After more than a decade without an arrest, authorities have charged a former Ohio divorce lawyer in connection with the 2013 murder of one of his clients.
Divorce lawyer allegedly killed client to delay trial
Gregory J. Moore, 51, was taken into custody in Austin, Texas, following a grand jury indictment issued on May 2 in Cuyahoga County.
Moore now faces several felony charges, including murder, conspiracy, aggravated murder, and kidnapping, all related to the fatal attack on Aliza Sherman.
Sherman, a 53-year-old mother of four and nurse at the Cleveland Clinic, was discovered with multiple stab wounds outside Moore’s Cleveland law firm on March 24, 2013.
According to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, this arrest marks the first significant development in Sherman’s case since her death.
Moore had represented Sherman during her divorce proceedings, and investigators allege he planned her abduction in order to interfere with the legal process.
The unsealed indictment details the prosecution’s belief that Moore, working with at least one unidentified accomplice, devised a scheme to ensure Sherman could not participate in her upcoming court proceedings.
“This goal was designed to be achieved by causing Aliza Sherman to be unavailable to attend the proceedings due to serious physical harm and/or death,” the document reads.
Divorce lawyer schemed to hide involvement
Law enforcement believes Moore orchestrated the fatal encounter by instructing Sherman to meet him outside his office on the day of the killing.
Text messages show Moore told Sherman to notify him once she arrived so he could let her inside. But prosecutors contend that the meeting was a ruse.
According to the indictment, Moore turned off his phone to prevent it from being tracked later.
He then used a hotspot registered to his law firm to send Sherman a message indicating he was nearby.
Believing he was close, Sherman waited outside the building and later texted him that she was heading back to her car because it was cold and he hadn’t come to meet her.
“During this time frame, an individual who was either Moore or an unknown co-conspirator approached Sherman … circled behind her, chased her … and then stabbed her over ten times,” the indictment alleges.
Authorities say Moore continued to send text messages to Sherman’s phone even after the attack, in what they believe was an effort to construct an alibi foe the incident.
Sherman managed to call 911, and a witness who saw her collapsed on the sidewalk also contacted emergency services. She was taken to a hospital nearby but later succumbed to her injuries.
Meanwhile, as first responders were arriving at the scene, Moore is said to have entered the office building through a rear entrance to avoid being seen by officers.
He then turned his phone back on and began calling Sherman, behavior prosecutors argue was designed to mislead investigators.
In the aftermath, Moore made several moves that authorities now consider suspicious.
He switched the phone number associated with his legal practice and continued to make calls to Sherman’s number. Her pending divorce case ended up being dismissed days later.
Officials claim Moore had a pattern of avoiding court obligations and had demonstrated a willingness to go to extreme lengths to do so.
Moore called in bomb threats to delay hearings
He was not prepared for Sherman’s case and had a documented history of using false pretenses to delay court appearances.
In 2017, Moore admitted to misleading detectives about his location on the day Sherman was killed. He pleaded guilty to a charge of falsification and served a six-month sentence.
During that same time frame, he also acknowledged calling in bomb threats in 2012 to delay hearings.
His law license was suspended in 2017, and he voluntarily surrendered it the following year.
“The Sherman family has waited over a decade for answers regarding their mother’s homicide,” said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley in a statement following the indictment.
“Through the tenacious work of multiple law enforcement agencies, evidence was accumulated that paints the unmistakable picture that Gregory Moore orchestrated and participated in the brutal murder of Aliza Sherman.”
Moore was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals and is currently being held in Texas. His extradition hearing is scheduled for May 14.
“We have been in touch with law enforcement in Williamson County, TX. We plan on having a prosecutor at the extradition hearing. We look forward to Gregory Moore’s eventual return to Cuyahoga County,” O’Malley added.
