Support from the victim's family along with the defendant's grief help lead to a lenient sentence.
By CARY DAVIS
Published May 16, 2003
NEW PORT RICHEY - Robert Paul Moore is not the type of person you expect to see in a courtroom, facing up to 15 years in prison.
The 77-year-old retiree's life had been a portrait of responsibility.
He joined the Navy so he could fight in World War II, raised a family, toiled for 30 years as an iron worker. In nearly 60 years of driving, he never received so much as a speeding ticket.
Then, one night in January 2001, he and his longtime companion, Amalia Marshall, went out to dinner. Moore had three vodka martinis.
Then he got behind the wheel.
A few miles down the road, he turned in front of a pickup truck. The truck, which had the right of way, struck the passenger side of Moore's Cadillac. Ms. Marshall, 82, died instantly.
And suddenly, the grieving Moore was looking at a minimum of nine years in prison on a charge of drunken driving manslaughter.
On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to the charge and stood before Circuit Judge Daniel Diskey to receive his punishment.
Moore's grief and his decades of clean living, coupled with support from prosecutors and Ms. Marshall's family, swayed the judge.
Diskey sentenced Moore to 80 days in the county jail, to be served on weekends.
The judge also ordered Moore to serve six months of house arrest. After that, Moore must serve six years of probation. And Moore will never be allowed to drive again.
"Your case is an example of how good people get in trouble by drinking," Diskey said.
Standing beside Moore during Thursday's hearing and clutching his hand was Ms. Marshall's daughter, Michelle Salamon, who traveled from Pennsylvania to offer support.
Salamon pleaded with the judge to spare Moore from any jail time. She said Moore has been paralyzed by grief ever since the crash.
"He can't stop saying how sorry he is," Salamon told the judge.
On top of the television in Moore's Port Richey mobile home is a framed picture of Ms. Marshall, Salamon said. He talks to it every day. Moore and Ms. Marshall had lived together about three decades.
"It's heartbreaking," Salamon said.
Moore reached repeatedly into his pocket for a Kleenex to wipe away his tears.
"It's the worst thing that ever happened," he told the judge, referring to the accident. "I miss her every day."
Prosecutors, citing Moore's grief and the nature of the crime, agreed to a lenient sentence well below the state guidelines.
Tests showed that Moore had a blood-alcohol level of 0.146 percent at the time of accident, which occurred Jan. 17, 2001, on State Road 52 at La Madera Drive. State law presumes impairment at a level of 0.08 or higher.
Andy Hindman, executive director of the Florida chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said he did not oppose the sentence handed down to Moore. The organization typically pushes for harsh sentences in DUI manslaughter cases, but defers to the wishes of the victim's family, he said.
"If the victim is satisfied with the sentence, we support that," Hindman said.
Moore's attorney, Bill Eble of Dade City, did not dispute that his client was at fault in the crash. But Eble could offer no explanation for why a man in his 70s, after a lifetime of seemingly responsible behavior, could have done something so out of character.
Said Eble: "He should have known better."
- Cary Davis covers courts in west Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6236, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6236. His e-mail address is cbdavis@sptimes.com
