Santa Rosa Man Convicted of 2nd Degree Murder Denied Parole for Sixth Time

District Attorney Jill Ravitch announced today that on March 23, 2018, the California Board of Prison Terms denied parole for the sixth time to 57 year old Gary Allen Moore, who was convicted of the 2^nd degree murder of a 23 month old child in 1990.

District Attorney Ravitch stated, “We are pleased that the Board acted in the interest of public safety in denying release to this killer.”

In December of 1988, Garry Allen Moore was on a grant of parole after having been released from the California Department of Corrections for selling narcotics. Within two weeks of being released into the community, Moore absconded from his parole supervision and moved in with his significant other and her 23 month old child.

On the morning of December 12, 1988, Moore’s significant other left her home to go to work for the day. While she was away at work, Moore stayed home and was tasked with watching her 23 month old child.

Moore’s significant other returned home from work that afternoon to find her 23 month old child, the victim, on the floor and not breathing. She called 911, and her child was thereafter taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed that the victim had suffered multiple blows to his head, pattern injuries in the shape of fingers and lacerations across his neck, two broken ribs, a lacerated liver and blunt force injuries to the whole of his body. The medical examiner opined that the child had been beaten to death.

Detectives interviewed Moore, who initially denied any knowledge of how the child was injured. Moore later admitted to police that on the day of the murder he had been trying to sleep, but that the child had been crying and making noise, and that Moore had spanked the child. Moore was subsequently convicted of the 2^nddegree murder of the child.

On March 23, 2018, a hearing was held at the California Department of Corrections, California State Prison Solano, to determine whether Moore currently remains an unreasonable risk of harm to the public, or whether he should be released back into the community on a grant of parole. After taking testimony from Moore, reviewing prison files and psychiatric evaluations, and hearing arguments from both Moore’s attorney and this office, the California Board of Prison Terms issued a three year denial of parole. Moore will not be eligible for parole again until 2021, at which time another hearing on the issue will occur.

In issuing its ruling, the Board of Prison Terms cited the brutal nature of the murder, and noted that Moore’s act of beating a two year old child to death because the child was crying was cruel and vicious. The Board further noted that Moore continued to minimize the extent of his own conduct in beating the victim to death, and that he had insufficient insight into the causative factors for why he murdered a vulnerable child.

Deputy District Attorney Jamie Kandel appeared at the hearing in opposition of Moore’s release on parole on behalf of the prosecution.