Law school graduate gives
talk on civil rights service
Oregon Innocence Network, a journalism and law
student group, hosted the public defender who spoke
BY AMANDA BOLSINGER
NEWS REPORTER
With a practiced air and a gravely
voice, Lawrence Aschenbrenner
shared stories from his 45-year law
career Thursday afternoon.
Aschenbrenner is a 1957 Universi
ty law school graduate who devoted
his career to fighting civil rights cases
and defending innocent people
wrongly placed behind bars. Oregon
Innocence Network, a group com
prising law and journalism students,
hosted the discussion and is lobbying
the University to support a clinic ded
icated to working on behalf of inno
cent people in jail in Oregon.
Aschenbrenner was appointed
as Oregon’s first public defender
in 1964.
“I was the only public defender
and I always claimed I was the best
one,” Aschenbrenner said.
When Aschenbrenner became
the public defender he began receiv
ing hundreds of letters from inmates
requesting review. One of his earli
er cases involved Teddy Jordan, a
young black man from Klamath
Falls who was convicted of first de
gree murder of a white man and
sentenced to hang. Jordan was con
victed by an all-white jury, and it
was discovered later that racial
prejudice may have played a role in
his conviction.
“Southern Oregon was a hot bed of
racism, believe it or not,” Aschen
brenner said.
Jordan told Aschenbrenner that
another man had admitted to the
murder as a deathbed confession, but
when Aschenbrenner went to find
the witness, he learned that the
woman had died months earlier. Be
cause that avenue was closed, As
chenbrenner pursued the case on the
grounds that Jordan had been denied
the right to counsel.
“He walked out the gate as a free
man, and I walked out with him,”
Aschenbrenner said. “He later be
came a teacher at Rouge Community
College in Grants Pass and was un
questionably innocent.”
Aschenbrenner also talked about
his work in Mississippi as a volunteer
lawyer for civil rights workers during
the late 1960s.
“A favorite tactic of the white pow
er structure was to arrest civil rights
protesters and leaders and convict
them with all-white juries,” Aschen
brenner said. “Lawyers would refuse
to represent any civil rights workers,
black or white.”
During that time, hundreds of
volunteer lawyers offered their
assistance. The volunteer lawyers
were never denied admittance into
court at the state level, but were de
nied admission in federal courts
once the lawyers began winning cas
es by forcing courts to put black peo
ple on the jury.
“After they were forced to put blacks
on jury we didn’t lose a case,” Aschen
brenner said. “I had 14 hung juries in a
row, but they were never re-tried, so
that’s the same as a victory. ”
Aschenbrenner also shared stories
about cases against the Ku Klux Klan
and a victory in a civil case that end
ed with a $1 million award.
After the talk, Aschenbrenner ac
cepted questions from listeners about
his work as well as asking for advice
and input on the Innocence Network.
“I don’t know how to explain how
my work in Mississippi is relevant to
the Innocence project,” Aschenbren
ner said. “But I think there are pat
terns of wrongly convicted people.
One, people who plead guilty with
out counsel is a danger sign. Second,
they maybe didn’t realize that they
weren’t guilty. Third is people con
victed on circumstantial evidence or
allegedly voluntary confessions.”
“I was interested in the issue of ex
oneration,” second-year law student
Joy Nair said. “I thought it was great.
He totally lived an amazing life and
it’s good to know that there are peo
ple like him in Oregon.”
abolsinger@ daily emerald, com
Nicole Barker | Photographer
Civil rights lawyer Lawrence Aschenbrenner spoke at the Knight Law Center on behalf of
the Oregon Innocence Network on Monday night.
University places 2nd in RecycleMania competition
Defending champion Miami University of Ohio took
first place, narrowly beating the UO residence halls
BY EVA SYLWESTER
NEWS REPORTER
University residence hall students
took second place in RecycleMania, a
national intercollegiate recycling
competition that ended April 9.
Despite the loss, event organizers
are still optimistic about the
increased recycling awareness the
competition brought to campus.
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“Second place is not second rate,
in terms of our performance,” Uni
versity Housing Recycling Coordina
tor Robyn Hathcock said. “I’m really
proud of the U of O.”
Defending champion Miami Uni
versity of Ohio took first place, col
lecting 66.19 pounds of recyclable
materials per residence hall resident
during the 10-week competition. The
University placed a close second,
with 65.1 pounds. There are 3,131
students in the residence halls.
According to a RecycleMania press
release, the University actually held
first place by a slim margin through
the first six weeks of the competition.
“The final week was an unprece
dented effort,” Hathcock said. The
weekend before the competition end
ed, volunteers from the Residence
Hall Association went door-to-door in
the residence halls and offered to
take out students’ recycling for them.
The effort netted an average of
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10.12 pounds of recyclables per stu
dent that week, compared with ap
proximately six pounds per student
other weeks.
Hathcock emphasized that the
University’s performance improved
since its last RecycleMania appear
ance in 2003, when the residence
halls collected 51.4 pounds of
recyclables per student.
“We’re excited because we really
raised the bar," she said.
RHA President Todd Mann said
the competition drew attention
from students.
“Seeing resident after resident
checking the scores day after day was
inspiring to me,” Mann wrote in an e
mail. “By mixing competition, com
munity service and leadership, I be
lieve we really increased a sense of
responsibility to the community in
the residence halls. ” Mann described
the competition as a way to get stu
dents interested in recycling.
“RecycleMania serves as reminder
to those in the residence halls and
throughout Housing that recycling re
ally does make a difference,” Mann
RECYCLE, page 12A
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