Oregon daily
emerald
Tuesday, May 15, 1984
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 85, Number 155
Murder, mystery envelop Downs trial
By Michael Doke
Of the Emerald
On a May 19 night nearly a year ago, Elizabeth Diane
Downs claims she stopped for a stubbly-bearded
"stranger" with shaggy brown hair.
When Downs pulled her 1983 Nissan Pulsar over at
approximately 10:30 p.m. three miles southeast of Spr
ingfield, the lives of the Cottage Grove postal worker
and her family would change forever.
For Cheryl Lynn Downs, 7, life would end.
Downs maintains that while driving home from the
home of a Marcola friend, she and her children decided
to take the longer, less traveled route of Old Mohawk
Road instead of the more direct route of Marcola Road.
The family liked to take drives on scenic roads, she says.
Downs says she pulled over to help when flagged
down by a white male wearing blue jeans and a denim
jacket over his dirty T-shirt.
The stranger demanded Downs' new car, she says.
She refused to give it to him. He demanded the keys,
she says, but she pretended to throw them into a bush
beside the road.
According to Downs' story, the man then approach
ed the car — where Cheryl sat in the front seat and
Stephen Daniel and Christie sat in the back — and
pointed a small-caliber pistol at the children through an
open window.
He opened fire. All three children were shot in the
chest.
Downs says the stranger then shot her in the left
arm and fled. No one has reported seeing the
mysterious man since that night.
The injured Downs got back into her car with her
wounded children, she says, and made the almost four
mile drive to the McKenzie-Willamette Hospital in
Springfield.
There, Cheryl Lynn Downs died from two gunshot
wounds to the heart and lungs.
Stephen Daniel "Danny" Downs, 4, remains
paralyzed from the chest down.
Christie Ann Downs, 9, still suffers speech im
pairments caused by a stroke.
Their 28-year-old mother soon became the primary
suspect in the crime.
Downs, who is now seven months pregnant, has
been held in Lane County jail without bail since her ar
rest Feb. 28. She is charged with one count of murder,
two counts of attempted murder and two counts of first
degree assua.lt.
Photo by Michael Clapp
lurors recently visited the site where the shooting of Diane Downs' children allegedly occurred. The murder
trial is expected to last four to five weeks.
Jurors in the trial, which began one week ago, went
to the Mohawk shooting site Monday after visiting a
Marcola residence and Downs' apartment. They also in
spected Downs' car, which has been held in storage
since the shooting.
Throughout the investigation, the surviving
children have been the focus in the shooting mystery.
On June 3, two weeks after the shooting, Danny and
Christie were taken out of Downs' custody and placed
under the protective care of the state Children's Ser
vices Division by Lane County Circuit Judge Gregory
Foote.
Four days later, Downs was named a possible
suspect in the crime by Lane County Sheriff Dave Burks.
A court order has prohibited Downs from visiting
her children since July 6, when both youngsters linked
their mother to the shooting. Danny and Christie have
lived with foster parents since their release from the
hospital last summer.
When asked if he remembered what happened the
night he was shot, Danny said "I'm not supposed to
answer," according to a July 6 Register-Guard report
quoting Susan Staffel, a state CSD caseworker.
Staffel said the child later expressed frustration with
his inability to walk, claiming he couldn't walk because
"my mommy ran over me with the car. Why did mother
run over me?"
When asked by a hospital visitor how he received
the wound in his side, the boy replied: "My mommy. It
went 'bang, bang,' " Staffel said.
According to hospital staff reports, Christie Downs
said she remembers seeing her mother place a gun in
the trunk of the family car on the morning before the
shooting. She also remembers someone stepping out of
the driver's seat just before the crime occured.
At a June 10 news conference, Elizabeth Downs con
firmed that investigators confiscated a .38-caliber
revolver found in the trunk of the car and a .22-caliber
rifle found in her apartment. Police believe that a
.22-caliber handgun — a weapon that has never been
found — was used in the shooting, according to
newspaper reports.
