Hearings in CdA officer’s death delayed
A Kootenai County judge reluctantly agreed Friday to further postpone key hearings for the defendant in last month’s fatal shooting of Coeur d’Alene police Sgt. Greg Moore.
First District Senior Magistrate Barry Watson said he would reschedule the preliminary hearing for Jonathan Daniel Renfro for July 22.
“I’m not inclined to continue it again though,” Watson told lawyers for the defense and the state.
The judge also pushed back to June 24 a hearing on several motions lawyers have filed in the case. He had been scheduled to hear those motions Friday. They include the prosecution’s motion to add a first-degree murder charge to the list of felonies Renfro is accused of, and another asking the judge to revoke the $2 million bail for Renfro, 27, and hold him at the county jail without the ability to post bail.
The Kootenai County prosecuting attorney’s office argued that Renfro should be held without bail because it anticipates charging him with first-degree murder, a capital offense. Anyone convicted of murdering a police officer in Idaho is eligible for the death penalty.
“It is anticipated that the defendant will be subject to a penalty of death,” Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Robins said in a motion filed May 15.
Kootenai County Public Defender John Adams is seeking to lower Renfro’s bail on the grounds it’s excessive. Adams also asked the court for a gag order barring attorneys, investigators, police and other parties in the case from discussing it with news media.
Friday’s hearing began a half-hour after it was scheduled to start. The delay gave Renfro, who sat shackled at the wrists and ankles in striped jail clothes, time to visit with three of his family members who sat at the front of the courtroom. They smiled and laughed and chatted about the weather and gardening.
When the hearing began, prosecutors and the public defender both said they need more time to prepare for the motions and the preliminary hearing because the investigation is ongoing and they still are waiting on reports from law enforcement agencies.
Watson on May 20 had agreed to postpone hearing the motions until Friday and had set the preliminary hearing for June 24. Today the judge asked Renfro if he would accept the additional delays, given his right to a speedy preliminary hearing.
“I have no problem with that, your honor,” Renfro replied.
Investigators allege that Renfro, who was on felony parole, shot Moore as the officer questioned him because he was afraid Moore would find a handgun in his pocket – a parole violation. Moore was shot in the face early in the morning on May 5 and died later that day at Kootenai Health.
Renfro was charged that day with attempted first-degree murder, before Moore died. Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Barry McHugh filed an amended complaint to charge Renfro with first-degree murder, but that has yet to come before a judge.
Renfro also was charged with stealing a police car, stealing a police gun, being a convict in possession of a gun, and removing a gun from an officer acting in his official capacity.
Moore’s body camera captured the shooting, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case. Moore had stopped his patrol car in a northwest Coeur d’Alene neighborhood around 1:20 a.m. to question Renfro, who had looked suspicious to the officer, investigators said.
In addition to the camera footage showing Renfro, the defendant in a police interview admitted shooting Moore, taking the officer’s sidearm from its holster and two pistol magazines, and driving away from the scene in Moore’s patrol car, court documents state.
Renfro allegedly abandoned the car on the west end of Post Falls. He was apprehended by police while he hid under a semitrailer near a Wal-Mart store.
Renfro also admitted to police that he used hydrocodone and methamphetamine the day before the shooting.
Thousands attended a May 9 memorial service for Moore at Lake City High School. He was married with a 1-year-old daughter, and he had a 12-year-old son from a previous marriage.