A2
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021
Jury acquits former Chinook man
accused of murder in second trial
IN BRIEF
South Jetty work to close
observation tower
Work on the South Jetty will temporarily close
access to the observation tower in Fort Stevens State
Park’s Lot C beginning April 19.
The heavy equipment being used to repair the
jetty near the tower poses a public safety risk,
according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
which is tasked with maintaining the jetty systems at
the mouth of the Columbia River.
A portion of the Oregon Coast Trail that begins
at the jetty and runs past the observation tower will
also be closed as work continues landward. How-
ever, people can still access the trail from the state
park’s Lot B farther south.
Bathrooms at Lot C, the lot that provides access
to South Jetty and the observation tower, will remain
open.
The Columbia River jetty system, constructed
between 1885 and 1939, allows for safer passage for
vessels moving between the ocean and the river.
Trail Blazers, Moda Health
assist Violet LaPlante Park
Every assist by the Portland Trail Blazers basket-
ball team in the 2020-21 regular season means $20
toward the eff ort to install an all-abilities playground
at Violet LaPlante Park in Astoria.
The Moda Assist Program, a health initiative run
by the basketball team and insurer Moda Health,
chose the Astoria park over projects in St. Hel-
ens and Sandy after a yearlong voting campaign.
The Trail Blazers had amassed 1,019 assists as of
Wednesday with 22 games to go.
“Violet LaPlante Park is long overdue for new
playground equipment to replace the few, very old
items there now,” Mayor Bruce Jones said in a state-
ment. “This upgrade will off er a tremendous benefi t
to local families. I thank the Moda and Trail Blazers
organizations for their generosity. I can’t wait to see
kids enjoying the new playground equipment.”
The city campaigned for the park because of its
centralized location for residents in eastern neigh-
borhoods like Alderbrook, Uppertown and the Emer-
ald Heights Apartments. The Parks and Recreation
Department plans to install a natural-themed climb-
ing and play system.
“Through this trying time during which we all
have been reminded of the critical role that access to
the outdoors plays in building healthy communities,
we’re reminded that playgrounds are key contribu-
tors to children’s emotional and physical health,” Dr.
William Johnson, president of Moda Health, said in
the statement.
After the regular season ends in May, the city will
begin design and construction planning based on the
funds available. The playground is anticipated to
break ground in the fall and open in January.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
April 6, 2021
In COMO,
Brief
William Lee
Jr., 64, of Astoria, died
in Astoria. Caldwell’s
Death
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
April 5, 2021
KNUTINEN,
Lee
E., 81, of Astoria, died
in Astoria. Ocean View
Funeral
&
Crema-
tion Service of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
WESTERLUND, Kay
Marie, 63, of Knappa,
died in Knappa. Cald-
well’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
By GARRETT
ANDREWS
The Bulletin
REDMOND — First, he
was called an accused mur-
derer. Then, a convicted
murderer and state prison
inmate working on a life
sentence.
On Monday, Luke Anton
Wirkkala learned he’d
earned a new title.
Free man.
“I’m just trying to take it
all in,” Wirkkala said min-
utes after emerging from
the Deschutes County jail,
a smile overtaking his face.
“It feels a little surreal. Eight
long years.”
A half-hour earlier, a jury
found Wirkkala, 40, not
guilty in the death of David
Andrew Ryder, a houseguest
Wirkkala had shot at close
range with a pump-action
shotgun in 2013. Jurors also
acquitted Wirkkala on lesser
counts of fi rst-degree man-
slaughter and second-degree
manslaughter. They reached
all verdicts by votes of 10 to
2.
Wirkkala is from Chi-
nook, Washington, and
moved to Bend in 2012.
It was Wirkkala’s sec-
ond murder trial for Ryder’s
death — he was convicted
in 2014, but the Oregon
Court of Appeals ordered
a retrial because the origi-
nal jury heard portions of a
police interview after Wirk-
kala had invoked his right to
an attorney.
