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2B Wednesday, November 23, 2016 Appeal Tribune Innocence Project seeks new DNA tests for Salem man on death row LAUREN E HERNANDEZ AND WHITNEY M. WOODWORTH STATESMAN JOURNAL The Oregon Innocence Project is tak- ing on the case of a man sentenced to death after being convicted of murder- ing a Salem woman in 1998. The group has filed a motion in Marion County re- questing the DNA testing and retesting of at least 38 pieces of physical evidence in the case against Jesse Lee Johnson. Johnson, 55, was sentenced to death in 2004 for the murder of Harriet Lavern “Sunny” Thompson, 28. Thompson’s body was found on March 20, 1998, in her apartment on the lower level of a rental house on 12th Street SE, just south of Morningside Ele- mentary School. Authorities determined she died from multiple stab wounds. The deputy district attorney at the time, Darin Tweedt, said Johnson and Thompson, a nurse’s aide, were ac- quainted. Mike Quakenbush and Craig Stoelk, two Salem police detectives who were in- vestigating the homicide, arrested John- son a week after Thompson’s killing. He was charged with a probation violation and his clothing was seized by arresting officers. Johnson maintained his innocence. In 2004, he declined the state’s plea offer for first-degree manslaughter and first- degree robbery. “Our investigation showed there is a wealth of physical evidence that either has not been tested or was tested using outdated technology,” said Steven Wax, legal director of the Oregon Innocence Project. Further testing of the evidence, in- cluding blood found at the scene and DNA recovered from the victim, could lead to Johnson’s exoneration, Wax add- ed. The Oregon Innocence Project has re- ceived more than 350 requests for re- Jesse Lee Johnson views. It has reviewed more than 200 and decided to pursue only five. Johnson’s murder conviction is the project’s first DNA-based case. A memorandum filed on Johnson’s be- half stated the following: Several pieces of DNA evidence were recovered at Thompson’s home. Some, including a cigarette butt, a bottle of li- quor and a dollar bill, matched Johnson’s DNA. Johnson admitted to knowing Thomp- son, and the pieces of evidence were con- sistent with a social visit. However, several key items recov- ered from the scene did not match John- son’s DNA. A semen sample taken from a vaginal swab of the victim, a spot of blood by the bathroom sink, blood on the bathroom floor and hairs found on the victim were not a match to Johnson. The case was a drawn out affair, tak- ing six years from Thompson’s death to Johnson’s conviction. News coverage at the time highlighted some of the key is- Oregon lawmakers alarmed by first Trump appointment BARTHOLOMEW D SULLIVAN STATESMAN JOURNAL WASHINGTON – Most members of Oregon’s seven-member congressional delegation say they can work with a fu- ture President Donald Trump but they are reacting with dismay bordering on disbelief at his first West Wing appoin- tee. In particular, both Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have called on Trump to abandon the notion of making Steve Bannon, his campaign manager and the right-wing Breitbart News director, a chief White House ad- viser. “First Donald Trump runs a cam- paign founded on racism, bigotry and sexism. Now he doubles down on divi- sion by bringing aboard as his Chief Strategist white nationalist Steve Ban- non, who specializes in hate attacks. This is wrong. Totally, completely, abso- lutely wrong,” said Merkley. “We call on Trump to change course, reject hate strategies, and fire Steve Bannon. Ban- non shouldn’t be allowed within 100 miles of the Oval Office.” Asked about his hopes and his fears about a Trump presidency, U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby, said he is “rooting for unification and success in our country.” “I plan to give our president-elect the opportunity to lead and a chance to suc- ceed,” he said. “I also hope that the level of discourse will be a lot more civil than it was throughout the campaign.” U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Bea- verton, said she hopes Trump will main- tain the nation’s values of “equality, di- versity and human rights.” “I stand with all Oregonians and Americans who are rightly concerned that President-elect Trump will ap- proach governing with the same divi- sive rhetoric and harmful policy ideas that dominated his campaign. My hope is that he will recognize the significance of his position and the consequences of his language, and that he will engage in and call for civil and respectful debate,” Bonamici said. Some parts of Trump’s stated agenda appeal to U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Eu- gene, a longtime critic of U.S. trade deals. “In particular, I look forward to working with this administration on a new trade policy,” he said shortly after the results of last week’s elections were clear. “I have voted against each and ev- ery so-called ‘free’ trade agreement, which has exported quality American jobs to seek out the cheapest, most ex- ploitable labor around the word. We need to change that.’ U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Port- land, expressed a passionate reaction the last week’s results. “Like most, I am still struggling with and processing the outcome of last Tues- day’s election. I returned to Congress this week determined to give voice to the pain and outrage that my communi- ty justifiably feels. I am committed to fight against assaults on our core val- ues, important essential programs, and attacks against communities who now feel at risk,” Blumenauer said Wednes- day. “I’m also committed to doing what- ever I can to keep hope for some pro- gress at the national level as we face huge challenges this year.” The delegation’s lone Republican, Congressman Greg Walden, did not re- spond to several requests to his commu- nications director. sues: The arrest: Marion County Circuit Judge Jamese Rhoades ruled that the de- tectives who seized Johnson’s clothing, Quakenbush and Stoelk, should not have seized the clothing without a warrant. Tweedt, however, said detectives did have lawful authority to seize the clothes and said the state Department of Justice had the right to appeal Judge Rhoades’ ruling. It wasn’t until three months after the murder, in June 1998, that Johnson was charged. Johnson was held in Marion County Jail for nearly six years as he awaited trial, due to delays brought on by appeals for suppression of evidence col- lected by Quakenbush and Stoelk. During the course of his wait, prose- cutors appealed rulings that Johnson’s clothing and shoes were illegally seized, asking for the evidence to be suppressed in court. The appeals delayed the trial until March 2004, since it took an addi- tional full week in February to select a jury - nine women and five men. The trial: Tweedt delivered opening statements for the state by recounting Thompson’s stab wounds in her back, arm and hand. Her jugular vein was slashed. “It really was a scene from a slaugh- terhouse, ladies and gentlemen of the ju- ry,” Tweedt said. Stoelk, one of the officers in charge of the crime scene, told jurors that officers collected a bloody sweater, two bloody towels and a broken knife from Thomp- son’s bathroom. A serrated steak knife was found in the toilet. Tweedt said the residence was ran- sacked and stated the motive was rob- bery. He said Thompson’s stolen jewelry was traded for drugs and some pieces were found at Johnson’s girlfriend’s home. When Johnson’s lawyer, Lindsay Par- tridge, delivered opening defense state- ments, he focused on casting doubt on state witnesses and instead asked jurors to focus on DNA evidence. The thoroughness of Oregon State Po- lice crime labs was put into question by the defense by telling jurors not all the evidence available at the crime scene was examined. Criminalist Donna Scarpone said she did not receive all of the DNA testing swabs used on cigarette butts, the floors and knives found in Thompson’s toilet. In the defense’s closing statements, Johnson’s attorneys told jurors that crime scene investigators failed to in- vestigate evidence that pointed to anoth- er suspect. “There are more questions as we sit here six years later than there are an- swers in this case,” said Noel Grefenson, Johnson’s defense attorney. Grefenson referred to cigarettes, a belt found outside the house, and a pos- sible handprint on Thompson’s bedroom door that was never tested or recorded into the investigation record. Tennis shoe prints were found in blood at the crime scene, but never investigated as well. Grefenson said investigators should have examined this overlooked evidence in order to vet suspects with a history of violent crimes that fit the same method of operation. The sentence: Jurors took six hours over the course of two days to come to a unanimous verdict on March 18, 2004: Johnson was guilty of aggravated mur- der in Thompson’s stabbing death. Johnson maintained his innocence throughout the trial and through the sen- tencing hearing, where he was sen- tenced to death for Thompson’s death. “I’m innocent of this crime. I didn’t kill Harriet,” Johnson said during his sentencing hearing. Email wmwoodwort@statesmanjour- nal.com, call 503-399-6884 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth or Email leher- nande@statesmanjournal.com, call 503- 983-6030 or follow on Twitter @Lauren- PorFavor Study: High price for Oregon’s death penalty WHITNEY M. WOODWORTH STATESMAN JOURNAL Cases with death sentences in Ore- gon, on average, cost more than double — and as much as $1 million more — than aggravated murder cases with life sentences, according to a new study. The study’s researchers calculated the average aggravated murder case with the death penalty cost an average of $1.39 million, even without correc- tions costs. In contrast, the same type of case with life in prison