The Downs trial is expected to last four to five
weeks.
Assistant District Attorney Fred Hugi is prosecuting
the case. Foote, who heard the children's custody case,
is presiding over the trial. The case is Foote's first
murder trial.
Voters head for the polls
in 'eclipsed' state primary
With a mere 50 delegates at stake in
Oregon, it seems the primary may be
less than vital to the big picture of the
Democratic race.
“Looking at the nomination as a
process, the Oregon primary is eclips
ed," political science Prof. James
Klonoski says.
Klonoski, a political science pro
fessor and former chair of the Oregon
Democratic Party, says Gary Hart may
get a moral boost from winning the
Oregon primary, as he seems likely to
do. In a poll appearing in the Monday
Oregonian, 49 percent preferred Hart,
28 percent were for former Vice Pres.
Walter Mondale and 9 percent
favored the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Hart's wins last Tuesday in Ohio and
Indiana increased the relative impor
tance of the Oregon primary.
“Never let it be said that a late
primary is insignicant," says Prof.
Priscilla Southwell of the political
science department.
Mondale is not likely to win in
Oregon, they say. Klonoski points out
that Mondale's main constituents
such as big labor are lacking in
Oregon.
This is also true for Jackson, since
Oregon has a very small minority
population. Still, if Jackson does not
fare well, it will not significantly hurt
his campaign, says James Britt, co
chair of Students for Jesse Jackson.
Jackson may be able to get a larger
portion of the "purist” vote from
liberals who believe in his cause,
Klonoski says.
The momentum going into the final
bout of primaries and caucuses on
June 5 may be important, Southwell
says, as could the appearance of winn
ing big at the end of the season.
However, Klonoski doubts the
Oregon primary will have much in
fluence on California because it is
three weeks away.
But winning Oregon could be im
portant to Hart. A change in the Na
tional Democratic Committee's rules
says that none of the delegates are
bound to vote for the candidate they
represent.
"Mondale is totalling up delegates
— Hart is looking for symbolic vic
tories," Southwell says. "And in the
end symbolism might win. Who
knows?"
Survey shows students
favor Hart, Democrats
By Lois Yoshishige
Of the Emerald
University students overwhelmingly
support Democratic presidential can
didate Gary Hart and prefer the
Democratic party.
Those were just some of the findings
from an Emerald survey of 275 University
students over the past two weeks.
Although the obtained sample is
departmentally diverse, it is not
necessarily representative of student
opinion.
Of the 235 students who chose a
presidential candidate, Gary Hart was
preferred by 43 percent of the students,
Ronald Reagan by 20 percent and Jesse
Jackson by 17 percent. Eleven percent of
the students chose Walter Mondale.
Political Science Prof. Jim Klonoski says
students favor Hart because they don't
go for the traditional type of democrat,
such as Mondale, whom Klonoski
describes ais a “middle-of-the-road
liberal."
Throughout his media campaign, Hart
has presented himself as a candidate
who is "technologically hip," intending
to redefine liberalism with new ideas,
Klonoski says.
Students aren't supporting Jackson as
much as Hart because many of them are
white and Jackson is getting mainly black
support, he says.
And why don't students support
Reagan?
"Because he would bomb the world
from under them before they get a
chance to live in it," Klonoski says.
The margin of support between Hart
and Reagan was narrower for younger
students than older. Students 19 and
younger supported Hart by 37 percent
and Reagan by 31 percent as opposed to
46 percent for Hart and 10 percent for
Reagan by students 23 and older.
This reflects the idea of the liberalizing
influence of college, political science
Prof. Pricilla Southwell says. After the
first two years of college, students tend
to move away from the Republican views
of their parents, she says.
Of the 258 students who marked party
preference, 56 percent identified
themselves with the Democratic party, 23
percent chose the Independent party
and 21 percent preferred the Republican
party.
Students' strong preference for the
Democratic party and its candidates are
contrary to statewide preferences,
Continued on Page 6