Renfro case moves forward

COEUR d'ALENE - Jonathan Renfro's case moved to 1st District Court Wednesday after a magistrate found probable cause for six felony counts relating to Sgt. Greg Moore's murder.

Renfro's case, which includes a first-degree murder charge, now begins the long process toward trial.

In addition to murder, he faces charges of grand theft, taking a gun from a law enforcement officer, concealment of evidence, robbery and eluding police.

In closing arguments prior to Magistrate Barry Watson's decision, Kootenai County Deputy Prosecutor David Robins said the evidence was strong for the first-degree murder charge.

"How do we know it was the defendant who murdered Sgt. Moore?" Robins asked.

For starters, he said, Moore's body camera showed Renfro and Moore's interaction just before the shooting in a north Coeur d'Alene neighborhood. The video also showed what happened immediately afterward.

After the shot to Moore's face is heard on the video there are a few moments of silence. Moore fell on his back and the camera pointed up from his chest.

"You then see the defendant over Sgt. Moore's body," Robins said.

Prosecutors said Renfro stole Moore's gun and a flashlight, then fled in his squad car.

"That evidence is compelling and powerful to establish that it is the defendant who shot Sgt. Moore," Robins said.

He also pointed to video of interviews with law enforcement investigators in which Renfro allegedly confessed to the murder.

"We have a myriad of statements of the defendant that prove he was the one who shot Sgt. Moore," Robins said.

He read from a transcript from a police interrogation of Renfro, a 27-year-old resident of Rathdrum.

After explaining to Renfro that police had the body camera footage, one detective asked, "So why did you shoot him?"

"Fear," Renfro responded.

"Of what?" a detective asked.

"Having a gun in my damn pocket," Renfro said.

"You were afraid he would find that?" was the next question.

"No. I knew he was going to find it," Renfro said.

Renfro was on felony parole at the time and couldn't have a gun, and was afraid of going back to prison.

"That's his motive, your honor," Robins told the court.

To top it off, the prosecutor pointed out that in the video Moore is "pleasant" and "kind" to Renfro.

Renfro was stopped by Moore while walking alone in a residential neighborhood just before 1:30 a.m. on May 5. The shooting occurred after Moore called Renfro's information into central dispatch using Renfro's driver's license.

Robins again read from the two-hour interview with police investigators.

"Was (Moore) decent to you?" an investigator asked.

"He was actually really nice and respectful," Renfro responded. "Seemed like a nice man."

During the preliminary hearing, it was revealed that Moore's duty pistol was found under a trailer where Renfro was found hiding by a police K-9 near the Walmart Supercenter at the Idaho-Washington state line.

Chief Public Defender John Adams said in closing arguments that Moore wasn't - at the time of the incident - acting in the lawful discharge of his official duties as a police officer.

Adams argued that Renfro shouldn't have been stopped and questioned by Moore, based on what is now known.

He said police and prosecutors didn't show Renfro was stopped by Moore because of a suspicion of criminal activity.

"Walking down the sidewalk at night is not criminal," Adams said. "It's not suspicious. It's a right we have as citizens to walk down our sidewalks without being accosted by police."

Adams also said there was no justification for taking Renfro's driver's license and calling in his information.

"Our court and our Supreme Court says that's not a lawful discharge of duty," Adams argued. "The evidence shows (Moore) was acting unconstitutionally and unlawfully at the time he seized Renfro."

Watson disagreed.

"I find that he was acting in the lawful discharge of his official duties as a peace officer," Watson said. "I do find probable cause has been established on all the necessary elements of (first-degree murder)."

Watson thanked both the prosecutors and public defenders for doing a professional job during the preliminary hearing.

"This is an extremely difficult case for both sides," Watson said.

The $2 million bond holding Renfro in the Kootenai County jail remains in effect.

An arraignment hearing will be scheduled when Renfro will enter pleas to the charges.

District Judge John T. Mitchell has been assigned the case.