cost an average of $334,522. The Oregon Death Penalty Cost Analysis report was funded by the Ore- gon Justice Resource Center, a Port- land-based nonprofit, and written by Professor Aliza Kaplan from Lewis & Clark Law School, Professor Peter Col- lins from Seattle University, Seattle, Washington, and law student Venetia Mayhew. Researchers collection infor- mation on hundreds of aggravated mur- der cases from 2000 to 2013. “This report confirms what many had long suspected about the cost of Oregon’s death penalty, but the actual figures are staggering,” said Alice Lun- dell, the center’s spokeswoman. “We’re spending four times more on death pen- alty cases than on comparable cases without death sentences despite having only executed two people since Kenne- dy was president.” Sixty-three people have been sen- tenced to death in Oregon since the state brought back the death penalty in 1984. Of those, two people voluntarily gave up appeals and were executed, four people died of natural causes while on death row and 22 people had their sentences reduced, according to the report. With the recent sentencing of David Bartol, 45, for the jail stabbing of anoth- er inmate, 35 people will now be on death row. All potential executions have been subject to a moratorium put in place in 2011 by then-Gov. John Kitzha- ber. After taking office, current Gov. Kate Brown upheld the moratorium and made her personal opposition to the death penalty clear. Brown recently re- affirmed the moratorium. Support for capital punishment has fallen in recent decades, but more Americans support the death penalty than oppose it, according to a Pew Re- search Center poll. Pew also noted that the number of executions — and the number of states conducting those exe- cutions — have fallen sharply since peaking in 1999. Thirty-one states have the death penalty. Oregon, along with three other states, have a moratorium on executions. Prosecuting aggravated murder, the only crime punishable by death in Ore- gon, is already a “complicated and time- consuming” process, the report said, but tacking on the possibility of the death penalty drove up the amount of time and money spent on cases. The study’s authors noted a gap in available information about the costs behind aggravated murder cases. Spe- cific information from courts and local prosecutors about the amount of time and money spent on cases was often un- available. Special defense lawyers are re- quired, defense filings double, prosecu- torial filings triple and defendants spend more time in expensive, secured housing at local jails. Email wmwoodwort@statesman- journal.com, call 503-399-6884 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth Oregon, California to get earliest Chevy Bolt cars JONATHAN BACH STATESMAN JOURNAL Oregon and California will be among the first states to get the Chevrolet Bolt EV because of their strong support for electric vehicles, a General Motors Co. spokesman said Thursday. The vehicle will be “pretty rare” until 2017, said Jim Cain, the spokesman for GM, which owns Chevy. “Literally, it just began production,” he said. Though the Bolt EV has yet to ship to dealers, there should be a small number of the cars delivered this year. In Salem, Capitol Chevrolet is expect- ing 11 of the cars in mid-December, with 32 more on the way after that. “We’re excited about the car,” said Ja- mie Mogle, a sales manager with the dealer. GM’s Oregon and California move was earlier reported in a Wall Street Journal story. Chevy’s all-electric offering, the Bolt EV, is supposed to get up to 238 miles per charge. It differs from the already-re- leased Chevy Volt in that it doesn’t have a gas engine that helps charge the battery. Oregon lawmakers have pushed to gain ground on environment issues. Ear- lier this year, Gov. Kate Brown signed a contentious bill meant to ensure that state would stop using energy derived from coal by 2030. The bill also mandates that by 2040, Oregon needs to receive at least 50 percent of its energy from sourc- es that are renewable. There are hundreds of car-charging stations in Oregon, said Art James, a sen- ior project executive with the Oregon Department of Transportation. The adoption rate for plug-in cars in Oregon has seen dramatic year-over- year gains. “It’s very much alive and well,” he said. Oregon ranks seventh on a list of ener- gy-efficient states by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Econo- my that was updated this September. The Bolt EV recently snagged an ac- colade from Motor Trend, which named it the 2017 car of the year. Prices start at $37,995 without a $7,500 federal tax credit or other benefits and incentives, according to Fred Ligouri, another GM spokesman. Send questions, comments or news tips to jbach @statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6714. Follow him on Twitter @JonathanMBach . ALEX WONG General Motors CEO Mary Barra introduces the new Chevy Bolt EV at CES 2016 on Jan. 6 in Las Vegas.