STATE
8A — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021
Group urges Oregon AG to reverse nonunanimous jury convictions
Oregon prisoners seek post-conviction
relief after U.S. Supreme Court ruling
By JAIMIE DING
The Oregonian/OregonLive
SALEM — An interna-
tional human rights group
on Tuesday, March 30,
urged Oregon Attorney
General Ellen Rosenblum
to lift her opposition to
reversing nonunanimous
jury convictions —
recently declared unconsti-
tutional — against people
who have completed their
appeals.
Since Oregon enacted
its law in 1934, juries
could convict people of
most felonies by a 10-2 or
11-1 vote. Louisiana was
the only other state that
allowed nonunanimous
jury convictions, until
voters struck down the law
in 2018.
Last April, the U.S.
Supreme Court found
nonunanimous jury con-
victions unconstitutional
in the case of Ramos v.
Louisiana. It allowed Ore-
gonians who were in the
middle of their appeals
process to have their con-
victions overturned and
retried by the courts.
But hundreds con-
victed by nonunanimous
juries remain in Oregon
prisons because their cases
and sentences were fi nal
at the time of the high
court’s decision. They are
now seeking post-convic-
tion relief in civil court in
hopes of having the Ramos
decision apply to them
and getting a chance for
retrials.
Prisoner advocates have
criticized Rosenblum,
saying she is blocking that
relief.
“It’s something that
should be changed, and
the attorney general has
the power to do that,”
John Raphling, a senior
researcher at Human
Rights Watch, told The
Oregonian/OregonLive.
In a letter written by
Raphling, the group said
nonunanimous juries are
discriminatory and “vio-
late international human
rights law and undermine
the integrity of Oregon
Courts.”
Rosenblum spokes-
person Kristina Edmunson
said the attorney general’s
offi ce has already sent back
hundreds of cases on appeal
for retrials and it is “com-
mitted” to reviewing the
remaining cases after the
U.S. Supreme Court makes
a ruling in a pending case
that will explicitly address
whether past nonunanimous
jury convictions should get
retrials.
“I cannot resolve Ore-
gon’s nearly 100-year prac-
tice of less than unanimous
jury decisions by executive
fi at,” Rosenblum said in the
statement. “It is the courts
that decide what the Con-
stitution requires. And the
Legislature is the place to
decide the best policy for
the state based on the will
of the people.”
Raphling noted that the
United States participates
in the International Con-
vention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Dis-
crimination, which pro-
hibits policies that restrict
rights based on race or pol-
icies that appear to be race
neutral but create racial
disparities.
Oregon’s nonunanimous
jury law was put in place
“almost explicitly as a way
to marginalize the voices
of racial and ethnic minori-
ties,” Raphling said.
He was referring to a
sensational murder trial in
Oregon in 1933 involving
a Jewish suspect that
prompted a public vote to
create the law.
The law appears to have
succeeded in its intent,
Raphling said.
In Multnomah County,
Black people are incarcer-
ated at roughly six times
the rate of white people,
according to a study of
2014 incarceration data
by the MacArthur Foun-
dation Safety and Justice
Challenge cited by Human
Rights Watch.
Black people repre-
sent 18% of petitioners in
Ramos cases statewide and
45% of petitioners in Mult-
nomah County, according
to a study by the Crim-
inal Justice Reform Clinic
at Lewis & Clark Law
School. Census Bureau fi g-
ures show just 3% of Ore-
gonians identify as exclu-
sively or partly Black,
including 8% of Mult-
nomah County residents.
“Just because these are
past convictions doesn’t
mean that harm hasn’t been
done and that she shouldn’t
be taking steps to mitigate
that harm,” Raphling said.
Though Rosenblum has
spoken in support of get-
ting rid of nonunanimous
convictions in Oregon,
she fi led a brief opposing
the Supreme Court’s deci-
sion in the Ramos case,
citing the “practical conse-
quences” of retrying hun-
dreds and potentially thou-
sands of past cases.
Doing that, she argued,
would “retraumatize crime
victims and survivors and
overwhelm our state’s
criminal justice system.”
3rd Oregon man arrested
in att ack on U.S. Capitol
Associated Press
PORTLAND — An
Oregon man has been
arrested in Florida on crim-
inal charges in connection
with the Jan. 6 attack on the
U.S. Capitol, court records
show.