The retrial in a makeshift
courtroom at the Deschutes
County Fair & Expo Center
was a dry and, at times, emo-
tional four-week aff air.
The defense argued Wirk-
kala acted in self-defense
when he shot Ryder.
The state, represented
by the Oregon Department
of Justice, asked jurors to
convict because Wirkkala’s
account, as prosecutor Kris-
ten Hoff meyer said repeat-
edly, “simply could not be
believed.”
All 12 jurors declined
requests to explain their
votes. One said only the
state hadn’t made its case.
Representatives
of
Ryder’s family also declined
to comment.
Many of the witnesses
were back from the fi rst trial
and off ered, in large part, the
same testimony, the facts of
the case remaining essen-
tially the same.
Wirkkala and Ryder were
friends, though not good
friends, having only hung
out a handful of times. Wirk-
Garrett Andrews/The Bulletin
Luke Wirkkala greets supporters on Monday outside the Deschutes County jail.
‘I TOLD MYSELF IF I DIDN’T
COME OUT OF THIS EXPERIENCE
A BETTER PERSON THAN WHEN
I WENT IN, THEN I’VE FAILED.
I FEEL LIKE I’VE BECOME A
STRONGER PERSON BECAUSE
OF THIS. AND I’LL NEVER TAKE
ANYTHING FOR GRANTED,
THAT’S FOR ABSOLUTE SURE.’
Luke Wirkkala
kala and his then-girlfriend
tried to wrangle friends to
attend a Super Bowl party
at the Hideaway Tavern in
Bend, but in the end, every-
one backed out except
Ryder.
Wirkkala testifi ed he
drank throughout that day
— before and throughout the
game and then back at his
house, where he and Ryder
drank a case of Pabst Blue
Ribbon beer.
Wirkkala’s
girlfriend,
her son and her nephew
went to bed between 10 and
10:30 p.m. Around 2:30 a.m.
they were awoken by a shot-
gun blast in the living room.
Police arrived to fi nd
Ryder dead on the fl oor
inside, Wirkkala sobbing
nearby.
Then-Deschutes County
District Attorney Patrick
Flaherty charged Wirkkala
with murder, and the case
went to trial in 2014.
Wirkkala always said he
awoke that night to Ryder
sexually assaulting him. He
retrieved his shotgun from
his bedroom, returned to
the living room and ordered
Ryder to leave. Wirkkala
said he racked a shell to
show Ryder he was serious
but instead a “twisted smirk”
crossed Ryder’s face and he
charged Wirkkala, forcing
him to fi re.
The original jury did not
accept that explanation and
voted to convict. In 2018,
the Court of Appeals vacated
his conviction.
It’s customary for court-
room attendees to stand
when a jury enters and exits
a courtroom. On Monday,
after Deschutes County Cir-
cuit Judge Randy Miller
excused the jury from ser-
vice, Wirkkala was fi rst to
stand. He steepled his fi ngers
before his chest and rocked
his hands back and forth, as
if saying “thank you.”
Miller told the onetime
defendant: “Mr. Wirkkala,
you are free to go.”
From
there,
guards
took Wirkkala from Red-
mond back to the Deschutes
County jail in Bend. They
wheeled out a tub contain-
ing Wirkkala’s belongings,
including the fl ip phone
seized when he was arrested
in 2013.
Around
a
dozen
well-wishers were there to
greet him and take pictures.
Many had supported him
through his fi rst trial. The
party intended to caravan
to Portland, where Wirkkala
hoped to eat a “real” meal
for dinner after years of jail
food.
As for what’s after that,
Wirkkala said, “life begins
at 40.” He’d like to resume
writing and photography,
which he pursued prior to
his conviction. He hopes to
publish a book he started in
prison about his experience
being wrongfully accused.
He thanked God, his
family and friends who sup-
ported him, his attorneys
Thad Betz and Joel Wirtz,
and the jury.
He said that while locked
up, he committed to pursu-
ing positive growth.
