2A
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2022
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APPEAL TRIBUNE
Man convicted of
murder in road rage
case gets life in prison
Address: P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309
Phone: 503-399-6773
Fax: 503-399-6706
Email: sanews@salem.gannett.com
Web site: www.SilvertonAppeal.com
Staff
Whitney Woodworth
Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
A Eugene man charged with the
murder and a bias crime for shooting
a black man in east Salem following a
road rage incident was sentenced to
life in prison Wednesday.
Marion County Judge Courtland
Geyer sentenced Manuel Elisha
North, 48, to life in prison with a
minimum of 25 years.
The sentence came one week after
a Marion County jury found North
guilty of murdering Herman Leslie
Graham III, 48, in October 2020.
The jury found North not guilty of a
first-degree bias crime charge.
He was accused of yelling racial
slurs at Graham and killing him be-
cause he was black.
A road rage shooting
Salem police officers responded
the afternoon of Oct. 26, 2020, to re-
ports of a shooting in the 3300 block
of Pipebend Place NE.
Police found Graham dead at the
scene
from
multiple
gunshot
wounds.
North, who was standing near a
gray Volkswagon Golf at the scene,
was detained. He told police: “It was
self-defense. The guy pulled a gun on
me.”
Officers found a .50 caliber hand-
gun lying in the street behind North’s
car
According to court records, three
women riding in the car with Graham
recounted the events leading up to
the deadly shooting.
One woman said she noticed
North’s car as the group turned west
onto Mission Street SE from the In-
terstate 5 offramp.
Though she didn’t see it happen,
she told police she suspected Graham
cut off North’s vehicle.
North then honked his horn, yelled
at Graham, repeatedly pulled up next
to him and veered toward him with-
out hitting the BMW as if he were try-
ing to run him off the road.
One woman said she heard North
yelling “F--- you” and “You’re nothing
but a n----- and the KKK is gonna
come to get you,” according to court
records.
After Graham turned north onto
Hawthorne Avenue, the first passen-
ger said North pulled up next to the
BMW and continued to yell similar
“derogatory racial statements” at the
next intersection.
The woman said Graham drove
straight through the intersection and
pulled off onto Pipebend Place NE.
Graham allegedly told his passen-
gers: “I’m gonna pull over and hope-
fully he’ll go away and maybe he’ll
pull in.”
She said North parked his Volks-
wagon behind them and Graham got
out of the car.
Shortly after, the woman said, she
heard “two loud booms” in “close suc-
cession.”
She said she had been looking
down at her phone until she heard the
booms, but when she looked up, she
saw Graham on the ground through
the rearview mirror.
She got out of the car and started
yelling and walking toward North —
who she said was holding a firearm by
his side — but stopped when he start-
ed yelling at her to get back.
As she went to help Graham, the
woman said she saw North kick a gun
that had been on the ground about an
inch or two from Graham’s feet. She
described it as a black revolver.
When police interviewed North, he
said he acted in self-defense. He said
he came from Eugene for a construc-
tion job in Salem.
North told officers he owned a con-
struction company and that he had
pulled into Pipebend Place NE be-
cause he needed to go to the pipe
warehouse near the location of the
shooting.
Police contacted the business
where the shooting occurred and
found North did not have an account
with the business North named.
When police called the number
listed for the business North named,
it went to a different company in Sa-
lem. Representatives for the compa-
ny said they purchased the company
North claimed to own, but they didn’t
have an office in Eugene and had no
record of North working there.
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“North’s defense attorney, John Kolego, argued to suppress
the state’s proposed evidence of other crimes, arguing it
would be “unfairly prejudicial” to North, as well as confuse
the issue at hand, mislead the jury and constitute
unnecessary evidence considering there were a number of
witnesses at the scene.
The instances include a Eugene Police case in 2015 when
two people reported North driving dangerously and
confronting a driver on a roadside “in a rage,” according to
court documents.”
