Jurors on Wednesday evening sentenced a Fort Bliss soldier to 30 years in prison for brutally attacking a pregnant woman last year, leaving her partially blind and with extensive injuries.
Corey Moss, 20, initially didn't show any emotion after 210th District Judge Gonzalo Garcia announced the jury's sentence. Jurors also assessed a $10,000 fine.
Moss will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years of his sentence. He will receive credit for time spent in jail awaiting trial.
El Paso police arrested Moss on Oct. 30 for the brutal stabbing of Rachel Poole at her Northeast home. She was eight and a half months pregnant at the time but her baby girl was born healthy.
On Monday, Moss pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit aggravated assault and opted to have a jury decide his punishment.
At the time of the attack, Poole had been using the FaceTime app on her phone to video chat with her husband, Army Spc. Justin Poole, who had been deployed to Qatar. State prosecutors said Moss attacked Poole over a $3,000 debt Moss owed to the Pooles after damaging one of their vehicles.
The couple has since moved from El Paso and now live in Virginia, where Justin Poole is stationed.
During a victim-impact statement after the jury's sentence was announced, Rachel Poole told Moss she forgave him.
"I forgive you not for you, but I forgive you for myself, my children and my husband," Rachel Poole told Moss as he sat in the courtroom jury box.
Moss wept as Rachel Poole told him she forgave him "so that I can continue the way I live my life the way I have to" for her family.
Justin Poole also gave a victim-impact statement. He told Moss he forgave him, but will never forget the pain Moss inflicted on the Poole family.
"I don't need to express to you how disappointed I am in your actions," Justin Poole told Moss as Moss sniffled loudly. "I took you in as family."
Justin Poole said during his statement that he also used the FaceTime app to speak with Moss about the debt. He said he told Moss he could only pay half the debt, and that he would be back in El Paso in early November.
"Thirty years is not a long time," Justin Poole told Moss. "People question Rachel about her injuries, but they don't question you about your motives."
Justin Poole also reminded Moss that he once considered him family and often helped him out financially.
During closing arguments Wednesday morning, state prosecutors pointed out Moss once told Army officials his father had died in a tornado in Oklahoma. Army officials and friends hosted fundraisers for Moss but later learned Moss lied about his father's death.
Assistant District Attorney Bill Anderson had urged jurors to sentence Moss to life in prison, arguing Moss intended to kill Rachel Poole and her unborn baby. Rachel Poole suffered serious injuries, including a broken neck and nose and broken facial bones. The attack lasted about a minute, Anderson told jurors. He then paused his argument for a minute.
"If that minute was long for you, that minute will last the rest of her life," Anderson said during his closing argument. "I want you to make that minute last just as long for Corey Moss."
Moss' attorney, Rafael Morales, said he feared jurors would sentence Moss to more than 30 years.
"The verdict was not unjust," Morales said after Wednesday's verdict. "It was a generous verdict. I hope (Moss) uses that time to grow up and mature."
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