A grand jury indicted
Richard Harris, 40, and fed-
eral law enforcement offi -
cers took him into custody
March 18, Oregon Public
Broadcasting reported.
Jail records showed
Monday, March 29, that he
is being held at Broward
County Jail without bail
in the custody of the U.S.
Marshals. It wasn’t imme-
diately known if he has a
lawyer.
On Friday, a fed-
eral judge ordered Harris
detained until trial because
he is considered a potential
fl ight risk and danger to the
community, court records
show. His case is being
transferred to Washington.
Federal prosecutors
charged Harris with fi ve
counts related to the Capitol
riots, including assaulting,
resisting or impeding offi -
cers; obstruction of an
offi cial proceeding; and
entering and remaining in a
restricted building.
Harris is the third person
with ties to Oregon charged
in the insurrection. Last
week, the FBI announced it
had arrested brothers Jon-
athanpeter and Matthew
Klein. They face charges
including conspiracy to pre-
vent Congress from certi-
fying the 2020 presiden-
tial election results for Joe
Biden. The brothers have
not yet entered pleas to the
federal charges.
Jonathanpeter Klein’s
defense lawyer Michelle
Sweet on Friday unsuccess-
fully urged for her client to
be released pending trial,
saying he could continue to
work at an eastern Oregon
ranch. Nanci Klein, the
brothers’ mother, wrote a
letter to the court saying
that they could stay at her
home. Both were ordered
held in a Portland jail until
at least their next court
hearing scheduled for
April 1.
In court documents, fed-
eral prosecutors provided
images from videos and
social media they say depict
Harris at the insurrection.
One video shows a man
who appears to be Harris
talking on a landline phone
inside the U.S. Capitol. He
is accused of making threat-
ening remarks into the
phone about House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and then-Vice
President Mike Pence, doc-
uments said.
STATE BRIEFS
Man sentenced to
17 years in child
pornography case
PORTLAND — A Port-
land man who served 12
years in prison for sex-
ually abusing a child in
California was sentenced
Monday, March 29, to serve
17 more years after using
Facebook Messenger to
convince a teenager to take
sexually explicit videos of
himself.
Prosecutors said Scott
Lawrence, 57, posed online
as a woman and commu-
nicated with the teenager
from South Dakota, The
Oregonian/OregonLive
reported.
Lawrence obtained the
boy’s videos and distrib-
uted a graphic image of the
boy to two other people,
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Gary Sussman said. Law-
rence pleaded guilty to
receiving and distributing
child pornography and
violating his supervised
release conditions from a
2018 conviction for failure
to register as a sex off ender.
U.S. District Judge
Robert E. Jones ordered
Lawrence to face a life term
of supervised release fol-
lowing his 17-year federal
prison term.
Sussman argued the
lengthy sentence was
necessary to protect the
public.
Both the prosecutor and
Lawrence’s lawyer, Fran-
cesca Freccero, jointly
recommended the prison
sentence imposed by the
judge. Freccero unsuccess-
fully argued for fi ve years
of supervised release after
Lawrence’s prison term.
On Oct. 24, 2019, inves-
tigators raided Lawrence’s
Portland home with a fed-
eral search warrant, seized
his cellphone and iPad, and
found the videos, according
to court records.
Former AG Holder
to investigate OHSU
harassment complaints
PORTLAND — Former
U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder is conducting an
independent investigation
into misconduct at Oregon
Health & Science Uni-
versity after a recent law-
suit alleging workplace
harassment.
KOIN reported Pres-
ident Danny Jacobs
and Board of Directors
Chairman Wayne Mon-
fries sent a letter Tuesday,
March 30, announcing
they have retained Hodder
“to conduct a comprehen-
sive, independent investi-
gation of OHSU’s work-
place environment related
to sexual harassment, dis-
crimination, retaliation
and racism.”
Earlier this month, a
woman fi led a $45 mil-
lion lawsuit against Dr.
Jason Campbell, who was
working as a resident at
OHSU during the alleged
abuse.
The complaint alleges
that Campbell sent the
woman unwanted, sexually
explicit text messages, “por-
nographic photographs” and
“sexually charged social
media messages.”
— Associated Press
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