Yakima man sentenced to 38 years in prison for 2022 drive-by murder

Gerald Moore first started going to the Yakima Rotary Food Bank as a client, but became a beloved volunteer.

With his western hat, he earned the nickname “Cowboy” and considered the people there his family, Kristina Johnson, a member of the food bank’s board, recalled in a letter read in Yakima County Superior Court.

“He said if he knew it was this much fun, he would have volunteered sooner,” Johnson said in the letter.

Moore, Johnson said, did not deserve to die, and the food bank staff had to “painfully explain” to their clients why he wasn’t there anymore.

Moore’s killer, 28-year-old Vincent Luis Mora-Worthington of Yakima, was sentenced in Yakima County Superior Court Thursday to 38 years in prison and is awaiting sentencing in a drug case on Tuesday.

“It is the position of this court that you have earned this sentence,” Judge Jared Boswell said, citing Mora-Worthington’s extensive criminal record and the nature of Moore’s killing in 2022.

Moore was shot outside his home in the 1000 block of South Eighth Street the night of Feb. 16, 2022. Security camera footage presented in court showed a dark-colored Audi A4 making a three-point turn in the driveway by Moore’s home. When Moore came outside, the driver of the Audi reached out the window with a gun in his left hand and fired twice, striking Moore, who staggered back toward his home before collapsing on the ground.

The two didn’t know each other, and Boswell said Moore was just trying to figure out why the car was in his driveway.

Almost a week later, a Yakima police officer spotted the Audi, which had damage to its rear quarter from backing into a fence post at the crime scene, and the car took off when the officer tried to stop it, with the Audi eventually crashing near North 20th Avenue and River Road.

The car was registered to Mora-Worthington and the police officer who pursued the car saw Mora-Worthington in the driver’s seat before he tried to pull the car over. A shell casing found on Mora-Worthington’s windshield matched a shell casing near Moore’s body, and cellphone data placed Mora-Worthington in the area when Moore was killed.

A jury found Mora-Worthington guilty in July of second-degree murder, drive-by shooting, eluding police and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

In a letter to the court, Moore’s family said they would not be attending the sentencing hearing.

“The family has discussed this and they have chosen to give the defendant the attention he deserves, which is zero,” the letter read.

He has prior convictions for second-degree assault in King County, and convictions for second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, first-degree assault, motor vehicle theft, second-degree malicious mischief and attempted motor vehicle theft in Yakima County Juvenile Court, and second-degree burglary, second-degree theft, second-degree malicious mischief and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in Yakima County Superior Court.

“At each stage in his life, from juvenile court to Superior Court, he has been given a chance to change course,” Deputy Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Rogelio Batarao Jr. said. “Each time, he has chosen violence, escalation and repeat offending. Now, he has crossed the gravest threshold: Second-degree murder with a firearm.”

Mora-Worthington’s offender score, which is used to calculate sentences, was a 9-plus, which Batarao said is the top of the scale.

He recommended Mora-Worthington serve a base prison sentence of 347.5 months — almost 29 years — with a 10-year firearm enhancement, since this is the second time that he had been convicted of using a firearm in a violent crime. The base sentence was the middle of the sentencing range.

Boswell said he could not find legal justification for a 10-year enhancement because Mora-Worthington’s first use of a firearm in a crime was when he was a juvenile, and the law suggested that could not be counted, instead leaving a five-year enhancement.

John Doherty, Mora-Worthington’s attorney, recommended the low end of the sentencing range — almost 25 years — with the sentencing enhancement.

“He’s a fairly young man, and his record is not the best in the world,” Doherty said. “If the court is in the bottom of the range, he’s still going to be there for a long time, and he’s going to be fairly old when he gets out.”

And Doherty said around age 50, convicted criminals are less likely to reoffend.

While he couldn’t support the 10-year firearm enhancement, Boswell said he didn’t think Batarao’s mid-range sentence recommendation was sufficient.

“That is something I cannot do, given the conduct that Mr. Mora-Worthington displayed in this incident,” Boswell said.

Moore, Boswell said, was killed because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, just trying to find out why Mora-Worthington had pulled into his driveway.

“It’s the last chapter of the book (of life) that Jerry Moore was writing, and that was taken from him too soon, and it is unfortunate because he did leave a legacy of volunteering and helping the community,” Boswell said. “But for you, Mr. Mora-Worthington, you’re still able to write your book, and even though this is a lengthy sentence, it’s unlikely to be a life sentence.”

He urged Mora-Worthington to take advantage of opportunities to reform himself and be a contributing member of society.