A passenger riding in North’s car
claimed to have been picked up while
hitchhiking on I-5. He said North act-
ed in self-defense and Graham was
driving aggressively.
Further investigation revealed the
passenger was actually North’s adult
son. In a motion submitted by the
Marion County District Attorney’s
Office, prosecutors said the son’s ac-
count to police differed drastically
from his grand jury testimony.
In the weeks after the shooting,
community members gathered for a
vigil outside the Marion County
Courthouse.
“Herman was a warm soul and if he
was your friend, he was your family.
Everybody gravitated to him,” Gra-
ham’s ex-wife Dusty Graham said
during the service. “Everybody loved
him and he would give his last for
you, he was that type of person. He
didn’t deserve to die.”
According to an obituary from
Johnson Funeral Home, Graham was
born in Portland but grew up in Geor-
gia. He served in the U.S. Navy and
later returned to Portland to be closer
to his mother.
He was survived by his father, his
children and three siblings.
Several family members spoke at
North’s sentencing. Two photos of
Graham — one smiling and one in a
casket — were shown in the court-
room.
Khristy Lewis said her brother’s
death could have been avoided.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “I
probably never will.”
Kimberly Lawson said her brother
had a big heart and loved his chil-
dren, who he will never see grow up.
She said she doesn’t hate North
but felt like he had shown no re-
morse.
“All you had to do was turn left, sir,”
she told him.
North declined to speak at his sen-
tencing, choosing to shake his head
“no” when Geyer addressed him.
Court documents point
to North’s pattern of road rage
Prosecutors fought to include evi-
dence of prior instances of when
North was charged with criminal and
traffic offenses, some involving road
rage incidents, in Lane County and
other counties.
North’s defense attorney, John Ko-
lego, argued to suppress the state’s
proposed evidence of other crimes,
arguing it would be “unfairly prejudi-
cial” to North, as well as confuse the
issue at hand, mislead the jury and
constitute unnecessary evidence
considering there were a number of
witnesses at the scene.
The instances include a Eugene
Police case in 2015 when two people
reported North driving dangerously
and confronting a driver on a road-
side “in a rage,” according to court
documents.
Another police case from 2018 in-
volved several people reporting
North driving aggressively. One per-
son said it felt like North was “hunt-
ing him down” before the victim was
able to get away. North was arrested
for reckless driving in both cases.
Prosecutors noted that since 1999,
North had also been charged with
reckless driving, unlawful posses-
sion of a firearm, careless driving,
unsafe passing, felony elude, hit-
and-run, criminal mischief and reck-
less endangering.
Following arguments from prose-
cutors and North’s defense attorney,
Marion County Judge Courtland
Geyer allowed evidence from the
2018 and 2015 incidents to be includ-
ed in the trial.
After six days of jury selection and
a trial, the jury returned with a ver-
dict: guilty of second-degree murder
and not guilty of first-degree bias
crime.
Deputy District Attorney Matthew
Kemmy asked for a sentence of life
with a minimum of 25 years, with no
eligibility for alternative program-
ming.
Kolego conceded that was the stat-
utory minimum and did not request a
shorter sentence.
When delivering his sentence,
Geyer circled back on what Lewis
said — the events of Oct. 26, 2020,
were completely avoidable.
He pointed to the testimony of the
two victims in the 2015 and 2018 road
rage cases.
“They were still so frightened by
what happened,” Geyer said. “It
struck me that they were frightened
that exactly what had happened to
Mr. Graham might have happened to
them.”
He said North’s actions showed a
pattern.
“There were so many opportuni-
ties for you to have learned a different
way of conducting yourself,” Geyer
said.
He said he would impose the rec-
ommended sentence of life in prison
“without hesitation.”
This story includes reporting from
Virginia Barreda and Emily Teel
For questions, comments and news
tips, email reporter Whitney Wood-
worth
at
wmwoodworth@s
tatesmanjournal.com, call 503-910-
6616
or
follow
on
Twitter
@wmwoodworth