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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2017
Inmate dies after meth-laden
kiss; girlfriend gets 2 years
Oregon standoff
figure Thorn gets
sentenced to prison
Thorn’s lawyer, Jay Nel-
son, filed a sentencing mem-
orandum that includes some
PORTLAND — A Wash- details of his client’s child-
ington state man who joined hood after he was born to
the Ammon Bundy-led take- a drug-addicted mother.
over of an Oregon wildlife Thorn’s abusive stepfather
refuge sought and received shackled him to a back porch
leniency from a judge Tues- for hours on end, securing his
day after saying he’s been ankle with a heavy chain and
through “two years of hell” padlock, the memorandum
since his arrest in February said.
2016.
Thorn was 12 when finally
U.S. District Judge Anna removed from the home and
Brown cited Darryl Thorn’s placed in foster care, Nelson
rough childhood and other wrote.
factors in sentencing him
Prosecutor Ethan Knight
to 18 months in prison — agreed that Thorn’s upbring-
at least six months less than ing was a mitigating fac-
tor but sought a sen-
federal sentencing
tence of more than
guidelines.
Thorn
two years, saying
will also get credit
Thorn’s role stand-
for time he has
off role was “sus-
already served in jail.
tained and dan-
Thorn performed
gerous.”
Thorn
armed guard duty,
encouraged others to
sometimes from a
stay and fight authorities
watchtower, during
Darryl
after the fatal shoot-
the Malheur National
Thorn
ing by police of
Wildlife
Refuge
spokesman
occupation that lasted Jan. 2 occupation
to Feb. 11, 2016. The group Robert “LaVoy” Finicum,
sought the release of two Knight said.
The judge urged Thorn to
ranchers imprisoned for set-
ting fires on U.S.-owned embrace mental health treat-
ment while in prison and get
land.
Twenty six people were an education.
indicted in the case. Most
“You’ve got to find a way
accepted plea bargains and to live in this world that does
avoided prison. Bundy and not seem threatening to other
six others were acquitted in a people,” she said.
trial last year.
Several supporters of
Thorn was twice on the Thorn were outside the court-
verge of accepting a plea house during the sentenc-
bargain before changing his ing hearing, including Duane
mind and going to trial earlier Ehmer, a co-defendant who
this year. Jurors convicted starts his one-year prison
him in March of conspiracy sentence in January.
Ehmer showed up on the
and possessing a firearm.
“This has been extremely horse named Hellboy that he
difficult — mentally, phys- rode during the standoff.
ically, emotionally,” Thorn
Inside the courtroom,
told Brown. “I have a life. I Thorn was excited to hear
have a family I would like that Ehmer arrived on the
to go back to.” Thorn has horse.
been in jail since June, when
“That’s what I’m talking
Brown revoked his condi- about!” Thorn told court
tional, pre-sentencing release spectators before the sentenc-
ing hearing started.
because of suicidal threats.
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
By STEVEN DUBOIS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — An Ore-
gon woman whose inmate boy-
friend died from a meth-laden
kiss after a prison visit was sen-
tenced to two years behind bars
Tuesday on a drug conspiracy
charge.
Melissa Ann Blair and
Anthony Powell shared a long
kiss at the end of a visit last
year at the Oregon State Pen-
itentiary and she passed seven
tiny balloons filled with meth-
amphetamine into his mouth.
Two of the balloons ruptured in
Powell’s stomach a short time
later and he died of metham-
phetamine toxicity, prosecutors
have said.
U.S. District Judge Marco
Hernandez said Blair’s actions
were part of a scheme devised
by Powell and others to get
drugs inside the prison. There
was a dispute as to whether
Danielle Peterson/Statesman-Journal
Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem is where an inmate
died after a meth-laden kiss from his girlfriend
Blair participated of her own
free will, but Powell shared
responsibility for his own
death, Hernandez said.
“It was tragic and sad but he
shares responsibility for what
happened,” the judge said.
The 41-year-old was serv-
ing a life sentence for aggra-
vated murder in the stabbing
death of his mother-in-law,
according to court records.
Besides two years in federal
prison, the judge also ordered
Blair, 46, to complete three
years of post-release super-
vision and participate in drug
treatment and mental health
programs.
She did not make a state-
ment in court. Her sister, who
attended the hearing, declined
to comment.
Blair felt coerced by Pow-
ell even though he was behind
bars, her attorney, John Ran-
som, said outside court. She
used methamphetamine but
was not addicted, he said.
“It was a very Svengali-type
situation where he had total
control over her life,” Ransom
said. “She had to do whatever
he said.”
Powell’s close friend,
Brandy Pokovich, attended the
hearing and said she became
pen pals with him after he
wrote to her husband — a for-
mer inmate — and she replied
to him instead. Over a dozen
years, Pokovich said, they
formed a deep bond through
letters, phone calls and visits.
She called herself Powell’s
“sister by choice” and believed
he felt remorse for his crime,
she told the judge.
Washington state panel outlines risk of oil-by-rail terminal
ect since 2013 and released its
environmental review a week
before it is scheduled to vote
to support or oppose the proj-
ect in a recommendation that
will go to Gov. Jay Inslee. Ins-
lee, a Democrat, will decide
whether to approve the facility
or reject it.
The proposed $210 mil-
lion terminal for the small city
of Vancouver would receive
about 360,000 barrels of crude
oil by trains a day. Oil would
temporarily be stored on site
for Vancouver Energy, a joint
venture of Tesoro Corp. and
Savage Cos., and then loaded
onto tankers and ships bound
for West Coast refineries.
The study identified the
four risks that could not be
avoided as train accidents, the
emergency response delays,
negative impacts of the proj-
ect on low-income communi-
ties and the possibility that an
By PHUONG LE
Associated Press
SEATTLE — A major oil-
by-rail terminal proposed on
the Columbia River in Wash-
ington state poses a potential
risk of oil spills, train acci-
dents and longer emergency
response times due to road
traffic, an environmental study
has found.
Many of the risks could be
decreased with certain mitiga-
tion measures, but the study
released Tuesday outlined four
areas where it said the impacts
are significant and cannot be
avoided.
The study said what while
“the likelihood of occurrence
of the potential for oil spills
may be low, the consequences
of the events could be severe.”
The state’s Energy Facil-
ity Site Evaluation Council
has been evaluating the proj-
earthquake would damage the
facility’s dock and cause an oil
spill.
Measures could be taken to
reduce the potential risk of oil
spills by other causes, fires and
harm to juvenile salmon, the
study said.
Critics say the project is a
risk to the environment and
people while developers pro-
mote the terminal as an oppor-
tunity to bring crude oil from
North Dakota and other areas
to a western U.S. port and
bring jobs and money to the
region.
“Our initial assessment pro-
vides confidence that EFSEC’s
thorough evaluation of the
facts will demonstrate our
ability to build and operate the
project safely and in an envi-
ronmentally responsible way,”
Vancouver Energy spokesman
Jeff Hymas said in emailed
statement late Tuesday.
He labeled most of the
impacts outlined in the report
as “related to low-probabil-
ity events not directly associ-
ated with our facility that have
the potential to occur today,
such as a major earthquake or
impacts related to the transpor-
tation of products that move
across the country on a daily
basis.”
Opponents said the report
provided justification for the
council to issue a recommen-
dation against the project.
The review “clearly shows
that the Tesoro-Savage oil
train terminal is bad for Wash-
ington,” said Rebecca Ponzio,
director for the Stand Up to Oil
Campaign.
The facility would produce
more than 300,000 metric tons
of greenhouse gas emissions
annually, with half of that from
trains moving along the entire
route in Washington state.
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