Pubdate: Wed, 30 Dec 1998
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Contact:  1320 SW Broadway Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Copyright: 1998 The Oregonian
Author: David R. Anderson, The Oregonian staff

HOUSEMATE OF OFFICER'S KILLER RECEIVES 4-YEAR TERM

* The Judge Cites The Marijuana Growing Operation That Was The Target Of
The Police Raid In Which Colleen Waibel Died

The man whose housemate shot and killed a Portland police officer during a
drug raid was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison on drug and
child-neglect charges.

In sentencing Jeffery Harlan Moore, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Linda
Bergman doubled the usual 18-month sentence for drug manufacturing to three
years and added a fourth year on the child-neglect charges. Moore's
attorney had argued that he should be sentenced to probation.

But Bergman rejected that, saying Moore was indirectly responsible for the
death of Officer Colleen Waibel on Jan. 27. Moore knew about a 51-plant
marijuana growing operation, a cache of weapons and a surveillance system
that his housemate, Steven Douglas Dons, had aimed at the driveway. He also
knew that Dons did not like police and was prepared to shoot rather than be
arrested, Bergman said.

"No, Mr. Moore did not shoot anybody here, but if Mr. Moore had not allowed
him, Mr. Dons would never have been there, would never have been armed and
would never have been in a position to shoot a police officer," Bergman said.

Moore's attorney, Lynne Morgan, had asked that Moore be sentenced to 1 1/2
years in prison at most. She said Moore, who had no prior convictions and
was at work at the time of the shootout, should not be the target of police
and prosecutors' anger.

"I feel like I'm litigating this case in some bizarre parallel universe,"
Morgan said to Bergman. "What Mr. Dons did was a terrible thing, but Mr.
Moore should not be punished for it."

Jim McIntyre, a senior deputy district attorney, asked for a five-year
sentence. He noted that an independent presentence investigator recommended
a six-year prison term, which he described as one of the longest proposed
sentences he could remember in a marijuana growing case. In addition, a
psychiatrist hired by the state diagnosed Moore as having a personality
disorder.

But the bottom line was that the drug operation led to Waibel's death.

"You can never step away from that," McIntyre said. "They were armed to the
teeth and prepared for law enforcement."

Bergman convicted Moore on Nov. 4 of manufacture of a controlled substance,
three counts of possession of a controlled substance and two counts of
child neglect for having his two children, then 7 and 9, in the house with
the growing operation. Bergman found Moore not guilty of child endangerment
for allegedly having the children around guns and ammunition in the house.

Moore, 45, could serve three years and two months with time off for good
behavior.

On Jan. 27, members of the Portland police Marijuana Task Force knocked on
the door of the house the two men shared at 2612 S.E. 111th Ave. They had
seen Dons buying growing equipment in October 1997 and smelled growing
marijuana outside the house the day of the raid. As they waited for a
search warrant, officers smelled burning marijuana and saw smoke rise from
the chimney. Fearing that someone was destroying evidence of the growing
operation, they broke down the front door.

Dons then opened fire with an assault rifle, killing Waibel and injuring
Officer Kim Keist and Sgt. Jim Hudson.

Dons was paralyzed by a bullet fired by Hudson. A month later, Dons
committed suicide in his Justice Center jail cell.

Moore did not speak during Tuesday's hearing.

Keist, who attended the sentencing with two detectives who worked on the
case, declined to comment after the hearing. 
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Checked-by: Richard Lake