regional
DA ordering
Downs to pay
EUGENE (AP) — The Lane
County district attorney's office
is seeking a court order direc
ting Elizabeth Diane Downs to
pay $302,564 in restitution,
should she earn “windfalls of
money" from selling her life
story.
A document filed last week in
Lane County Circuit Court by
Assistant District Attorney Fred
Hugi lists bills of $92,055 for
medical treatment, foster care
and psychotherapy for Downs'
children from May 1983
through August of this year.
The bills include $33,642 at
McKenzie-Willamette Hospital
in Springfield, where the three
Downs children were taken by
their mother after being shot
May 19, 1983, on Old Mohawk
Road north of Springfield. The
bill at Sacred Heart General
Hospital in Eugene, where the
two surviving Downs children
received additional treatment,
was $44,258.
The cost of future foster care
for the two children until they
turn 18 is estimated at
$194,026, not including
medical expenses. Also includ
ed in the breakdown of costs is
$16,483 for "extraordinary” ex
penses incurred by the district
attorney’s office in prosecuting
the case.
District Attorney Pat Horton
said Tuesday that court ap
proval of the reimbursement re
quest would enable the state to
regain some of the costs of the
case if Downs eventually earns
“windfalls of money” from
book, movie or TV royalties.
Downs, 29, has said she would
like to write a book giving her
version of the shooting. A Seat
tle author already is writing a
book about the case.
Downs was convicted in June
of murdering Cheryl Lynn
Downs, 7, and of attempting to
murder Christie Ann Downs
and Stephen Daniel “Danny”
Downs.
Christie, 9, and Danny, 4,
who have been living with a
Eugene foster family since they
were released from the hospital,
will require additional medical
care as a result of their injuries.
Christie suffered a stroke that
left her speech impaired and
limited the use of her right arm.
Danny is paralyzed from the
chest down and is confined to a
wheelchair.
Judge Gregory Foote ordered
Downs at her sentencing last
month to pay restitution in an
amount to be set after a review
of the expenses and her finan
cial situation. Horton said it
“appears likely” a hearing will
be held to discuss the cost bill
submitted by his office.
If a hearing is scheduled,
Downs will have to return tem
porarily to Lane County from
Salem, where she is serving a
prison term of life plus 50 years
at the Oregon Women’s Correc
tional Center.
Rapist’s case
to be retried
OLYMPIA (AP) • The
Washington Supreme Court on
Tuesday ordered the case of
Kevin Coe, convicted of four
rapes in Spokane's “South Hill
Rapist” case, returned to
Spokane County for retrial.
The high court on Monday re
jected Coe’s request for acquit
tal and Spokane County Pro
secutor Donald Brackett’s mo
tion for reconsideration of the
high court’s June decision
ordering a retrial.
The order returning the case
to Spokane will arrive on
Wednesday or Thursday by
mail, giving the county jurisdic
tion over Coe and beginning the
process that will lead to a new
trial within two months, accor
ding to Karen Tellevig, an ad
ministrative assistant at the
Supreme Court.
Coe’s attorney, Richard
Hansen, said Tuesday he will
seek both a change of venue and
removal of Brackett as pro
secutor in the case. He also will
seek Coe’s release on ball or per
sonal recognizance, he said.
On June 7, the state high
court cited numerous grounds
in ruling unanimously to throw
out Coe's four rape convictions.
The Supreme Court said the
trial court improperly admitted
evidence from witnesses who
had been hypnotized and im
properly allowed evidence of an
earlier Coe conviction for
shoplifting. It also said Brackett
illegally withheld evidence
from the defense.
Both sides then asked the
Supreme Court to reconsider,
but it said Monday the June 7
decision stands.
Coe’s attorneys have said Coe
fears for his life if sent back to
the Spokane jail, and they asked
the Spokane County Superior
Court to order the state to hold
Coe until the issue of his safety
is resolved.
That request wasn’t acted on
previously because the superior
court at that time had no
jurisdiction over Coe. The
Spokane County Superior Court
now must decide where Coe
will be held or whether he will
be released, court officials said.
Judge scolds all
at train trial
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) —
An angry Clark County District
Court judge said Tuesday that
the misdemeanor trial of 30
anti-nuclear protestors had
"gotten completely out of
hand" and vowed he would not
“have this courtroom turned in
to a great big discussion on
philosophy.”
The 30 defendants, all from
Oregon, were arrested in Van
couver July 27 after they sat on
railroad tracks in an attempt to
stop a train that they said was
carrying nuclear warheads to
the Navy’s Trident submarine
base at Bangor.
The trains, painted white,
originate in a nuclear weapons
manufacturing plant in
Amarillo, Texas. The U.S.
Department of Energy has refus
ed to comment on their
contents.
Judge Eugene Harris accused
the defendants of making him
out to be "the heavy” in the
trial, warned defendants who
violated court rules, told the
deputy prosecutor he was not
doing his job and sent one
defendant to her seat in tears.
The six-member jury must
decide whether the defendants
delayed a lawfully operated
train. On Monday, Harris said
the defendants could not argue
that the train was illegal
because it violated international
treaties that ban preparation for
acts of aggression.
The defendants are charged
with delaying a train, a misde
meanor. One of them also is
charged with obstructing
police.
The defendants hope to show
that the train was not being
operated lawfully because it
carried nuclear weapons in
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violation of state regulations.
During the first day of
testimony Tuesday, Harris
allowed the defendants, most of
whom are defending
themselves, to ask many ques
tions. However, he eventually
lost patience.
‘‘I have bent over
backwards,” the judge said. “I
know you probably think other
wise .... This case has gotten
completely out of hand.”
In an opening statement,
defendant Ada Sanchez asked
the jury to “act on your heart
and your moral consciousness’.’
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