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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1989)
lust news Doney's killer sentenced From the perspective of Doney's father, the proceeding was a trial of the justice system as much as it was a hearing for Darrell Monical Monical. described for the court his nephew’s \ ers ion of the encounter. He said Doney offered oral sex to Monical, arrell Blaine Monical. the man who killed who was intoxicated after drinking 190-proof Eugene Doney in Couch Park more than a year ago. was sentenced March 28 to 20 years in grain alcohol earlier that night. Monical refused, saying he was not gay. The two talked prison, with a five-year minimum to be served in Couch Park, then Monical “ began vomiting before he will be eligible for parole. . . . the next thing he remembers, he was inside Monical, initially charged with murder in the the play structure, he was bent over, his pants case, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of were down and Mr. Doney was poking him manslaughter last December. In a plea agree from the rear and trying to enter him,” Larry ment. he said that he strangled Doney and slit Monical said in court. He said Darrell Monical his throat “ while under the influence of alcohol choked Doney until he was unconscious, left after he accosted me and attempted to have the area, then realized his keys and wallet had homosexual contact with me.” dropped. When he returned to get them, Doney It was the sentence, and not the killing, that had regained consciousness. The two struggled, was at issue in last month’s proceeding before and Monical cut Doney’s throat with a broken Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Robert bottle. P. Jones. As part of the plea agreement, Police did not find any broken glass at the Monical’s attorney, Wendell R. Birkland, and scene. Doney’s jacket and wallet were in his Deputy District Attorney Charles M. Kokes had car, parked 3 K h blocks away. The incident hap recommended a maximum sentence of 20 pened in the early morning hours of February years, with a five-year minimum. 13. 1988. Monical was arrested five months But in January, Judge Stephen S. Walker later, after making statements about the killing refused to approve that sentence, saying it was to friends. too light. The sentence for manslaughter can In arguing for the lighter sentence, Birkland carry up to a ten-year minimum. Birkland asked said the death was a “ victim-precipitated” that the case be transferred to a different judge, crime. “ We’re not saying [Monical’s] actions and it was switched to Jones. were completely justified. We re only saying Birkland argued that Jones should approve Mr. Doney contributed to his own death . . . If the lesser sentence because of the confrontation he hadn't tried what he tried on Mr. Monical, that led to Doney’s death. Monical did not he’d still be alive.” testify at the hearing, but his uncle, Larry BY ANNDEE HOCHMAN D OCA lies allowed to prevail; complaint filed too late She also quoted campaign literature stating that “ homosexual behavior represents a sig nificant health risk to the general public.” In addition, she noted that several leaflets were published without the necessary disclaimer saying they were paid for by the ‘No Special Rights’ campaign committee. For those brochures, circulated by the “ P.L. Media Center,’ ’ the secretary of state’s office has fined a Newberg woman, Sharon Caldwell. $25 for each failure to print a disclaimer. Although Wilson said she is disappointed that the false-statement allegations can’t be pursued further, she believes her complaint has symbolic values. As she wrote in the letter to Roberts, “ At the very least, when these atrocious false hoods are raised again it cannot be said. ‘They must not have been lies, because no one complained.’ " n February. Portland attorney Janice R. Wilson filed a complaint with Secretary of State Barbara Roberts’ office, claiming that the Oregon Citizens’ Alliance flouted election laws by publishing false statements in their literature urging repeal of Gov. Neil Goldschmidt’s executive order banning discrimination against gays and lesbians in state jobs. Last month, Wilson got her answer: it’s not our turf. The only remedy for charges of false statements in election materials, according to the response Wilson received from Roberts' office, is a suit filed in circuit court. And it’s too late for that — such matters must be filed within 30 days after the election and can only be filed by a candidate or