Renecker Guilty In Garcia Murder

A jury deliberated for two hours Friday before finding Dutch Renecker guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Prosecutors called evidence against Renecker overwhelming, while the 19-year-old’s attorney blamed Jose Isais Gonzalez Garcia’s murder on two other people allegedly present when the 25-year-old Yakima man was shot.

Renecker, who could face the death penalty, showed little emotion when 1st District Court Judge James Judd’s clerk read the verdict. Several of Garcia’s family members, many of whom were present each day of the weeklong trial, also had little visible reaction.

Family members on both sides left court without commenting.

Testimony during the trial had been emotionally charged at times.

Six bailiffs were positioned around the courtroom for the jury’s decision.

Judd warned the courtroom gallery against outbursts before the verdict was returned. He scheduled a Feb. 26 hearing to listen to aggravating and mitigating circumstances surrounding Garcia’s murder, which will be used to determine Renecker’s sentence.

Renecker’s alleged accomplice, Franklin “Murdoc” Johnson, pleaded guilty in October to the lesser charge of second-degree murder. The 30-year-old Rathdrum man, who entered an Alford plea, meaning he did not admit guilt, is scheduled to be sentenced later this month and faces life in prison.

Prosecutors charged Renecker as the trigger man and Johnson as a co-conspirator. A third person, Elijah Chaney, who was 17 when Garcia was killed, was charged as a juvenile with being an accessory for failing to report the crime.

Chaney, Garcia’s former roommate, unwittingly drove Renecker, Johnson and Garcia to the scene of the shooting, prosecutors said. The 18-year-old said he did not know of the plan to kill Garcia until Renecker pulled out a pistol while Johnson and Garcia were wrestling.

“Murdoc’s holding him on the ground when Dutch walks up and puts (a bullet) in his head - point blank,” said Rick Baughman, deputy prosecutor. “I call that intent to kill. … I call that murder.”

Defense attorney Everett Hofmeister said Chaney only cooperated with sheriff’s detectives in hopes of striking a deal with prosecutors to avoid being charged with murder.

“Once he made that statement, he had to stick to that story or the deal might be off,” Hofmeister said.

Hofmeister called Chaney an accomplice in Garcia’s killing, meaning under state law his testimony could not be used against Renecker unless other evidence corroborated it.

“Everybody wants to extricate themselves from being the shooter,” Hofmeister said. “What physical evidence is there?”

Prosecutors said testimony from other witnesses about the murder weapon and Garcia’s wounds confirmed Chaney’s account. Renecker’s friends also testified that the Coeur d’Alene teenager repeatedly boasted about shooting Garcia and asked at least one of them to tell police he was with him at a Spokane strip club on Jan. 6, the night of the shooting.

Isaac Dante said he had a conversation the night of the killing during which Renecker confessed that he shot Garcia two times in the head. Renecker stood with his hands clasped, pretending to aim a gun, and demonstrated how he shot Garcia while Johnson and Chaney held him down, Dante said.

Johnson also bragged about the killing several times, friends said. Those claims, and allegations that Chaney talked about the killing, cast doubt about who shot Garcia, Hofmeister said.

Cut in the Spokane edition