Gilmore pleads guilty to charges stemming from 2020 fatal crash

After more than two years, a Graham man was sentenced Tuesday on charges of intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle and intoxicated assault with a vehicle, causing substantial bodily injury. Jeremy Scott Gilmore, 46, pleaded guilty to both charges.

The charges stem from a single car crash, which occurred April 14, 2020, near FM 2179 in Graham. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Gilmore was driving east on FM 2179 in a 2003 Chevrolet Malibu with Derek Morgan and Melissa Neff, both of Graham, when the car entered a ditch and rolled several times before coming to rest on its roof. The report stated Gilmore was “unable to keep the vehicle on the roadway due to unsafe speed.”

Morgan, who was 43 at the time, was pronounced dead at the scene by Jason Hearne, Justice of the Peace, Pct. 1. Neff was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital (JPS) in Fort Worth. Gilmore fled the scene of the crash and was later found by local law enforcement and transported to JPS.

Gilmore later fled from JPS, and after approximately one month, was arrested May 21, 2020 in Pershing County, Nev. Details were never provided surrounding Gilmore’s escape from JPS.

According to the arrest report, Gilmore was found riding in a Jeep Liberty with another individual. The pair was pulled over in Lovelock, Nev. at approximately 5 p.m. PDT, in reference to a call reporting a drunk driver. Gilmore was extradited to Texas and arrived June 22, 2020 at the Young County Jail. He was held on two bonds totaling $180,000.

On Tuesday, Sept. 27, Gilmore accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to eight years confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division, with 828 days credit for time served. Additionally, Gilmore was issued a $3,000 fine and ordered to pay $4,087 in restitution for the intoxicated manslaughter charge. He was charged a total of $910 in court costs, or $455 in court costs per charge.

Gilmore was facing two to 20 years imprisonment in TDCJ and a fine of up to $10,000 for the second-degree felony of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle. Intoxication assault with a vehicle, causing substantial bodily injury, a third-degree felony, is punishable by imprisonment in TDCJ between two and 10 years and a fine of up to $10,000.

“I think that this individual belongs in the penitentiary and not in our county jail,” 90th Judicial District Attorney Dee Peavy said. “Finally, we were able to come to a resolution and send him to the penitentiary.”

According to Young County Clerk records, Gilmore was previously charged with resisting arrest and driving while intoxicated from an incident in September 2000. He was sentenced for his second DWI in June 2007.

“Well, that certainly plays a role. If this were some situation where he did not have a history, we might have considered a different type of sentence. If someone doesn't have a criminal history, we generally try to work to rehabilitate them through the probation department,” Peavy said. “Obviously, (...) this was very egregious conduct that occurred, driving under the influence at 100 plus miles per hour.”