In a world in which most of us seek instant gratification, Thomas Moore is certainly an exception to the rule.

He’s a patient man.

He’s a hopeful man.

And he’s never lost his faith.

Those traits have kept him moving along in the quest for justice for his dead brother.

After years of relative silence, Moore stepped into the limelight in 2005 when he and Canadian filmmaker David Ridgen began working on a documentary about the 1964 murders of Moore’s younger brother and another Franklin County teen.

Forty-one years after 19-year-olds Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee were kidnapped, tortured and thrown alive into watery graves in the backwaters of the Mississippi River, Thomas Moore returned to Mississippi to seek answers.

In the months that followed, the case of the two murders was reopened, ultimately one of the two remaining suspects still alive agreed to testify against the other.

James Ford Seale was convicted on federal kidnapping and conspiracy charges in June 2007, ultimately receiving three life sentences for the crimes.

Last month, an appeals court overturned the conviction on grounds that the kidnapping occurred outside the statute of limitations.

The case is now being appealed to the full appeals court panel and local authorities are considering the possibility of filing murder charges against Seale.

While many people might view the appeal as a setback, Thomas Moore isn’t like most people.

“I’m just thankful to God that we went through the process and we exposed the truth, we exposed what he did,” Moore said last week by phone. “I feel awful good that the truth was told.”

While the future of the case against Seale remains uncertain, Moore said he’s happy that the man’s involvement in his brother’s death has become public, finally.

“Sure, it was a set back. (But) everything is very hopeful,” he said. “Everybody knows that he was guilty of the crime.

“It was just a technicality. He knows that if he walked out of (prison) he could go right back in for murder,” Moore said.

“You know, for 41 years, I didn’t know the facts,” Moore said.

He was serving in the U.S. Army when his brother was killed, ultimately returning for the funeral but staying away from Mississippi for years.

“During the investigative process, it helped me build that bridge that I could finally get some closure,” he said. “I am very honored to be one of people in the world to help bring justice and to show the world what evil was going on in the United States.”

Moore has faith that government won’t let the conviction be overturned because “the federal government doesn’t want to look like it made a blunder.”

But if it does, he has faith that local District Attorney Ronnie Harper will have the evidence needed to bring murder charges to bear against Seale.

But for now, Thomas Moore patiently waits a little while longer.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.