Portland Observer
Thursday, October 6, 1977
Page 9
ÆVwn behind the wall
«35021
by Larry
O.S.P.
Billy and the Judge
On January 5, 1977, a 25-year-old man,
named Billy Whitmire stood before De
schutea County Circuit Court Judge Walt
Edmond, and entered a plea of guilt to
Attempted Murder and Robbery.
Only 97 days earlier. Billy had shot and
wounded the Chief of Police of Lakeview,
Oregon during an attempt to elude the
police after robbing a local tavern of
approximately $100.
Judge Edmond ordered a pre sentenc
ing investigation on Billy and set the date
for sentencing to February 16, 1977.
The most extraoflinary event of the
case was not in the shooting of a Chief of
Police (who later fully recovered from his
wounds) nor the robbery, itself, but that
Billy Whitmire, while in jail waiting for
trial, had found another “Power" which
would judge him. That “Power” came
from a little book called “The Bible”.
Billy, also met a man by the name of
Don Claus, who spent many Sunday
mornings speaking to prisoners in that
small community about the Bible. Claus
and Billy became friends and during that
time of his pre-sentencing investigation
period. Claus presented the court with an
alternate sentence that would find Billy a
new and more positive life. That alterna
tive was helping Billy obtain a full
scholarship to a Bible College in Texas, if
Billy was granted probation.
This reporter believes it would be very
interesting to Observer readers to read
the actual proceedings of that sentencing
of Billy Whitmire on that cloudy Wednes
day morning of February 16. 1977.
Allison E. Smith. District Attorney;
James C. Lynch. Billy's attorney.
PROCEEDINGS:
T H E COURT: Mr. Whitmire, do you
have anything you’d like to say to me, sir?
THE DEFENDANT: No.
T H E COURT: All right. Why don't
you be seated for a minute because there
are some things I want to express to you
and they are rather lengthy in nature.
There are two things that I want you to
know from this proceeding. And the first
is that I care about you and what happens
to you the rest of your life. The second
thing is that I chose to believe that you
have been born again.
Now. those feelings give me three
alternatives as I see them: One, is to put
you on probation and allow you to go to
Texas to Bible School; two, is to sentence
you to one year in the county jail and then
place you on probation as we talked about
in our earlier court hearing; and three,
would be to sentence you to prison to give
you time to grow in your faith, to allow
you to demonstrate your changed life
with hopefully the event of parole to the
Bible School.
Galations two, verse six tells us that
after receiving Jesus Christ we must
walk in him. In Chapter three, verse five,
same book, says that we must kill in
ourselves what is earthly. We must rid
ourselves at all things such as anger and
rage and malice, slander and blaspheme.
I know that you have prayed and
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believe and that perhaps you believe you
will be set free in accordance with God's
promises. I, too. have prayed. I have
prayed that I would do God's will in this
matter. I know one thing and that is that
God's promises are always true. There is
one more thing to it. though, besides just
believing and that is that you must abide
in Christ. Jesus, and his word must abide
in you. if your prayers are to be
answered. John, fifteen, verse seven.
1 believe by seeking God and not by
believing harder, your prayers will be
granted because your will becomes the
will of God.
Eaekiel. thirty-three, verses thirteen
through sixteen, talks about the responsi
bility that a person has once they receive
Jesus Christ; and that responsibility is to
make restitution.
I would suggest to you that at this
point in your life your belief is in the tear,
and I don't mean that being critical
because I think we all grow in the faith;
that we all start out as babies in the faith.
If I were to put you on probation, you'd
have to go to college. Apparently, you’d
have to work and Mr. Claus would make
up the rest of it.
There would be a lot of stresses. And 1
would suggest to you that in your past
life you got into trouble with the law
because you didn't handle those stresses
in a law abiding way. But now you have
the power to do that as long as you trust
in the Lord. And the moment that you
quit trusting, then you will fail. Paul
talks about that in Romans: how hard he
tries to obey the law and no matter how\
hard the tries he. by himself, is unable to.
It's only through God’s power that he
becomes able to walk in the spirit.
You wouldn't receive any support from
anyone down there as far as the local
government was concerned. Their case
load for probationers is something like
eight thousand for that county. So, I ’m
rejecting that alternative because I feel
that it would be unfair to you. I ’m not
going to put you on probation.
I considered keeping you in the county
jail until September and then placing you
on probation.
I have rejected that
alternative. The reason is that I believe
that we grew in our faith by teeting. The
county jail becomes a sterile environment
with little or ns testing of your faith.
If yen wore released directly to face
the stress and temptation of attending
college, yen wouldn't have had the
opportunity to grew and to knew the
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over to God
j it. Again, I believe I would
be doing you a disservice by ill preparing
you to meet the challenges of the outside
world.
The third alternative, I have some
qualms about: First, I don't like to pass
the buck. I like to face the responsibility,
bite it off and do what it seems right to
me regardless of what anybody else
thinks. I suppose I take pride in having
that kind of independence. I t seems to
me that I pass the buck to the parole
board if I send you to the penitentiary.
On the other hand, I guess. I have to set
aside my pride and think about your best
interests.