“I told myself if I didn’t
come out of this experi-
ence a better person than
when I went in, then I’ve
failed,” he said. “I feel like
I’ve become a stronger per-
son because of this. And
I’ll never take anything for
granted, that’s for absolute
sure.”
ON THE RECORD
DUII
nue after observing him
Pesticide use falls but harms pollinators more
On
• Seth the
Timothy Record
Mor- drive recklessly and lose
gan, 26, of Astoria, was control of his vehicle.
arrested Monday for While stopped, someone
driving under the infl u- in the parking lot of the
ence of intoxicants, Astoria Mini Mart began
reckless driving, men- heckling Morgan. Later,
acing, disorderly con- when the person drove
duct in the second degree out of the parking lot,
and unlawful use of Morgan reportedly ran
MEETINGS
a PUBLIC
stun gun. An
offi cer toward the vehicle and
stopped Morgan at about activated a stun gun. The
7:50 p.m. near W. Marine offi cer pulled his gun and
Drive and Hume Ave- restrained Morgan.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Seaside Civic and Convention Center Commission,
5 p.m., Seaside Civic and Convention Center, 415 First Ave.
Gearhart Planning Commission, 6 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
Warrenton Planning Commission, 6 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
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By SETH BORENSTEIN
Associated Press
American farmers are
using smaller amounts of
better targeted pesticides, but
these are harming pollina-
tors, aquatic insects and some
plants far more than decades
ago, a new study fi nds.
Toxicity levels have more
than doubled since 2005 for
important species, including
honeybees, mayfl ies and but-
tercup fl owers, as the country
switched to a new generation
of pesticides. But dangerous
chemical levels in birds and
mammals have plummeted at
the same time, according to a
paper this month in the jour-
nal Science.
“The bottom line is
that these pesticides, once
believed to be relatively
benign and so short-lived that
they would not damage eco-
systems, are anything but,”
said Dr. Lynn Goldman, a
former U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency assistant
administrator for toxic sub-
stances who wasn’t part of
the study and is now dean of
George Washington Univer-
sity’s school of public health.
German scientists exam-
ined 381 pesticides used in
the United States between
1992 and 2016, combining
EPA data that calculates toxic
dosage eff ects for eight types
of animals and plants with
U.S. Geological Survey data
on how much of the chemi-
Associated Press
A helicopter prepares to apply pesticides.
cals were used year by year
for dozens of agricultural
crops. The scientists calcu-
lated a new measurement
they call total applied toxic-
ity for the eight groupings of
species and trends over time.
“Very often politicians,
media, scientists just talk
about amounts. They always
argue, ‘OK, the amount pes-
ticides we use is reduced so
things are getting better’ and
this is not necessarily true,”
said lead author Ralf Schulz,
a professor of environmental
sciences at the University of
Kolenz-Landau. “It’s some-
times true, but not always.”
Industry keeps develop-
ing new pesticides and “very
often these new compounds
are more toxic,” Schulz
said. They include neonicot-
inoids, which have been con-
nected to one of the many
causes of dwindling honey-
bee numbers.
The newer pesticides are
aimed more toward animals
without backbones to spare
birds and mammals, but this
means insects such as polli-
nators get poisoned, Schulz
said.
The same goes for some
land plants and for aquatic
invertebrates including drag-
onfl ies and mayfl ies, which
birds and mammals eat, he
said, adding that future stud-
ies should look at the harm
higher up the food chain.
Chris Novak, president of
the pesticide industry group
CropLife America, said in
an email that “it is critical
to note that the study found
great reductions in acute tox-
icity have been achieved for
humans and mammals over
the past few decades.”
Novak noted pesticides
go through extensive stud-
ies and “only one in 10,000
discoveries make the 11-year
journey from the lab to the
market.”
It’s not surprising that
newer generations of pes-
ticides generally are more
harmful to insects, which are
undergoing a massive decline
for many reasons, said Uni-
versity of Connecticut ento-
mologist David Wagner,
who wasn’t part of the study.
But Wagner said this newest
research doesn’t provide data
needed to show “that pesti-
cides are the major driver of
insect declines.”