MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two convicts currently serving time behind bars are having their stay extended after one was convicted of rape and the other pleaded guilty to rape charges, the District Attorney’s Office said.
On Wednesday, Jacquet Moore was sentenced to 60 years in prison after abducting a woman at gunpoint and raping her over 16 years ago in Whitehaven. District Attorney Amy Weirich said Moore’s rape kit was finally tested after more than 12 years and an FBI database linked the kit to him the following year.
His no-parole sentence is scheduled to begin in 2020 once he serves another sentence stemming from another aggravated robbery case.
The second man, James Ratliff, pleaded guilty to raping a woman back in 2010, the District Attorney’s Office said. He also got a 10-yar sentence this week.
In February 2010, the victim said she was walking along Elvis Presley Boulevard when the defendant asked if she needed a ride. When she accepted, he took her to a secluded spot and raped her.
It’s unclear when his rape kit was tested, but the FBI didn’t identify him until 2012.
As WREG first told you nearly seven years ago, more than 12,000 rape kits sat on a shelf for decades collecting dust. It allowed some rapists to walk free and possibly commit violent acts again.
“Very rarely does someone rape once and never again, that`s why this is so crucial and urgent,” said Weirich.
Both Ratliff and Moore were accused of raping multiple women. Moore has two more cold-case rape cases that are about to go to trial and Ratliff is currently serving 15 years for another rape case from the same year.