If yon go to Salem, you're going to hove
the opportunity to grow in your faith as
You're also g ob« to have the opportunity
to minister to others.
You see. and that's part of your faith,
too, is to not only become reformed and
changed yourself, but to give yourself to
others in fellowship.
I am in a terrible position to judge your
growth. I'm not sure whether the parole
board as it's now constituted is in any
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BILLY WHITMIRE
better position, but I'm going to send you
to prison. And I have to trust in God that
if you continue to trust in him he's going
to make it available for you to take
advantage of that scholarship down in
that Bible College or lead you to some
other ministry.
As a parolee, you’ll have the support of
close supervision, contrary to the status
of a probationer; and I believe that's of
benefit to you although if you reviewed it
from your former attitudes, you wouldn't
think so, but a parole officer who's on
your side can open a lot of doors for you.
You see, I believe that you have ahead
of you a wonderful ministry if you’ll just
remain steadfast in your commitment and
continue to trust and to grow in your
faith.
From a purely secular viewpoint, to
keep you in jail for the rest of your life
costs $13,000 a year. And if you do not
keep your commitment, if you do not
keep trusting, then that's what will have
to happen. You'll have to be separated
from the society for the protection of
society for the rest of your life. Obvious
ly, society gets a better bargain by your
rehabilitation.
M r. Claus, I want to say some words
to you: Every Christian needs the fellow
ship and love of other Christians. This
man is going to face some challenges in
the next few months or years; and more
than anything, he's going to need your
friendship.
He's going to have to
demonstrate to a hardened and cynical
parole board his sincerity about changing
his life.
I believe that he respects you.
I
believe he needs your support. I encour
age you to maintain as dose a contact
with him and diligently remember him in
prayer as he faces those temptations of
returning to his old way of life.
M r. W hitm ire, is there anything that
you have to say before I impose sentence
in this matter?
T H E D E F E N D A N T : No.
T H E COURT: Would you stand,
please?
M r. W hitm ire, as to case number 6230
which charges you with attempted mur
der, it will be the sentence of this court
that you be placed in the custody of the
Oregon Corrections Division for a period
of time not to exceed fifteen years.
As to case number 6228 which charges
you with the crime of robbery, it will be
the sentence of that court - this court,
excuse me, that you be placed in the
custody of the Oregon Corrections D ivi
sions for a period of time not to exceed
fifteen years; that sentence to be served
consecutive to the sentence in case
number 6230, provided, however, that
execution of that sentence will be su
spended and you will be placed upon
probation upon the following terms.
What I have just given you is a total of
thirty years.
I have suspended the
execution of the last fifteen and placed
you on probation; however, the probation
will be administered as follows: The
probationary period will commence upon
you being granted parole in case number
6230. That probation will continue for
five years from that date Within that
time, as a condition of probation, you
must make restitution as follows: Partial
restitution involving the medical ex
penses, total medical expenses of Troy
Riblett incurred to date.
Now, I anticipate M r. Riblett may have
additional medical expenses. I do not feel
I legally can require you to become liable
for those as part of the sentence. Civilly,
you are liable, sir. So. the first order of
restitution is the amount that Mr. Smith
has read off into the record.
The second amount of restitution will
be for the automobile that was destroyed
and that amount is in the record.
The third condition of restitution will
be to Lake County for payment of
attorney’s fees.
Finally, I will recommend - and it is a
recommendation, only - that upon your
demonstration to the officials in the
parole board of Oregon State Peniten
tiary, that you be paroled and ordered to
take advantage of the scholarship that
awaits you.
I make no recommendation as to what
period of time you should serve over
there. I think that those people will have
closer contact with you and will be better
able to judge whether you have grown in
your faith sufficient to take advantage of
that opportunity. However, the record
should indicate that it's my intention in
the making of this sentence that if you do
demonstrate your changed way of life,
that that opportunity be made available
to you sometime in the future.
You have the right to appeal this
sentence by filing a notice in writing
thirty days from the date of sentencing
with the County Clerk of Jefferson
County with a copy to go to the District
Attorney of Lake County and a copy to go
to the court reporter. If you cannot
afford the transcript, one will be provided
to you at county expense as well as a
lawyer at county expense.
M r. Lynch can advise you how to
contact the public defender's office in the
event you wish to effect an appeal. You
may be seated, sir.
t
M r. Smith, do you have any need for
clarification as to the journal entry in this
matter?
MR. S M IT H : One item. Judge, and I
think it's only - 1 think I have the sense of
it, but the very last thing, the recommen
dation of the parole board; be allowed to
take advantage of the - tuition? - 1 didn't
catch that. I wasn’t quick enough.
T H E COURT:It*s the intention of this
sentence that if the defendant demon
strates his changed life, that he be
allowed to take advantage of the scholar
ship that he's received to this bible
school.
Any other question?
M R. S M IT H :I have none. Your Honor.
T H E COURT: M r. Lynch?
MR. L Y N C H : No, Your Honor.
T H E COURT:WeU, M r. Whitmire, my
prayers go with you.
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process of decision making that vitally
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“This forum will address the need for
increased citizen participation by provid
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better equipped to create, determine, and
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The first forum, at 6:00 p.m. on October
13th, will focus on education. Panelists
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