Tyler

By DAYNA WORCHEL
Staff Writer

 A Smith County jury, on Tuesday, convicted a Tyler man on charges of evading arrest or detention and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Brent Gregory Moore, 29, was also assessed a $10,000 fine in the 241st District Court. Moore had faced a range of punishment from two to 20 years for the felony offense.

The jury also found that because Brent Gregory Moore, 29, used his car as a deadly weapon while evading arrest, that he must serve at least half of that sentence before he is eligible for parole. Moore, who was convicted of his fourth felony on Tuesday, has an extensive criminal record.

The charges stem from an incident in which Moore led several Smith County deputies on a high speed chase, with speeds reaching over 100 miles per hour on the night of April 14 on Highway 69 north.

Smith County Sergeant Toby Hughes fired a gunshot into the driver's side tire of Moore's pickup truck to disable the vehicle as Moore u-turned his truck onto southbound side of Highway 69 and began traveling north, against oncoming traffic. Smith County Assistant District Attorney Joe Murphy played a DVD for jury from a camera which was mounted on the dashboard of Deputy Jeff Hobson. Hobson had stopped Moore because of a nonfunctioning license plate light.

In the DVD, Moore could be seen arguing with Hobson as Hobson tried to unlock Moore's door because the defendant would not comply with the deputy's request to exit the vehicle.

After the shot was fired into the driver's side, Moore led deputies on a late-night chase in which his truck could not easily be seen from Hobson's dashboard camera. After several minutes, Moore could be seen pulling his truck over to the shoulder of the road, and exiting the vehicle.

Defense attorney Zachary Davis told the jury that although Moore could have injured someone with his truck that night while going the wrong way, he did not.

During sentencing phase arguments, Murphy pointed to several deputies who had been involved in the chase who were sitting inside of the courtroom. "Those guys were doing their jobs on April 14," he told the jury. "Just because someone believes they shouldn't have been pulled over doesn't give him the right to go on a high-speed chase," Murphy said. Smith County Assistant District Attorney Guy Conine also helped prosecute the case against Moore.

Davis thanked the jury for their service. "The state must prove each and every element of the offense -- give my client the due course of looking at those elements," Davis said.

"I believe we have the greatest system of justice in the world -- everyone has the right to a fair trial," Davis said.

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