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Seconds after a Smith County jury left the courtroom to begin its deliberation for the punishment of Jefferson Marian Moore Jr., who was sentenced to life in prison Friday for raping a 6-year-old girl at his day care, Moore punched a prosecutor and fought with bailiffs trying to contain him.

Moore was sentenced to life in prison and a $10,000 fine after the jury deliberated for more than an hour. He will have to serve 30 years in prison before he becomes eligible for parole.

Assistant Smith County District Attorney Jason Parrish said he was collecting his things to walk out of the courtroom when Moore ran at him and attacked him. Parrish said there were several witnesses to the assault and he did not provoke the attack, as Moore's son claimed.

District Attorney Matt Bingham said three new charges would be filed against Moore for punching Parrish and injuring Smith County Sheriff's Deputy Gerald Atchison as he tried to contain him inside the 7th District Courtroom.

Parrish and the bailiff were not seriously injured and did not require any medical attention.

Bingham said Moore would be arrested for retaliation and two counts of assaulting a public servant, each third-degree felonies carrying sentences of two to 10 years in prison.

Moore's defense attorney, Jeffrey Clark, said after the scuffle that he wasn't surprised and expected something like that to happen.

Earlier on Friday, the jury deliberated for about an hour before they found him guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child - sodomizing and molesting a 6-year-old girl during naptime at his Dogwood City Preschool and Daycare in December 2004. When the judge read the guilty verdict, Moore turned to the audience, smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

After the scuffle, Moore was detained with handcuffs, leg irons and a belly chain. Judge Kerry Russell told him he could remain in the courtroom during the punishment verdict if he remained quiet and still. Everyone was checked with a metal detector wand before they entered the courtroom.

As the life verdict was read, family members of the victims gasped and hugged as Moore's wife sobbed. The victim's mother, as well as the mother of another alleged victim, gave victim impact statements.

The jurors were escorted out to their cars before anyone was allowed to leave the courtroom.

ATTORNEYS DISAGREE

ON PUNISHMENT

During closing arguments, Parrish told the jury that Moore deserved life in prison for the terror he inflicted on the three young girls he raped. He said Moore gave a life sentence to the victims and their parents.

Parrish said that Moore would molest children again if released.

Clark told the jurors that a sentence near the minimum five-year term would be a life sentence for his 58-year-old client. He said Moore's conviction was a tragedy and that the jury should not compound it by giving him life in prison.

Assistant DA Steven Comte said if the jurors sentenced Moore to life, the girls would know they were safe from him and wouldn't have to worry whether "Brother Jeff" was going to hurt them again.

Moore's 27-year-old stepdaughter testified that she doesn't speak anymore to Moore or her mother, who is still married to him, because of an incident that occurred when she was 19. She said she and Moore were watching TV and he was rubbing her back one night when he grabbed her nightgown, turned her over and attempted to have sexual contact with her, but she fought him off. She said he later apologized and she waited a week to tell her mother, who ultimately blamed the incident on her daughter. When she went back to the house to retrieve clothes, Moore called her vulgar names and told her he would throw her out of the window, she said.

The father of the victim, who is now 8, testified that the rape has devastated his family and really hurt his little girl, who still has nightmares. He said they would never be able to forget what happened.

The mothers of two additional victims who were allegedly raped by Moore also testified.

One mother said she felt violent, angry and out of control when her daughter told her she had been raped by Moore, her day care teacher. She said she now lives in fear, checking on her children in the middle of the night and continuously making sure the doors and windows are locked.

The other mother said she was hurt and angry when her daughter told her about the sexual abuse. She said she is now very distrustful of anyone around her daughter, who is not allowed to be around anyone she doesn't know.

Forensic counselor Dr. Gayle Burress testified people who sexually assault children are more likely to reoffend than others. She said the assault has a stunning impact on the victims, who will never get over it. She said every aspect of their lives are affected and the assault is a life sentence for them because it will never go away.

Moore's son, Jefferson Moore III, testified that Moore was an "unbelievably good father."

Larry Hunt, of Chandler, said he has known Moore for nearly 20 years. He said he never saw any inappropriate behavior when Moore taught at a day school at a church in Jacksonville. He said his daughter took guitar lessons from him.

Hunt said he was shocked to hear of the allegations. He said that if it was a fair conviction, he would not want his daughter to take lessons from him again.

GUILTY VERDICT

During closing arguments for the guilty verdict, Comte told the jurors that the victim's youth and innocence were stolen because Moore pursued his personal gratification. He said a child should be relaxing and feel safe during naptime at a day care but instead, the victim was lured under the blankets by "Brother Jeff."

"Jefferson Moore raped those babies, all three of them ... for his own sexual perversion," he said.

Clark said the injury found on the victim could have been caused by something other than penetration. He said that because of the defendant and victim's ages, there should have been more injuries if she was sexually assaulted.

He said two people testified they went by the day care that day and saw the victim, who appeared to be in a happy, playful mood. He said during naptime, witnesses were surrounding them in the small, one-room daycare.

Parrish said that on Dec. 18, 2004, Moore "finally took his raping ways too far." He hurt the victim too much and she finally told her mother, he said, adding that a child rapist was finally discovered in this community and law enforcement found that he had been raping little girls for some time.

Parrish said two hard-working parents ought to be able to drop their kids off at day care so they can work to make money to raise their children. He said Moore sets himself out to be a preacher and a teacher and uses that as a cloak to rape little kids. He told the jurors that they should be angry and do something about it.

The 8-year-old victim testified briefly on the witness stand, but broke down and was unable to continue.

The jury did see a taped interview Smith County Sheriff's Detective Peggy Scott did with the victim, as well as two audio tapes taken of interviews with the two additional victims. Ms Scott said there was no doubt in her mind that Moore raped the children at the day care, which he owned for 11 years.

Moore faces two additional first-degree felony charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

The victim in the case began attending his day care when she was 2 and had been there for four years when she reported the abuse. She said Moore sexually assaulted her about eight times.

A sexual assault examining nurse testified that the victim's injuries were consistent with those of her being sodomized.

Casey Knaupp covers county, state and federal courts. She can be reached at 903.596.6289. e-mail: news@tylerpaper.com