Appeal Tribune Wednesday, January 11, 2017 3A
Most death row inmates impaired
WHITNEY M. WOODWORTH
STATESMAN JOURNAL
Most of the 35 people on Oregon’s
death row have intellectual disabilities,
mental illness, brain injury or were con-
victed as adolescents, according to a re-
cently released report.
Harvard Law School’s Fair Punish-
ment Project conducted a study of Ore-
gon’s death row and determined
that 25 percent of the people there
have evidence of intellectual disability
or traumatic brain injury. The same
amount had symptoms of mental illness,
and one-third of death row inmates had a
history of severe childhood or emotional
trauma. Six were under the age of 21 at
the time of their crimes.
Death penalty opponents have cited
the report as another sign of the need to
carefully re-examine the state’s stance
on capital punishment.
“The report calls into question wheth-
er Oregon has met the constitutional
standard of limiting the death penalty to
the most serious crimes and the most
culpable perpetrators,” said Alice Lun-
dell, director of communication for the
Oregon Justice Resource Center.
People on Oregon’s death row are not
the “the worst of the worst” of convicted
murderers, Lundell argued.
“A sizable majority of individuals on
Oregon’s death row suffer from crip-
pling mental impairments, or are so
young in age, that they appear to be near-
ly indistinguishable from the categories
of people whom the Supreme Court has
said it is unconstitutional to execute due
to their diminished culpability,” said Rob
Smith, director of the Fair Punishment
Project.
The report cited several death penal-
ty cases, including that of Randy Guzek.
The report describes Guzek, who shot
and killed Rod and Lois Houser while
robbing their Central Oregon home in
1987, as a “boy... just one month past his
eighteen birthday and who appears to
have been high on meth at the time of the
crime” — a description Clatsop County
District Attorney Joshua Marquis called
“deceptive.”
Marquis, as chief deputy district at-
torney in Deschutes County and special
prosecutor, argued Guzek’s case three
times. He said Guzek was the ringleader
and instigator of the slaughter of two
good people. While breaking into the
home with two accomplices, Guzek
“chased a terrified Mrs. Houser at 3 a.m.
into a linen closet where he shot her sev-
eral times,” Marquis said.
Guzek then ransacked the house,
stole many of their possessions and later
bragged of the murders. His two co-de-
fendants testified against him and are
serving life sentences.
“He was a star student at Redmond
High, a teacher’s pet, recipient of an
Elk’s Scholarship but unknown to most
he was raping his younger sister and ran
an armed burglary ring as a juvenile, for
which he was never caught,” Marquis
said, referring to testimony that came up
during the trial.
When his father asked Guzek if it was
worth it, he replied: “You bet!”
In November, David Bartol, 45, was
sentenced to death for stabbing an in-
Much
Next chat
Continued from Page 1A
Where: Silver Creek Coffee
House, 111 Water St.,
Silverton
As a former union
president for SEIU Local
503, Rob is well acquaint-
ed with struggles intrin-
sic to defending rights,
and he understands that
nowhere is that struggle
more important than for
those unduly persecuted.
He said Silverton MLK
Observance organizers
focused somewhat on
Black Lives Matter issues
last year.
“This year we’re actu-
ally going to focus on our
Latino
population…It
feels like the Latino com-
munity is especially vul-
nerable (in the current po-
litical climate),” Rob said.
“We want to do some con-
scious raising in the com-
munity.”
In light of that, this
year’s theme is “Fostering
a healthy community
through appreciation of
diversity and standing
with those most vulnera-
ble to oppression, dis-
crimination and harass-
ment.”
It will commence with
a social hour and a south-
ern-style potluck featur-
ing some of MLK’s favor-
ite dishes. Rob itemized a
quick, abbreviated menu
off the top of his head:
macaroni
&
cheese
(which Rob will likely pro-
vide), greens & ham
hocks, pork chops and ap-
ple pie.
The keynote speaker
will be Andrea Williams,
executive director of
Causa, a Salem-based
Oregon Latino immigrant
rights organization.
Rob said Andrea has
helped lead Causa in both
state and national work
advocating for compre-
hensive immigration re-
form, driving rights for
immigrant workers and
families, access to higher
education, economic jus-
tice and health equity.
“Since the November
2016 election, the large
Latino population in the
mid-Willamette
Valley
has become increasingly
alarmed as a target of an-
ti-immigration forces and
those denigrating minor-
ity populations,” he noted.
For information about
the event, including rec-
ommended dishes, con-
tact Rob at 503-580-8893
or roseofhope@msn.com.
Habitat for Humanity
In another cause
aimed at helping hard-
working folks, Habitat for
Humanity has a building
venture in the works at a
site on Norway Street.
Michele said this pro-
ject marks the 45th for
NWV Habitat in its 30
years. The non-profit is in
search of a family to part-
ner with for this Silverton
project, and applications
are currently being ac-
cepted, at least through
Jan. 20, maybe longer.
The family would pro-
vide
“sweat
equity,”
which is Habitat’s term
for work contributed to-
ward realizing the home.
Normally, sweat equity is
provided through hard
work, a direct contribu-
tion to the construction.
That construction is ac-
complished
entirely
through volunteers.
Habitat has other part-
ners who contribute ma-
terials, appliances and the
like. Ultimately, when the
home is completed it is
sold to the partnering
mate at Marion County jail.
Bartol’s defense attorneys argued
that he should be spared the death penal-
ty because he was intellectually disabled
and has a fetal alcohol spectrum disor-
der. The untreated symptoms of the dis-
order caused him to act violently and ir-
rationally, said defense attorney David
Kuhns during the sentencing phase of
his weeks-long trial.
