Trophy Club man arrested on 8th DWI charge

After sentencing Harold “Mickey” Moore to four years in prison in 2006 on his seventh DWI conviction, state District Judge George Gallagher issued a stern warning.

“You are not going to drink again,” Gallagher told Moore, then 59. “You are not going to drink again!”

The judge ordered Moore to undergo alcohol treatment in prison and go through another treatment program when he got out. He also imposed 10 years of probation to make sure Moore remained on the radar once he was released.

“The minute you get out, I’m going to be watching you,” Gallagher said, according to a 2006 Star-Telegram article.

The prosecutor remarked at the time that Moore was a lucky man and called the sentence “truly a gift” for someone on his seventh DWI.

Moore’s luck appears to have run out.

Last month, a Tarrant County grand jury indicted Moore, now 68, on his eighth DWI charge.

The case stems from a November crash in Southlake in which Moore is accused of being intoxicated when he plowed into the back of a car stopped at a red light, pushing that vehicle into another.

Tests show he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.27, more than three times the legal limit, said Kim Leach, a spokeswoman for the Southlake Department of Public Safety.

If convicted, the Trophy Club man faces up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors have also filed a petition to revoke Moore’s probation, which could mean an additional 10-year prison sentence.

“I will be handling his new case personally,” said Assistant District Attorney Richard Alpert, considered an expert in DWI prosecutions.

During a jailhouse visit Wednesday at the Lon Evans Correctional Facility in Fort Worth, Moore expressed disappointment that his latest DWI charge would once again make headlines.

“The only thing I can tell you is I’ve got a sciatic nerve problem and I take medication for it and it wasn’t working,” said Moore, who is being held without bail. “And I tried to self-medicate to get away from the pain.”

He referred other questions to his attorney, Tim Moore.

Tim Moore did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Officials with Mothers Against Drunk Driving said repeat DWI offenders should not be tolerated.

“This particular case of a repeat DWI offender who has been shown leniency by the court reinforces the reasoning behind MADD’s stance against early release for repeat offenders,” said Jason Derscheid, executive director of Irving-based organization. “We support sentencing to the fullest extent of the law as the only option to maintain safety on our roadways. Our justice system doesn’t always provide justice. This is a specific example that highlights what our criminal justice system needs to be working on.”

A history of driving drunk

Court records show that Harold Moore was first arrested for DWI in 1992 by Flower Mound police. He received two years’ probation.

Over the years, Moore had six more DWI arrests in Colleyville, Bedford and Fort Worth, sometimes days apart.

In a Tarrant County courtroom in April 2006, Gallagher acknowledged to the attorneys handling the case that he faced an agonizing decision in determining Moore’s fate for his sixth and seventh DWI arrests — made eight days apart in December 2004 by Colleyville police.

During testimony that day, two very different pictures of Moore surfaced.

A Colleyville police officer told the judge that Moore was a well-known alcoholic and that officers were sometimes reminded during police briefings to be on the lookout for him driving from a bar to his home.

Friends and family portrayed him as a hard worker who built his janitorial business from the ground up, had a kind heart and was generous to those in need. His daughter, then a TCU student, testified that he never missed a ballet recital and made sure she wanted for nothing.

“He keeps saying he can never drink again and that our time together is so precious,” Angela Moore testified. “I swear to God, I don’t think my father will ever drink again. I’m not just saying that. I believe that with all of my heart.”

Angela Moore declined to comment Wednesday on the latest arrest.

Tim Moore, the defense attorney, asked the judge to sentence his client to minimal prison time, pointing out that he had never hurt anybody and had sought treatment at the Betty Ford Center in California at his own expense.

“He’s a really good person, a good father … with a big problem,” Tim Moore told the judge.

Prosecutor Kelly Loftus asked for the 10-year maximum on each of the two DWI cases and for the terms to be stacked. She also asked the judge to revoke Moore’s probation in two 1998 cases and to sentence him to 10 years in prison on each of those as well.

“I find myself in an unusual situation in this case,” Loftus said. “I have a dual responsibility here to protect the citizens of Tarrant County and to protect Mr. Moore from himself. I don’t know what it will take for him to stop drinking.”

In the end, Gallagher sentenced Moore to three four-year prison terms — to run concurrently — and 10 years’ probation.

The judge told Moore that every time he holds a glass of beer to his mouth, he is throwing his life away and that he should think of his daughter.

“I cannot imagine a situation where wanting to take a drink would override looking at that girl,” the judge said.

The eighth arrest

In the most recent case, Moore was driving his Mercedes-Benz SUV west on the Texas 114 service road about 6:25 p.m. Nov. 17 when he slammed into a BMW stopped at a red light at West Dove Road, according to the crash report. He did not apply his brakes, according to the report.

The BMW, in turn, hit a Toyota Highlander stopped in front of it. Occupants of the two struck vehicles were not injured, according to the report.

Moore suffered non-serious injuries and refused to submit to a breath or blood test. He was taken to a Grapevine hospital and required to give a blood sample after officers obtained a warrant.

He was indicted Dec. 16 on the DWI-felony repetition charge.

Within days of the wreck, prosecutors also filed a petition to revoke his probation.

In an amended petition, filed Dec. 12, prosecutors alleged that in addition to driving intoxicated the day of the wreck, Moore was operating a vehicle that was not equipped with a required ignition interlock device.

Prosecutors also alleged that Moore consumed alcohol in July 2011 and May 2013, failed to submit to a breath test requested by a probation officer in August 2012, and failed three times to submit to required alcohol-monitoring tests.

This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published January 7, 2015 at 7:46 PM with the headline "Trophy Club man arrested on 8th DWI charge."