Court upholds life sentence

SANDPOINT — The Idaho Supreme Court is affirming the life sentence imposed on an Oldtown man convicted of repeatedly molesting a 6-year-old boy.

Walter Eugene Moore was ordered in 2003 to serve 15 years to life in prison for lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor. The Idaho Court of Appeals upheld the sentence, but Moore subsequently succeeded in a petition for post-conviction relief.

Moore, 50, argued he received ineffective defense counsel because he was not advised that he retained his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination after pleading guilty. As a result, Moore submitted to a psychosexual evaluation and polygraph examination as part of a presentence investigation.

The presentence report noted that Moore possessed a significant amount of child pornography and a collection of children’s underwear with names and ages written on them.

Moore’s sentence was vacated and he submitted to another presentence investigation for re-sentencing in 2008. The defense also moved for the court to order the Idaho Department of Correction to return Moore’s first presentence report to keep the document from being used against him when he becomes eligible for parole in 2016.

First District Judge John Patrick Luster denied the motion, saying he did not have the authority to issue such an order and sentenced Moore to life in prison with 13 years fixed.

Moore appealed to the high court, arguing that Luster improperly denied the motion regarding the presentence report and that Luster abused his discretion by imposing an excessively harsh sentence.

Chief Justice Daniel Eismann, however, rejected Moore’s contention that the court had the authority to order corrections officials to return the presentence report. Eismann also rejected Moore’s claim that he was given an overly harsh sentence, according to seven-page opinion published on Wednesday.

Eismann pointed out that Moore admitted performing multiple sex acts on the six-year-old victim and also had the victim’s 4-year-old brother photograph one of the sexual encounters. Moreover, a polygraph examination detected deception when Moore was asked whether he had undisclosed sexually deviant behaviors and if he was lying about the number of individuals he had sexually abused.

Both presentence investigations indicated that Moore attempted to minimize his responsibility and placed blame on the victim, Eismann said in the opinion.

“Although Moore may have expressed remorse at his second sentencing, after serving time in prison, the court need not have given it any weight. It would be a very obtuse defendant who did not express remorse at sentencing after having pled guilty,” Eismann wrote.

Justices Roger Burdick, Jim Jones, Warren Jones and Joel Horton concurred with Eismann, who concluded the opinion with remarks the victims’ mother made in district court:

“He’s killed my kids’ souls, pride, their self-respect of ever knowing what it’s like to be a normal child.”