Judge rejects motions on death penalty

COEUR d'ALENE — Additional attempts at taking the death penalty off the table for the man accused of murdering Coeur d'Alene Police Sgt. Greg Moore fell short Monday. 

But, Kootenai County District Court Judge Lansing Haynes has yet to rule on two others.

Jonathan Renfro, a 26-year-old Rathdrum resident who allegedly admitted to killing Moore in a Coeur d'Alene neighborhood on May 5, 2015, currently faces the death penalty if found guilty of charges associated with the incident. In a series of hearings in Kootenai County District Court beginning last week, Haynes has heard arguments from the team of public defenders representing Renfro as to why their client should not face execution for reasons ranging from international law to the nature of the encounter Moore had with Renfro prior to the shooting. 

Monday's hearing began with Kootenai County Public Defender John Adams stating Moore's interaction with Renfro around 1:30 a.m. constituted an unreasonable seizure. Renfro walking in the Coeur d'Alene neighborhood was legal, and Adams said the experienced officer was "acting on a hunch" when he approached the Rathdrum man.

"Unfortunately it's a hunch that went terribly wrong," Adams added.

Once Moore asked for and received Renfro's driver's license, Adams said the encounter went from being consensual to one where any individual would come to the conclusion they were not free to leave. Due to Adams' assertion that his client’s "seizure" by Moore was unconstitutional, the public defender challenged Haynes to suppress all evidence gathered from the officer's dashboard camera, and to not allow the death penalty to be pursued by the Kootenai County Prosecutors Office.

"First degree murder has to go away, it's got to be a second degree murder," Adams said. "It's a big call, but the law is pretty straightforward."

Kootenai County Deputy Prosecutor David Robbins, however, argued Renfro was not "seized" by Moore. To fall under the legal definition of the term, Robbins said Renfro had to have either been surrendering to law enforcement authority or physically restrained.

"The moment he pulled that trigger, he was not unconstitutionally seized," Robbins said. "A person who is seized does not shoot a police officer."

Following arguments, Haynes told the courtroom he would issue a ruling on Adams' motion during a hearing on Oct. 12.

Haynes denied two other motions made by the public defender's office that also asked the judge to not allow the death penalty to be among the potential punishments for Renfro. Kootenai County Public Defender Linda Payne presented arguments for both of the motions, the first of which involved the assertion that the use of capital punishment in America conflicts with international law, which she said has deemed the practice "cruel and unusual punishment" due to the amount of time it takes before a prisoner on death row is executed.

However, Haynes agreed with Robbins' counter-argument that the international law in question allows for individual countries to still use capital punishment.

The second motion Payne argued asked Haynes to preclude the death penalty because "evolving standards of decency" have caused pursuit of death as punishment to decrease. In some states, Payne said the practice has been essentially abolished by the act of not imposing the death penalty.

"The respect for human life and rights does not include imposing the death penalty," Payne added.

Robbins told Haynes a shift in the amount of capital cases does not mean the practice itself is unconstitutional. He added there is no indication the Idaho Legislature plans on eliminating the death penalty in the state.

Haynes agreed with Robbins and denied the motion. The judge will issue rulings on two more motions at 9:00 a.m. on Oct. 12.