According to prosecutors, the former divorce attorney was charged with the murder of his own former client in downtown Cleveland, Ohio more than a decade ago, all in order to delay her case.
Gregory Moore, 51, was charged with aggravated murder, conspiracy, and kidnapping in the 2013 death of Aliza Sherman, a 53-year-old nurse and mother of four, according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office.
Moore allegedly planned the deadly attack to halt her divorce proceedings, which were scheduled to begin the day after her death, according to prosecutors in an unsealed indictment.
According to authorities, this was not the first time he had used crime to delay a case. Moore later pleaded guilty to making bomb threats at courthouses to delay his cases, according to authorities.
Sherman’s estranged husband, Dr. Sanford Sherman, was never charged in the case, but he refused to cooperate with police, investigators previously stated. He passed away in a Florida nursing home last summer.
Prosecutors stated that Moore had at least one accomplice but did not name any other suspects.
He allegedly lured Sherman to his office on March 24, 2013, texting her to meet him at 4:30 p.m. and demanding she notify him when she was on her way, according to the indictment.
While Moore was waiting outside her office, a hooded figure approached her from behind and stabbed her over ten times in the neck and back, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors believe Moore or an unnamed co-conspirator was responsible for the attack.
Sherman was able to call police while lying injured and bleeding outside the law office, and she was helped by a Good Samaritan who discovered her on the sidewalk, according to prosecutors.
She died upon arrival at a nearby hospital.
“The Sherman family has waited over a decade for answers regarding their mother’s homicide,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley stated.
“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 allegedly called and texted Sherman before and after the attack in an attempt to create an alibi, according to the indictment.
“These texts and requests for calls were for the purpose of creating false evidence that Moore was unaware of Sherman’s assault,” according to the arrest warrant.
According to the indictment, at the time of Sherman’s murder, the attorney was already under investigation for sending bomb threats to a courthouse on days he was scheduled to appear in court in an attempt to delay cases.
Moore pleaded guilty in 2017 to inducing panic in connection with bomb threats and falsification, as well as providing misleading statements to law enforcement during the Sherman murder investigation.
Sherman’s case was taken over by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations in 2021, and the agency said it discovered evidence linking Moore to the killing.
He will be arraigned on May 16, according to court records. There is currently no attorney listed for him.
