Man gets 60 years for raping woman in 2000
Judge describes man’s criminal past as ‘horrible’
A 45-year-old Memphis man charged with raping multiple women was sentenced Wednesday to 60 years in prison for the aggravated rape of a woman 17 years ago.
Jacquet Moore was convicted of raping the victim in January 2000 in the area of Brooks Road near Elvis Presley. The 32-year-old woman was walking home from a night club when Moore asked her if she needed a ride, persisted in following her, ultimately blocked her path and forced her into the vehicle. He took her to a secluded location and raped her, said Assistant District Attorney Abby Wallace.
“I hope that people who do these crimes are getting the message that they will be prosecuted even if it was 17 years ago,” said Wallace, who prosecuted the case with Gavin Smith.
The victim reported the rape right away, but her rape kit became part of an accumulation of untested kits. Wallace said the kit was sent for testing in 2012, a hit was made in November 2013 in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and confirmation testing was done in 2014.
The victim testified during Moore’s sentencing hearing and said she wants him to go to prison for “a long time.”
“I would like to see him pay for what he did to me,” she said.
Moore has also been charged with two aggravated rape cases that remain pending. In those cases, he is charged with raping one victim in January 2003 and another in April 2003.
He was acquitted last year of raping another woman in 2000.
Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Lammey called Moore’s criminal history “horrible.”
In addition to the rape conviction, in 2008 Moore was convicted of aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery. In 1994 he was convicted of two counts of attempted second-degree murder and possession of a controlled substance with intent. He had an additional conviction for attempted aggravated robbery.
Meaghan Ybos, executive director of the People for the Enforcement of Rape Laws, questioned why authorities waited so long to investigate the rape. “Why was rape singled out as the crime that police wouldn’t investigate?” she said.
More than 12,000 rape kits were disclosed in 2013 that went untested since the 1980s. Authorities have worked to test the kits, and the city’s Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen said in February that 1,024 kits remained to be shipped for testing.
In a separate Shelby County case this week, a 46-year-old man, James Earl Ratliff, pleaded guilty to the 2010 rape of a woman in South Memphis and was sentenced to 10 years. In Ratliff’s case, authorities identified him through a DNA hit in CODIS in 2012, according to a news release. Ratliff has a previous rape conviction and sentence of 15 years to be run concurrently.
In Moore’s case, his uncle, Michael Eskridge, testified that Moore had a young, teenage mother and an alcoholic and abusive father.
“There’s a human side of my nephew,” he said. “We love him and we’re going to continue to support him.”
Wallace asked for the sentence of 60 years and said Moore has “a history in our community of taking what doesn’t belong to him and taking it by use or threat of violence. It’s either stuff or it’s a young woman’s sense of safety and security in her own community.”
“The family, they may be good people, and they come in here and ask this court to show the defendant mercy,” Wallace said. “But you know what, your honor, I ask the same thing. I ask you to show him the exact same mercy that he showed (the victim), which is absolutely none. He should get the maximum sentence.”
The 60-year sentence will be run consecutive to the 16 years Moore was previously sentenced to for aggravated robbery, Lammey said.
Lammey said he didn’t hear any remorse or acceptance of responsibility from Moore, and instead saw denial.
“I feel bad for him that he was raised in a bad environment, but there comes a time in someone’s life when they have to put that behind them and accept responsibility for their actions,” Lammey said.
Reach reporter katherine.fretland@commercialappeal.com.