Clark Circuit Court Judge Daniel Moore will step down January 2023

Jul. 13—CLARK COUNTY — Clark Circuit Court Judge Daniel Moore says there's two words he lives by in the courtroom and in life.

Those words are "fair" and "care."

It's a legacy he hopes to leave for the future judges in Clark County as Moore submitted his resignation to Gov. Eric Holcomb on June 11.

His resignation is effective Jan. 1, 2023.

He cited medical issues and wanting to spend time with his family among the reasons for his resignation.

"You've got to know those are people (in your courtroom), not just blips on the paper," he said talking about his tenure to the News and Tribune on Wednesday. "You've got to be fair to them. You may have a first impression that says 'Gosh, she doesn't even look to be believable.' In fact, when the proof comes out she's very believable and he's not believable."

In his letter to the governor and in his interview with the News and Tribune Moore said he plans to re-open his law office in Jeffersonville next January.

His plan is be a mediator and he hopes to help people work out legal issues outside of the courtroom.

It will be up to Holcomb to choose the person who serves out the rest of his term.

Moore, a Republican, was re-elected to the bench in 2020. He got 31,570 votes or 56% of the vote, ousting incumbent Andrew Adams. He was first elected to the bench in 2014.

He's been in the legal field for more than 30 years and also spent some time as a radio and TV sports broadcaster.

The year Moore was re-elected was also around the time he was first diagnosed with sepsis, likely caused by a dental procedure. The blood infection swept through his body, settling near a knee replacement he had in 2015 and parts of his back. He had that taken out and got a new replacement last fall.

"I've been walking with a walker and canes," he said. "We need to be paying more and more attention to those folks that walk around in walkers and wheelchairs."

He was in the hospital on five different occasions, being treated by Norton Healthcare. He said he was also at a Frazier Rehab facility off Brownsboro Road in Louisville.

The sepsis is gone now, he said, adding that at one point during his illness a priest was sent to his room to read him his last rites. He said he nearly died three times.

"I said, what, who told me I was checking out today?" he said.

During his illness, Moore said he took some leaves from the bench. He said he had some senior judges sit in for him, retired judges from surrounding counties. He commended them and said they handled the docket.

Sometimes he was able to listen to the hearings on the phone during that time period and make court decisions.

"I've got to spend time with my family. This sickness I've had has been so invasive," he said. "They gave up a lot of their time for me...I love them to death and I've got to spend some time goofing around with them and spending time with them."

Moore is a storyteller with more than 30 years of legal experience. He recounted memories of meeting President Bill Clinton with other Clark County officials at the Pentagon. Clinton was traveling, as always, with the nuclear football. He spoke about memories with Indiana House of Representatives member Elmer Hoehn.

In the 1990s Moore spent time traveling to the Pentagon in Washington D.C., negotiating with the federal government to get Clark County the rights to the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant.

He joined then Gov. Joe Kernan and members of the Clark County Commissioners on a trip in 1997. After nearly an hourlong meeting with the acting assistant secretary of the army, Kenneth Oscar, he said in a news release the Army was willing to work with officials in Clark County and Indiana.

Moore continued to work on the case until its resolution.

Moore said he worked on four different murder trials during his first term as judge, but one sticks out in particular.

The double-murder and felony arson trial of Evansville man Jeffrey Weisheit that was transferred to Clark County. After the jury's recommendation, Moore sentenced him to death.

"It was just a horrible trial. It's the only capital case I ever sat on and the jury came back and recommended the death penalty in that case," he said. "It was a boyfriend who got mad at a girlfriend and he was supposed to be babysitting her kids that day, and he got so mad he tied them up and burned the house down with them in it."

Weishert is on death row. In 2019 the U.S. Supreme Court chose to not hear the appeal in his death penalty case.

"Those are some hard things to describe as a judge, that's my job," he said. "That is the law and in my mind the legislators have decided there are some crimes that are so bad they call for the (death) penalty. I really believe as a detail-oriented lawyer that all the little checkmarks (in that case) had been met by the proof."

Moore thanked the people of Clark County for serving as jurors in that and other cases. He also expressed his appreciation to his family and other lawyers he's worked with.

He still plans to hear cases until January, but is currently taking some vacation time.

"Nothing's going to happen to this system where someone announces 'there's no crime in Clark County,'" he said. "We just have to evolve with it. I'm not the best, but I try to stay ahead of the curve the whole time."