November 8, 2017
The
INSIDE
Week in Review
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Confession Thrown Out
Police coercion sets back case against accused killer
M ETRO
page 9
Multnomah County Circuit
Judge Michael A. Greenlick
has thrown out the alleged
confession of accused serial
killer Homer Lee Jackson, cit-
ing improper and coercive tac-
tics used by Portland police.
Video footage of Jackson
facing more than seven hours
of questioning by law en-
forcement officials over two
days was thrown out as evi-
dence in the case last month
because police improper-
ly used a mix of threats and
promises of leniency to ex-
tract a confession, according
to a new report.
Jackson, 57, had lived qui-
etly in northeast Portland for
the past 13 years and was col-
lecting disability payments
and taking medical for para-
Homer Lee Jackson
noid schizophrenia when he
was arrested in October 2015
in connection with a string of
prostitution related deaths.
Jackson pleaded not guilty
to killing two black teenage
girls and two black adult
women in the 1980s who
were suspected of being in-
volved in sex trafficking and
who died of asphyxiation and
their bodies dumped in near-
by parks and ravines. Despite
this, authorities say he lat-
er confessed to the murders
when detectives Meredith
Hopper and James Lawrence
told Jackson he would feel
“great relief” and mercy from
God if he admitted to the
crimes. Detectives also called
Jackson a “monster” and said
if he didn’t confess, they
would propose the severest
possible punishment.
The inadmissible evidence
is latest setback for state pros-
ecutors. Police announced
two years ago in a press con-
ference that they had solved
the case with Jackson’s arrest.
Shooting Was Covered Up
Independent review says ex-chief lied to shift blame
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
O PINION
C LASSIFIEDS
C ALENDAR
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Former Police Chief Larry O’Dea was found
to mislead three assistant chiefs and then-May-
or Charlie Hales about a camping trip in which
O’Dea shot his friend, a new independent police
review has found.
While police protocol calls for immediate no-
tification to Portland’s Independent Review Di-
vision about for such mishaps, the report showed
that O’Dea waited four days to tell his assistants
and the mayor of the off-duty incident, which oc-
curred in Harney County.
Though O’Dea had disclosed to assistant
chiefs, internal affairs, and the mayor about the
non-mortal wounding of his friend after return-
ing from the trip, O’Dea lied to the Independent
Police Review investigators and Harney Coun-
ty Deputies about the incident, saying his friend
Robert Dempsey accidentally wounded himself.
In actuality, O’Dea and some friends were
shooting at ground squirrels when he acciden-
tally shot Dempsey in the back with a hollow
point bullet, the fragments of which remained in
Dempsey even after hospitalization.
O’Dea instructed three assistant chiefs and the
mayor’s office to keep the incident quiet, and
they cooperated, until investigations brought to
light the details of the occurrence, officials de-
termined.
O’Dea retired in late June 2016 amid the heat
of Harney County investigations. Though a grand
jury indicted O’Dea for negligently wounding
his friend, charges were eventually dismissed by
Former Police Chief Larry O’Dea
a Harney County judge as part of a civil com-
promise.
Derek Rodrigues, who at the time headed
Police Internal Affairs and is currently cap-
tain of the Family Services Division, now fac-
es two days suspension for not reporting his
knowledge of the shooting to the Independent
Review Division right away.