political committee, not an individual citizen. In Wilson’s 10-page complaint, she quoted from OCA literature which, among other things, claimed Measure 8 would grant “ special rights.” require affirmative action for gays and lesbians and force foster-care agencies to accept homosexuals as foster parents (gays and lesbians were permitted to become foster parents before Goldschmidt’s executive order). I — Doney’s father, Norman Allen Doney, asked the judge to impose a ten-year minimum sentence. “ Id o not agree with the plea-bargain system.” he told the court. “ Eight months ago a man pleaded guilty to killing my son. And here we are today. It's just not right. Nobody can speak for my son. I would rather see a full blown trial." Doney, who was 24 when he was killed, was about to enter Mount Hood Community College and planned to transfer to the University of Oregon in the fall. On the night before the incident, according to testimony in the hearing, he had spent about three hours at Silent Part ners. Bruce Fuller, the bartender there, testified that he served Doney five drinks in that time. Monical. 19, had been suspended from the Wolf Creek Job Corps and was living with his uncle in Northwest Portland, near Couch Park, at the time of the incident. Larry Monical said his nephew left Portland a few days after the killing and described what happened that night only months later, after his arrest, in a phone call from the Douglas County Jail. In court, Darrell Monical shook noticeably throughout the two-hour proceeding. When his father. Glen Monical, cried during his testi mony, Darrell Monical lowered his head and wiped his eyes. Just before Jones sentenced him. he stood up and said, in aquavering voice, “ I truly, truly am sorry. I can’t put words to how sorry I am. But I really, really am sorry. I didn’t want this to happen.” From the perspective of Doney’s father, who sal at the prosecutor’s table with Kokes, the proceeding was a trial of the justice system as much as it was a hearing for Monical. Kokes explained that a change in Oregon law had made some of Monical’s early statements to detectives inadmissible in court, and that is why prosecutors agreed to the plea bargain on a lesser charge. “ We had no eyewitness and, really, no physical evidence,” Kokes told the judge. “ Our case changed; some of the evidence was lost. It seemed reasonable as a negotiation to offer half o f the mandatory minimum.” For Doney. it was not reasonable and it was not enough. “ My son was killed with a weapon w ielded by Mr. Monical,” he said in court. “ All this court has as to what transpired that night is Mr. Monical’s testimony.” But it was enough for the judge. After listen ing to accounts from men present at Silent Partners about Doney’s behavior that night, to Larry Monical’s account of his nephew’s version of the incident and to Norman Doney's pleas for justice, Jones approved the sentence with a five-year minimum. He said he did so because o f Monical’s age. the “ nature and circumstances of the confrontation” between him and Doney and the fact that prosecutors as well as the defense attorney had recommended that sentence. And he acknowledged that, for Doney’s father and the rest of his family, the sentence and the judicial system that produced it might still seem inadequate. “ I truly wish I could say something or do something to make you feel, when you walk out of here, that justice had been served,” he told Doney. “ But that is not to be . . . the justice system doesn't really offer anything to victims.” • SAN D RA K. PINCHES, Ph.D. Counseling and Psychotherapy Specializing in issues of: • Recovering Alcoholics • Co-dependency I HOD N.VV. Johnson, Ste. 7 P o rtlan d, O R 9 7 2 0 9 (5 0 3 )2 2 7 755 8 • Lesbian & gay couples • Intimacy & commitment Anndee Hochman Correction A conventional loan is a good choice when the buyer has a downpayment of over 20 per cent. not 2 percent as reported in an article about financing a home in last month’s edition. Terry A. Kincaid Sales Associate (503) 2 8 7 -8 9 8 9 Let Pro do the work for you. Call for a competitive market analysis. a Professionals 100, Inc., Realtors A Gallery Of Folk Art & l Furnishings Champagne Reception 1st Thursday, 5-9 pm ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Carved Wooden Saints, Animals & Fish Ceremonial & Decorative Masks Hand Forged Iron Furniture & Lighting Handwoven Rugs & Tapestries O pen Tuesday-Saturday 11 am to 5:30 pm de nada 55 S.W. I aylor • P ortlan d • 503/22 3-0361 t u s t o u t V i y April 1989