Latest news with #GregoryMoore
CBS News
3 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Ohio divorce lawyer accused of fatally stabbing client pleads not guilty
An Ohio divorce attorney accused of fatally stabbing a client more than a decade ago in a plot to delay her trial pleaded not guilty Wednesday to aggravated murder and kidnapping charges. Bail was set at $2 million for Gregory J. Moore, 51, who is also charged with murder and conspiracy in the 2013 death of Aliza Sherman, who was stabbed more than 10 times. Her body was found on a downtown Cleveland sidewalk near where she was set to meet Moore to discuss her divorce the day before the trial was scheduled to begin. Bail was set at the request of his defense lawyers, who argued Moore was not a flight risk. Moore — who already has served jail time for lying to police during the investigation into Sherman's death — was indicted earlier this month and was arrested by U.S. marshals in Texas, where he had been visiting his terminally ill father. He then waived extradition during a May 8 hearing and was returned to Ohio. According to the indictment, Moore allegedly planned to kidnap Sherman as a delay tactic for her upcoming divorce trial. Court documents included messages between Moore and Sherman showing how he called her to the office, which was locked. She arrived and waited more than an hour before deciding to return to her car, according to the indictment. "During this timeframe, an individual who was either Moore or an unknown co-conspirator approached Sherman … circled behind her, chased her … and then stabbed her over 10 times," the indictment reads. Moore swiped into the office later that evening and messaged Sherman to mislead investigators, according to the indictment. Moore was not a stranger to authorities before the stabbing occurred. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to falsification for statements he made to police about his whereabouts during Sherman's killing. He also admitted to calling in bomb threats in 2012 as a way to delay trials. His law license was suspended in 2017 and he resigned it the following year. He served six months in jail. At the time, he said that he regretted his past actions. Sherman, 53, was a mother of four and has been remembered as a beloved fertility nurse. Rallies and vigils to honor her memory have been held on the anniversary of her death.
New York Times
3 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Lawyer Murdered Client in 2013 to Delay Start of Her Divorce Trial, Prosecutors Say
A former Ohio divorce lawyer has been charged with murder and kidnapping in the fatal stabbing of a client in what prosecutors called a brutal scheme to obstruct the start of her divorce trial. The former lawyer, Gregory J. Moore, lured his client, Aliza Sherman, a 53-year-old in vitro fertilization nurse and mother of four from Beachwood, Ohio, to his office in downtown Cleveland on March 24, 2013, a day before her divorce trial was set to begin, prosecutors said. As Ms. Sherman waited outside Mr. Moore's office building, he or someone working with him stabbed her more than 10 times, prosecutors said. Ms. Sherman was pronounced dead at a hospital later that day. Mr. Moore, 51, had intended to kidnap Ms. Sherman to prevent the judge in her divorce case from conducting the trial, prosecutors said. The goal was to have Ms. Sherman be 'unavailable to attend the proceedings due to serious physical harm and/or death,' according to a grand jury indictment issued this month. The indictment did not explain why the authorities believe that he wanted the trial delayed. But prosecutors said that Mr. Moore had also sought to avoid court dates by feigning illnesses, getting into a car crash and calling in bomb threats to courthouses in 2012. In 2017, he was sentenced to six months in jail on charges related to those bomb threats and for having lied to the police during the investigation into Ms. Sherman's death. In June 2021, agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation received a request to lead the cold-case investigation into Ms. Sherman's death and then spent 'thousands of hours applying advanced technology and implementing investigative techniques to help solve this homicide,' Ohio's attorney general, Dave Yost, said in a statement. Federal marshals arrested Mr. Moore in Texas on May 2, 2025, after an Ohio grand jury indicted him on charges of murder, conspiracy and kidnapping in Ms. Sherman's death. Appearing via video link in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday, Mr. Moore pleaded not guilty. A judge set bond at $2 million after Ms. Sherman's daughter, Jennifer Rivchun, told the court that the family had waited 12 excruciating years for justice. 'Greg Moore stands before this court charged with the kidnapping and murder of our mother, his own client, a woman who trusted him, a woman who he was duty bound to protect and advocate for,' Ms. Rivchun said. 'Instead, he allegedly betrayed that trust in the most horrifying way imaginable.' A Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Kevin Filiatraut, said in court that the same evidence showing that Mr. Moore had planned and then tried to cover up the kidnapping and killing of Ms. Sherman also clears her estranged husband, who died last year and had been widely thought to have been involved. Mr. Moore's lawyer, Jon Paul Rion, said that Mr. Moore intended to fight the charges and that he had 'much to say in his own defense.' Mr. Rion questioned whether investigators had turned up any new evidence implicating Mr. Moore in Ms. Sherman's murder. 'It appears to be the same evidence that they didn't have 12 years ago that they're just repeating again,' Mr. Rion told reporters. According to the indictment, Mr. Moore texted Ms. Sherman on March 24, 2013, to meet him at his law office. But Mr. Moore never actually intended to meet with her, the indictment states. Instead, it says, he disconnected his phone from the Verizon cellular network to prevent it from leaving cell-tower location evidence and used a mobile hot spot to text Ms. Sherman and keep her waiting outside his office. As she stood outside, a person who was 'either Moore or an unknown co-conspirator' approached Ms. Sherman, circled behind her, chased her and then stabbed her repeatedly before running away, the indictment states. After the assailant was out of the view of surveillance cameras, Mr. Moore texted Ms. Sherman asking where she was, whether she was going to meet with him and for her to call him, the indictment states. The texts were intended to make it appear as if Mr. Moore were unaware that she had been attacked, the indictment states. Mr. Moore then went inside his law office and reconnected his phone to the Verizon cellular network and called Ms. Sherman three times to continue to create the impression that he was unaware she had been assaulted, the indictment states. The next day, an employee at Mr. Moore's law office tried to cancel the mobile hot spot and deleted a voice mail message that Ms. Sherman had left from a call box outside the building, the indictment states. Twenty-one minutes of video footage from inside the building also disappeared, Mr. Filiatraut said in court. In urging the court not to release Mr. Moore while his trial is pending, Ms. Sherman's daughter, Ms. Rivchun, said his actions indicated that he was 'a threat to the moral fabric of our society.' 'Greg Moore is reckless, unpredictable and capable of taking extreme measures to fulfill his evil agenda,' she said. 'We cannot take that risk. My mother deserved better. This community deserves better. And justice demands better.'
