News
McKinney
continued from page 1
males.”
Focusing on Black youth at-risk of drop-
ping out of school, The Breakfast Group
works to help expand educational opportu-
nity and career success, through sustained
mentoring and support. McKinney served
13 years.
In that role, McKinney developed partner-
ships with business and government
agencies that created thousands of jobs in
low-income communities across the city.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
on its board until his death.
McKinney was as comfortable leading
street protests as he was leading job initia-
tives and chairing business meetings. He
was one of the leaders of a 1993 protest
against lack of investment in minority and
poor neighborhoods.
Soon after, he was hired by the Seattle
Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce as
director of the newly- created Urban Enter-
prise Center, a position he held for the next
supported the UEC with a multi-year grant.
“Addressing economic development and
establishing better race relations are some
of the most critical issues for Seattle in the
21st century,” McKinney said receiving the
grant. “This gift from the Bill & Melinda
Gates foundation will allow the UEC to
continue to focus on the depth needed to
bring opportunities to the Central Area, as
well as raise the level of racial understand-
ing throughout the entire community.”
THE SKANNER NEWS FIILE PHOTO
McKinney was as comfortable leading street
protests as he was leading job initiatives and
chairing business meetings
McKinney, at left, was hired by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of
Commerce as director of the newly- created Urban Enterprise Center, a
position he held for the next 13 years. Above, he is pictured with Martin luther
King III.
Innocence
continued from page 1
had served six years. Last December Bran-
don Olebar was exonerated of a violent
robbery after the perpetrators signed sworn
statements that he was not present.
While it won’t be taking on new cases
until later this year, Oregon Innocence Proj-
ect already has filed a successful brief
seeking to overturn the conviction of Jerrin
Hickman. Hickman was convicted of killing
Christopher Monnet, in a case that hinged
on in-court eyewitness identification and
DNA linking him to a ski mask. Oregon
Court of Appeals overturned Hickman’s
conviction, but prosecutors appealed the
ruling. The Oregon Supreme Court will
give a final opinion in the case in the com-
ing months. The Skanner reported on Jerrin
Hickman’s trial in 2009.
Wax said as a federal defender he couldn’t
work on a case unless it was referred by the
court. But Oregon Innocence Project will be
free to take on any cases where there is rea-
son to believe a conviction was unjust.
“The reality is we are fortunate in this
state and in most places in the country that
most people who are arrested should be
arrested; most people who are convicted
should be convicted,” Wax said.
“But the reality is also that mistakes are
made. And here in Oregon, as in other
places in the country, mistakes are made.
And whether it is a very small percent, or a
very, very small percent, we as a society
should be concerned if any innocent people
are sitting in prison.”
Multnomah County District Attorney Rod
Underhill said he welcomes the project’s
willingness to include victims and prosecu-
tors.
“It seems appropriate to reach out and let
S. Bobbin Singh, Aliza Kaplan and
Janis Puracal of the Oregon
Innocence Project
around the state and beyond, that nobody is
interested in having a conviction that is not
appropriate, stand.
“Absolutely people would be interested in
material pieces of information that either
didn’t exist or were overlooked for whatev-
er reason. Prosecutors want to know. They
want to do the right thing. Prosecutors have
a stake in this, in fact a very, very signifi-
cant stake.”
In fact, the Brooklyn Conviction Integrity
Unit that helped set Jonathan Fleming free
was set up by the Brooklyn DA’s office.
Janis Puracal, an associate at the law
firm Bullivant Houser Bailey PC, and Aliza
Kaplan, an associate professor at Lewis &
Clark Law School, worked with S. Bobbin
Singh, executive director of Oregon Justice
‘Whether it is a very small percent, or a very,
very small percent, we as a society should be
concerned if any innocent people
are sitting in prison’
prosecutors, and or victims, know that a
second look at matters is being done,” he
said. “Then we can have awareness and
contribute or participate where that’s appro-
priate.
“It should go without saying, but maybe it
needs to be said – so it’s very, very clear
–that prosecutors absolutely are not inter-
ested in convicting somebody who is
actually innocent,” Underhill added.
“That is in nobody’s interest whatsoever.
So I can speak for me, and I can speak for
this office, and prosecutors that I know
Resource Center and Lane Borg, executive
director of Metropolitan Public Defender to
create Oregon Innocence Project.
Puracal got involved with the exoneration
movement after spending two years work-
ing to free her brother, wrongly convicted in
Nicaragua. The Seattle University graduate
was a third-year lawyer working in civil
law, when her brother Jason was arrested
and convicted of drug trafficking and
money laundering.
He had gone to Nicaragua with the Peace
Corps and stayed to work in real estate.
Married with a two-year-old, he was con-
victed, even though prosecutors offered no
evidence of drugs or illegal financial trans-
actions.
“There was not a single drug in the case,
or any money,” Puracal says. “They have a
process and rules, but they did not enforce
them. So it was really frustrating.
“We almost lost him – he was denied food
and water and medical care. We thought
every day that he was going to die in that
prison. That experience was just hell for
him and for our entire family.”
The experience brought her into contact
with friends and family of exonerees, and
people fighting to overturn their convic-
tions.
“It’s hard to believe in the United States
that there are wrongful convictions,” she
said. “But when you look around and you
see that there have been over 1,300 exoner-
ations in the last 25 years, you realize that ...
there are still all these things that contribute
to that process going wrong.”
Wax said he has no doubt that he’s seen
innocent people convicted. Eight people
have been exonerated in Oregon so far, he
said.
“We have during the years in the Defend-
ers Office, we have represented a number of
people who were convicted of sex crimes
and subsequently the victims recanted and
said, ‘No it didn’t happen,’ and explained
why they had lied in the original case.”
For more information go to www.orego-
ninnocence.org.
Read the rest of this story online at
www.theskanner.com
Edwards
continued from page 1
She holds a doctorate in Educational
Leadership from Johnson and Wales Uni-
versity in Rhode Island, and a master’s
degree in Higher Education Administration
and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from
the University of Albany-SUNY.
“Throughout the hiring process, Karin
impressed the search committee with her
depth of knowledge based upon many years
of community college leadership experi-
ence,” said PCC President Jeremy Brown.
“I believe she will be a great leader for our
students, staff and faculty at Cascade and an
‘I believe she will be a great leader for our
students, staff and faculty at Cascade and an
excellent partner with the Cascade
neighborhood and community’
excellent partner with the Cascade neigh-
borhood and community.”
The Cascade Campus, located at 705 N.
Killingsworth St., is being transformed
through $43 million in bond construction
that will result in a new three-story academ-
ic building and student center, both on top
of a single-level underground parking
structure.
The Cascade Campus serves a unique role
in job training, offering Medical Laboratory
Technology, Emergency Telecommunicator
/ 911 Dispatcher, Emergency Medical Serv-
ices, Professional Music, Fire Protection
Technology, Multimedia, Criminal Justice,
Trades and Apprenticeship, Jefferson Mid-
dle College and the Margaret Carter Skill
Center.
For more information on PCC’s programs
go to www.pcc.edu.
April 16, 2014 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 3