Murder suspect appears in court

By Jessica Musicar, Staff Writer
Sunday, February 10, 2008 | No comments posted.

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COQUILLE — A man accused in the murder of a Charleston man was arraigned Friday at the Coos County courthouse.

*Benito Rincon-Flores
Wearing shackles and a blue jumpsuit, Benito Rincon-Flores, 33, appeared before Judge Michael Gillespie and was charged with the 2006 murder of Harvey Davis. A local fisherman and mushroom picker, Davis is believed to have been killed on Aug. 10, 2006, said Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier, when the man was shot multiple times with a pistol. Davis’ body was discovered in the Coos County Forest, near Ted Ellingson Road, on Aug. 12, 2006, by Coos County Sheriff’s deputies, after an informant led them to the corpse.

The DA said Davis and Rincon-Flores lived on the same property, located at 59464 W. Beaver Road. According to a 2007 grand jury indictment, the murder took place at the same location.

A San Jose resident, Rincon-Flores returned to Coos County Thursday from Santa Clara County, Calif., where he was arrested in fall 2007, in an unrelated case, the DA said, adding he is unsure of Rincon-Flores’ California charges.

During the arraignment, Gillespie told Rincon-Flores via interpreter Martha Molitor that he could face life imprisonment with the possibility of release after 25 years, if he is convicted of having “unlawfully and intentionally caused the death of Harvey Davis, another human being.”

Eugene attorney Daniel Koenig was appointed to defend Rincon-Flores, who also was charged on driving under the influence of intoxicants from an earlier case. Gillespie said Rincon-Flores had been placed in a diversion program for the DUII and, in June 2006, was asked to appear in court on a possible violation. He didn’t make the court date, the judge said, and was barred from the program. He now faces a one-year sentence and $6,250 fine on that charge if convicted. Koenig will represent the defendant on both charges. His request for two to three weeks to review his client’s case and to enter a plea was granted by the judge.

Rincon-Flores will return to court for a plea hearing for both charges at 1:30 p.m., March 17. Meanwhile, he remains at the Coos County jail on $1.5 million bail.

After the arraignment, Frasier said this will be his first murder case as the district attorney, and he has more than 900 pages of police reports, photos and other evidence that Koenig and he will have to go through, as well as lining up multiple witnesses. During the investigation, the DA said more than 140 people were interviewed, but he is unsure how many will be called to testify. Because it is so early in the court process, Frasier said he does not know how he will argue the case. He added that he knew very little about Rincon-Flores’ background. However, he believes Rincon-Flores, aka Jose Luis Cardenas Sanchez, was living with a wife or girlfriend in the San Jose area when he was arrested in November on another matter. According to an earlier release from the DA’s Office, Rincon-Flores was arrested under his alias in San Jose. Jail officials didn’t discover that he was wanted in Coos County until after he was booked.

The DA added he does not know if Rincon-Flores is legally living in the country.
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