Idaho AG’s Office declines to file battery charge against Kootenai County sheriff
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Garret Cabeza, The Spokesman-Review
COEUR D’ALENE (The Spokesman-Review) — The Idaho Office of the Attorney General will not file charges against Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris for trying to remove a woman from her seat and for detaining another man in February at a Coeur d’Alene town hall.
In a six-page letter, dated Monday, from Deputy Attorney General Jeff Nye to Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Stanley Mortensen, the office wrote it could not prove Norris “acted in bad faith or with malice” at the event.
Norris was captured on video grabbing and tugging the arm of Teresa Borrenpohl, a former Democratic state legislative candidate, and threatening to pepper-spray her if she did not leave because she was yelling at speakers on stage at the Feb. 22 Kootenai County Republican Central Committee town hall at Coeur d’Alene High School.
When she did not comply, Norris gestured at a group of men in black jackets, who dragged Borrenpohl out of the auditorium by her arms while she screamed “Who are these guys?” and Norris appeared to record the incident on a cell phone.
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The men, who did not identify themselves at the time, were working as private security officers for Lear Asset Management, a California security company. They have been charged with multiple crimes, including battery and false imprisonment.
The attorney general office’s letter said the office received “several public corruption complaints” asking it to investigate whether Norris committed battery during the event.
The office reviewed the complaints, per an Idaho statute that allows the attorney general to investigate “any allegation of a violation of state criminal law, against a county officer occupying an elective office for violation of state criminal law in his official capacity.” The investigation did not include whether Norris followed his office’s policies while providing security at the event or whether the sheriff or the county should be held civilly liable for Norris’ actions.
Norris was poised to be the subject of an outside investigation to determine if his conduct at the meeting violated any policy, according to a release from the sheriff’s office at the time. It is unclear whether Norris was investigated. Norris, the attorney general’s office and Mortensen could not be reached for comment Friday.
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Borrenpohl previously filed a $5 million legal claim against Norris, the security guards and other people at the event, accusing them of violating her constitutional rights. Borrenpohl had bruising, scratches and damaged clothing, according to her legal claim.
Coeur d’Alene police Chief Lee White, who will retire in January, previously told The Spokesman-Review that investigators shared First Amendment violation concerns because Borrenpohl was removed for jeering, but others were not removed for cheering.
The attorney general’s office wrote the chair of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, Brent Regan, told the audience at the start of the town hall the event was private, and that anyone who could not “maintain decorum” would be escorted out by security. The moderator then explained the purpose of the event was to hear from the legislators and asked that everyone listen and avoid disruptions.
The crowd, including Borrenpohl, eventually started heckling the legislators, and the moderator asked them to stop, saying they could ask questions later, according to the letter. Borrenpohl repeatedly shouted, “Is this a lecture or a town hall?” Norris then approached Borrenpohl and asked her to leave, threatening to arrest her after she did not comply.
He grabbed her arm, and she resisted, asking the sheriff not to touch her. He let go of Borrenpohl and pointed her out to two individuals standing nearby who were providing security, the letter said. The two individuals then dragged Borrenpohl from the event.
The letter says Norris was allowed to make physical contact with Borrenpohl to arrest her for potential charges of trespassing and resisting arrest after she refused to leave. Coeur d’Alene police declined Norris’ request to trespass and arrest Borrenpohl.
Borrenpohl was initially cited on suspicion of battery, but the city prosecutor’s office decided to drop the battery charge “in the interest of justice” and “careful consideration of the law,” Chief Deputy City Attorney Ryan Hunter said at the time.
“At the very least, the sheriff had a good faith basis to believe he could remove Borrenpohl from the event without violating the First Amendment,” the attorney general’s office wrote. “The First Amendment does not give Borrenpohl, or anyone else, the right to attend an event held by a private entity in the reserved space of a public building and shout down the meeting organizers until they change the format of the meeting.”
The state office also investigated whether Norris battered another man at the event.
A man positioned himself between Norris and Borrenpohl being detained, the letter stated. Norris attempted to move the man out of the way and the man appeared to “physically rebuff the sheriff,” the letter said. Norris then detained the man.
The attorney general’s office claimed Norris could lawfully detain the man for “physically” resisting the sheriff moving him out of the way.
“Most of the debate after this incident focused on whether the town hall was a public or private event,” the letter says. “But the answer to that question matters little given the applicable law.”
Idaho’s trespass statute applies the same to public and private property, and a private entity who paid to reserve and use public property has “the authority to set limitations on those who come onto the property.”
“Moreover, regardless of whether the town hall was a public or private event, it is well-settled that an attendee of an organized meeting in a reserved space does not have a First Amendment right to shut down the meeting by heckling,” the letter said.
Norris was allowed to ask Borrenpohl, who was “violating KCRCC’s rules,” to leave the town hall because the Republican committee paid to use the high school auditorium, the attorney general’s office wrote.
“The KCRCC invited the public to attend its town hall meeting, but it also required attendees to follow rules of decorum, such as refraining from interrupting speakers and waiting until the question-and-answer period to engage with the legislators,” the letter says. “Attendees were expressly told by those who had reserved the meeting space that failure to follow the rules could result in being removed from the meeting.”
Regan contended in February the meeting was private because he paid $500 to rent the space and had to submit insurance for the group to occupy the venue. However, the event was marketed openly by a flyer on Facebook with no tickets or invitation required, something that also could change application of the First Amendment, according to previous Spokesman-Review reporting.
Coeur d’Alene Public Schools Superintendent Shon Hocker said the event was perceived to be public, according to an internal email he sent to White.
“Saturday’s event was presented to the school district as a ‘public’ event. As such, we went ahead and rented the facility to them,” Hocker wrote. “… If we had been approached by a political agency to use our facility for a ‘private’ event, it would have been denied.”
The school district said in a memo to reporters in February the request for the event was granted based on the application stating it was open to the public and the venue would provide a neutral location where local residents and their elected officials could engage with one another. The school district also said in the memo it condemns “any action or rhetoric that denies any person their constitutional rights.”