The report’s authors argue that even
if the murders meet the threshold of be-
ing among the most aggravated homi-
cides, it is difficult to understand how an
abused, brain-damaged man with an IQ
score in the low 60s is more culpable than
an intellectually disabled person who
could never receive a death sentence or
how an abused, addicted 18-year-old
meets the independent moral culpability
threshold when someone one year
younger would be unable to reach that
same bar.
Email wmwoodwort@statesmanjour-
nal.com, call 503-399-6884 or follow on
Twitter @wmwoodworth
CRIME LOG
What: Creekside Chat
When: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 18 (First and
third Wednesdays)
Questions and
information: Contact Justin
Much, jmuch@Statesman
Journal.com; 503-769-6338,
cell 503-508-8157
PHOTOS BY JUSTIN MUCH/APPEAL TRIBUNE
Artist Lori Lee McLaughlin (left) stopped by the Creekside Chat
to share information about a local-artist studio tour planned
for June, while artist Bob Foster, right, is strumming up some
ideas to revive a multicultural festival centered around Cinco
de Mayo.
Friday this year.
“The hope of it is to
give people a taste of dif-
ferent cultures,” Lori
said.
Bob added that he
would like to find two or
three key organizational
people to pool ideas with
and formulate the plan –
then invite the whole area
to the event.
Have some ideas or
want to learn more? Con-
tact Bob at (818) 736-1701;
bfosterla@aol.com.
SILVERTON POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Dec. 29
Received calls from Dec. 26
to Jan. 1.
Motor vehicle crash, 6:54
a.m., C St. and James St.
Dec. 28
Jan. 1
Motor vehicle crash, 4:20
p.m., Silver Falls Highway.
Motor vehicle crash, 7:17
p.m., Pintail St. and Hobart
Road.
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Building literacy
North Willamette Valley Habitat for Humanity Development
Director Michele Finicle stopped by Creekside Chat to reveal a
Silverton project and the non-profit's search for a family for
that project.
family at no profit or in-
terest.
Michele provided a Mt.
Angel family’s partner-
ship as an example. The
family of 5 lived in a two-
bedroom apartment, pay-
ing $900 monthly. Once
they completed their
Habitat project, the fam-
ily moved into the con-
structed
four-bedroom
house with a much more
manageable mortgage.
“It allows hard-work-
ing families to access that
dream of home owner-
ship,” Michele said.
If you know of a hard-
working family who may
qualify, contact the non-
profit.
By the way, Habitat
could always use a little
extra help, if you’re inter-
ested in pounding a nail or
pitching in at one of its
stores in Woodburn or
Canby, contact NWV Hab-
itat for Humanity at
www.nwvhabitat.org, 225
Franklin St., Mt. Angel, or
give Michele a shout at
503-845-2164,
mfinicle@nwvhfh.org.
Artist studio tour
Attention area artists
and crafts-folks, a Silver-
ton Artist Studio Tour is
planned for Saturday and
Sunday, June 3-4, from 11
to 4 p.m. each day.
Lori said the tour will
provide an opportunity
for artists who work with-
in the region – roughly Sil-
verton, Mt. Angel, Mar-
quam, Scotts Mills, Waldo
Hills, Victor Point, etc. – to
showcase their work in
their own environment,
similar to a wine tour cir-
cuit.
“We are seeking artists
in the Silverton area to
open up to the public,” Lo-
ri said, adding that it’s
open to a variety of media.
“We’re doing our best to
bring out the creative peo-
ple and give them (expo-
sure).”
There will be maps and
passports furnished to the
touring visitors. Entries
could be anything from a
downtown studio, to a ga-
rage to a kitchen table, but
there should be ample ex-
amples of creative work
and business cards avail-
able.
Sales belong to the art-
ist. The fee to enter is $25
for an artist studio and
$75 for a business. The
fees go toward promoting
the event and furnishing
pamphlets, passport bro-
chures, direction signs
and the like.
If interested, call 503-
873-2480 or contact Sil-
verton Arts Association,
www.silvertonarts.org.
Bob, who is the associa-
tion’s vice president, will
be a part of the tour. But
he’s also focusing on
bringing something back
to town, hopefully in May:
a festival with a multicul-
tural theme.
The notion is still in the
idea stage: maybe invite
some food trucks with
ethnic foods unavailable
in Silverton that day?
Maybe bring in some dif-
ferent music? Different
crafts?
The targeted day for it
would be around Cinco De
Mayo, which comes on a
Michael reached out
online
to
announce
SMART’s new program
opening at the Silverton
OCDC behind Safeway.
He explained that
SMART provides volun-
teers to read one-on-one
with Pre-K through 3rd-
grade kids in Head Starts
and elementary schools
(see related story in this
week’s Appeal Tribune). It
also provides two free
books each month to the
students.
“We need four volun-
teer readers and a site co-
ordinator to make this
happen, and would love to
get the word out,” Michael
said. “The plan is to start
this program with 20
Pre-K students in Janu-
ary.”
Interested? Give Mi-
chael a shout at 503-391-
8423 or mfinlay@get
smartoregon.org .
Coffee house visitors
that day were also treated
with the new look at Silver
Creek, including more
open space between the
front and back, a brighter
floor, some new tables and
preparations for “The
Nest” upstairs, which
once completed will serve
as nice aerial workspace
or even a place for com-
munity/business gather-
ings.
www.edwardjones.com
Member SIPC
LOCAL ADVISORS
Salem Area
Vin Searles
Keizer Area
Jeff Davis
Surrounding Area
Sheryl Resner Bridgette Justis
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