Moscow man sentenced following multiple pursuits, battery

The 49-year-old Moscow man who led police on three high-speed pursuits in October before being arrested on the University of Idaho campus was sentenced to at least two years in prison Tuesday in Latah County 2nd District Court in Moscow.

Robert Lee Brown was arrested Oct. 23 during his third day of eluding police in Idaho and Washington when he crashed his truck into a police vehicle and a retaining wall on Sixth Street near the UI steam plant.

As part of a Rule 11 plea agreement, Brown pleaded guilty in December in front of Judge John Judge to two counts of felony eluding and one count of felony domestic battery.

Judge accepted the plea agreement Tuesday and sentenced Brown to two years fixed and three years indeterminate in state prison for each of the eluding charges, and two years fixed and eight years indeterminate in prison for the felony domestic battery charge. The sentences will run concurrently.

Judge dismissed four felony charges — eluding, aggravated battery, receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle and burglary — and two misdemeanor charges — petit theft and false imprisonment — for the Latah County cases as part of the plea agreement.

Judge also dismissed misdemeanor charges in his Moscow city cases and the Whitman County Prosecutor’s Office did not press charges.

The domestic battery and false imprisonment charges stemmed from Oct. 17, when a Moscow Police Department officer responded to the area behind Palouse Mall for a call of a man dragging a woman on the ground and trying to force her into a vehicle, according to a probable cause affidavit.

It said the woman, who had a relationship with Brown, told the police officer Brown hit her multiple times in the face and chest as he drove them around Moscow.

According to the affidavit, when Brown parked the car, she said she jumped out of the vehicle and tried to run away but Brown ran after her, grabbed her hair and slammed her to the ground. She said Brown drug her back toward the vehicle.

A witness said in the affidavit that he saw Brown on top of the woman dragging her back to the truck and yelled at Brown to let her go. The witness said Brown dropped the woman, got into the truck and fled the scene.

Judge also ordered Brown, who wore an orange Latah County Jail jumpsuit in court Tuesday, to pay $4,999.74 in restitution to the Moscow Police Department or its insurance company — whichever is determined to be appropriate — for damaging a police cruiser on the UI campus during the third pursuit; $21.04 in restitution to Rosauers for the misdemeanor petit theft charge; and $766.50 in court costs.

Latah County Deputy Prosecutor Keith Scholl outlined Brown’s extensive felonious criminal history, which dates back to the early 1990s, to the court Tuesday. He called Brown a “professional criminal.”

Brown said he has battled methamphetamine addiction for years and was thankful for the two-year fixed sentence because he said he still has a chance to start his life over when he gets out of prison before it is too late.

“When I come back, you guys are going to hear my name in a different light,” Brown said fighting back tears at times when he addressed the court. “You’re going to hear my name in a positive impact in the community around here versus a negative one because I don’t ever want to be in that light again.”

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.