimony, saying they'd planned the robbery without Greer and were trying to avoid going to prison by blaming his client.

Ripper criticized the fact that Wood was able to review all of the evidence against him and Greer before he agreed to cooperate.

"Evidently he got to realize he was in some pretty big trouble and he better figure out a way to help himself," Ripper told the jury during closing arguments.

He said there wasn't any physical evidence linking Greer to the shooting.

But a search warrant recovered a single .380-caliber cartridge, the exact type found in the Moore family's driveway. Prosecutor Lance Pope called it "overwhelming proof of guilt."

In closing arguments Thursday prosecutor Kristen Spires hammered a clear message: "This case is the reason that [the] felony murder [charge] exists. This case is what can go wrong when you take loaded guns and put them in someone's face when you rob them."

Pope reminded the jury of the motive, that Moore died "all because somebody decided they wanted something for nothing. He didn't want to earn it the honest way. He wanted to earn it the quick way, but he couldn't. Darrian fought back and he shot him."

Contact staff writer Todd South at tsouth@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow him on Twitter @tsouthCTFP.