Associated Press
3 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Ohio divorce lawyer pleads not guilty in 2013 fatal stabbing of client
CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio divorce attorney accused of fatally stabbing a client more than a decade ago in a plot to delay her trial pleaded not guilty Wednesday to aggravated murder and kidnapping charges. Bail was set at $2 million for Gregory J. Moore, 51, who is also charged with murder and conspiracy in the 2013 death of Aliza Sherman, who was stabbed more than 10 times. Her body was found on a downtown Cleveland sidewalk near where she was set to meet Moore to discuss her divorce the day before the trial was scheduled to begin. Bail was set at the request of his defense lawyers, who argued Moore was not a flight risk. Moore — who already has served jail time for lying to police during the investigation into Sherman's death — was indicted earlier this month and was arrested by U.S. marshals in Texas, where he had been visiting his terminally ill father. He then waived extradition during a May 8 hearing and was returned to Ohio. According to the indictment, Moore allegedly planned to kidnap Sherman as a delay tactic for her upcoming divorce trial. Court documents included messages between Moore and Sherman showing how he called her to the office, which was locked. She arrived and waited more than an hour before deciding to return to her car, according to the indictment. 'During this timeframe, an individual who was either Moore or an unknown co-conspirator approached Sherman … circled behind her, chased her … and then stabbed her over 10 times,' the indictment reads. Moore swiped into the office later that evening and messaged Sherman to mislead investigators, according to the indictment. Moore was not a stranger to authorities before the stabbing occurred. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to falsification for statements he made to police about his whereabouts during Sherman's killing. He also admitted to calling in bomb threats in 2012 as a way to delay trials. His law license was suspended in 2017 and he resigned it the following year. He served six months in jail. At the time, he said that he regretted his past actions. Sherman, 53, was a mother of four and has been remembered as a beloved fertility nurse. Rallies and vigils to honor her memory have been held on the anniversary of her death.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Aussies stunned by incredible pattern on trunk of roadside gum tree: 'Extraordinary'
An 'extraordinary' pattern stretching across the entirety of a large suburban gum tree has puzzled thousands of Aussies. The lemon-scented plant's 'almost muscular frame' stopped local woman Jacqueline in her tracks this week as she wandered back to her southeast Melbourne home. Ducking down side streets to avoid the traffic on Chadstone Road, the mum told Yahoo she was immediately taken aback by the towering tree in the corner of a small park. 'I hadn't walked past that tree before,' Jacqueline said, adding she couldn't help but be drawn to the bizarre pattern of its bark. 'It's so striking because it's so regular, and this is a tree — we're not really used to that sort of regularity — but it's just quite striking when you see it.' Jacqueline, who often takes photos of interesting plants and wildlife while walking nearby trails, said she had previously seen similar symmetry on parts of a tree's trunk, but never to this extent. 'This was the entire tree, reaching up to its arms as well. It's lovely,' she said. Stumped as to what caused it, the local snapped several images which a friend then posted online in search of answers. While some Aussies suggested strong winds or a mesh fence were responsible, thousands of confused others said they had no idea what could have created the 'stunning and fascinating' pattern on the lemon-scented gum, otherwise known as corymbia citriodora. There are a number of things that can cause such designs on trees, one of the most common being insects, however that is not the case with this specific gum, Dr Gregory Moore from the University of Melbourne told Yahoo News. 'It's part of the tree's natural growth pattern and there are several factors that contribute to it,' he said after reviewing the images. 'I've also got to say we don't fully understand it — nobody really knows why some of some trees show these patterns and others don't.' Trees, like 'a lot of 3D growth', initially grow in a spiral pattern, he explained. 'You can see it on the top of a baby's head, you can see it in the pattern of a sunflower, and the way the tree grows, there's a natural twisting. In some trees, the twisting is very, very strong and it persists right through the life of the tree and it gives what looks like a spiral pattern,' Moore posed as a theory. 🍂 Aussies urgently called to action as silent crisis sweeps neighbourhoods 🌳 Tight-knit town devastated after towering trees mysteriously die 💰 Aussies face fines of up to $3,800 for 'all too common' act Another possibility is that the fibres of the tree have grown in 'a fairly gentle spiral pattern'. 'You wouldn't normally see it but in some trees the pattern is exaggerated just because of the genetics of the tree and the conditions it's growing in,' he said. If the tree grows very fast, it pushes some of the fibres apart, and the twisting appears as 'almost a criss-cross pattern'. 'Very often, if the tree has been very vigorous when it was young, the pattern in the timber will be exaggerated, and when the bark grows over, you'll actually see what's happening inside the wood because it's a thin bark tree,' Moore told Yahoo. While similar distinct waves can occur on numerous species, they are more commonly seen on smooth bark trees. 'But the twisty pattern is much more common in lemon-scented and in spotted gums than some of the other eucalypts,' Moore said. 'Quite often you'll see the pattern in younger trees, and then it'll disappear. But this tree, because of its particular genetics, it's likely to maintain it the whole of its lifetime.' Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
