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Idaho Attorney General’s office appeals dismissal of murder charge against Bonners Ferry chiropractor

Chiropractor Daniel Moore’s office is photographed in Bonners Ferry on March 3, 2021. He previously was accused of killing fellow chiropractor Brian Drake on March 12, 2020. The Idaho Attorney General's Office is appealing a decision this month that dismissed the murder charge. (Kathy Plonka/The Spokesman-Review)
By Greg Mason gregm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5047

The Idaho Attorney General’s Office is appealing a judge’s decision to dismiss murder charges against Bonners Ferry chiropractor Daniel L. Moore.

Moore had been charged with second-degree murder stemming from the death of 45-year-old Brian Drake, who was shot and killed March 12, 2020. Moore was arrested in late August after yielding an apparent confession to law enforcement.

District Court Judge Barbara Buchanan, however, threw out the confession and all incriminating statements Moore made. The judge determined the confession, made after Moore requested a lawyer, was “the product of police coercion.”

Earlier this month, Buchanan ruled in the defense’s favor to drop the charges, finding that prosecutors did not have admissible evidence needed to establish probable cause as per state law.

The state Attorney General’s Office filed the notice of appeal Wednesday afternoon in Boundary County District Court. A representative with the Attorney General’s Office declined to comment, citing the pending matter.

Jill Bolton, Moore’s attorney, said last week her client has since moved to Bonner County with plans to file a lawsuit against the state of Idaho and the counties involved in the case, claiming wrongful charges. Bolton did not return a call for comment.