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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 2019)
OFF PAGE ONE Thursday, August 15, 2019 East Oregonian A7 DOJ: New law goes further than intended Continued from Page A1 “We at DOJ have con- cluded that the new, nar- rower definition of aggra- vated murder in SB 1013 does apply to pending cases — including cases that have been sent back for new pen- alty or guilt phases,” Gutman wrote in the memo, which was first reported on by The Oregonian/OregonLive but independently obtained by OPB. “That means that most of those cases could no lon- ger be prosecuted as capital aggravated-murder cases; they presumably would have to be prosecuted as first-de- gree murder cases instead.” Aggravated murder is the only capital crime on the books in Oregon. Rather than seeking to do away with the death penalty entirely, which would require a pub- lic vote, death penalty oppo- nents in the Legislature took a more novel approach this year: changing the definition of aggravated murder. Once the law kicks in on Sept. 29, only terror- ist acts that kill at least two people; premeditated mur- ders of children under 14 years old or law enforce- ment; and killings in prison by convicted murderers will qualify for the death pen- alty. Moving forward, many crimes that currently qualify as aggravated murder will be considered murder in the first degree, not punishable by death. But lawmakers sought to make clear that crimes already prosecuted under current aggravated mur- der laws would not be affected. The Legislature even included a provision in a second bill, Senate Bill 1005, that many believed ensured the changes would not apply to people receiv- ing their original sentences before Jan. 1, 2020, or who were resentenced because of an appeal or post-conviction relief hearing. Gutman’s memo says the DOJ first thought law- makers had succeeded. The office took another look after a recent ruling in a 1998 Washington County murder case. In that case, Martin Johnson was con- victed in 2001 of murdering a 15-year-old girl and sen- tenced to death. But the Ore- gon Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that Johnson did not have adequate representa- tion at his initial trial and ordered a retrial. In a recent motion, John- son’s defense attorneys suc- cessfully argued the death penalty was no longer an option for their client. “When you look at the plain language of [SB] 1005, it just doesn’t apply to our case,” said Dean Smith, one of the public defenders rep- resenting Johnson. “I don’t know what the intention of the legislators was, but if they wished to make it so that [SB] 1013 did not apply to people like Mr. Johnson, that was not that hard to do.” The DOJ has since come to agree. Gutman wrote to district attorneys that SB 1005 did not do what law- makers intended. “I know that I have had conversations with many of you in which I suggested oth- erwise,” he wrote, “but after careful review of the issue in a Washington County case where the court ruled that the death penalty was not available, we have concluded that we don’t have a plausible basis for an appeal.” Gutman added the change came as a surprise. “Many of us, myself included, were under the impression that SB 1005 ensured that SB 1013 would not apply to cases that had previously been tried and were being retried after an appeal or post-conviction relief,” he said. The DOJ’s position has a lot of weight. When mur- derers appeal their convic- tions, it is DOJ lawyers that typically take the lead on defending those sentences. Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, and Rep. Jenni- fer Williamson, D-Portland, two of the central legisla- tive champions of SB 1013, issued a statement Tuesday addressing the matter. “As our statements throughout the legisla- tive process make clear, we always intended and were advised (by counsel) that this bill did not apply to resentencing and is not ret- roactive,” the statement said. “This is an unfortunate tech- nical drafting error that we are glad the DOJ has identi- fied. We will work to fix this issue as soon as possible.” In a subsequent conversa- tion, Prozanski told OPB he will ask Gov. Brown to call a special session next month to pass a tweak to the law. “I’m calling upon my leadership and I will be calling upon the governor and her staff to do that,” Prozanski said. “I’m ready for us to move forward and fix the issue that was never intended to be an issue.” Lawmakers are sched- uled to be at the Capitol from Sept. 16-18 for legisla- tive committee days, routine meetings where legislators take care of housekeeping matters between sessions. Prozanski believes the Legislature can pass a tweak to the death penalty law in a single day, Sept. 18, before SB 1013 is scheduled to take effect. Such one-day sessions aren’t unheard of — Brown called one in May 2018 to address a tax issue — but they require lawmakers of both parties to agree to sus- pend regular legislative rules and rely on a level of good- will that was hard to come by in Salem at the end of this year’s legislative session. Prozanski believes it’s possible, and planned to dis- cuss the matter with Senate President Peter Courtney on Wednesday. “Why would anyone want to extend some type of benefit to a person con- victed of aggravated mur- der who should not be get- ting that benefit?” he said. “I don’t see why we would have difficulty.” Absent a special session, no changes could be put in place before the legislative session scheduled in early 2020. Colahan said the ODAA, which staunchly opposed the death penalty bill, is first working to determine how many cases could be impacted by the changes. Then it will work to figure out how the apparent gaffe happened. “This was a bill that the DAs did not support,” said Colahan, the former long- time district attorney of Harney County. “We felt if there were going to be changes to the death pen- alty, it needed to be referred to the voters, but more importantly it needed much more vetting and review than what those bills got during the session.” Death penalty oppo- nents have made the case that Oregon’s capital pun- ishment laws are problem- atic, ineffective and a waste of money. In signing the bill earlier this month, Brown echoed those arguments. “Maybe Oregon has charged,” Nelson said, “and it’s time to look at capital punishment as a whole and leave that up to voters.” “Oregon’s death penalty is dysfunctional. It is costly and immoral,” Brown said. “Our state’s criminal justice system continues to impose death sentences, and send people to death row, even as we know that no one has been executed here in a generation.” Only two inmates have been executed in the state in the last 50 years, and both had ceased fighting their sentences. As governor, Brown has continued a mor- atorium on executions put into place in 2011 by then- Gov. John Kitzhaber. ——— East Oregonian Reporter Phil Wright contributed to this report. Staff photo by Ben Lonergan The band Falling Hazard dials in their instruments during a practice session as a part of the 2019 Pendleton Rock & Roll Camp. Rock ’n’ Roll: Pendleton rock camp gets rolling Continued from Page A1 REV, which was formed at Rock Camp a few years ago. Schulberg just helped the all-female group record their first EP. Others are just getting started in their careers. “We don’t know what our band name is,” said first-year camper Maria Alvarez. “We don’t have a clue about the song.” She’s playing violin in a group with three other first- time campers, who are con- sidering naming their band No Clue. They can’t seem to get enough, as they roll through the song they wrote together in full. It’s poppy and sweet with acoustic guitar and a heart-thumping drum beat. They were inspired to write the nameless piece when keyboardist Ethan Col- lins was messing around and incidentally played some- thing catchy. “It’s challenging,” Alva- rez said. Either way, she’d like to come back next year. Alvarez and her band- mates are not alone in being new to the world of rock music. “A lot of these kids come in never having played an instrument,” Schulberg said. “Not only do they learn how to play an instrument, but also how to write a song, start a band, and perform their song in front of a cou- ple hundred folks. It’s pretty epic.” This year’s camp was par- ticularly exciting because Schulberg won the Danc- ing with Your Pendleton Stars competition last year, and raised $18,000 that went toward equipment for the campers. The camp boasts an impressive roster of counsel- ors — including prominent Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Dustin Hamman, left, Christian Quinlin, Eighva Martin, and Mira Boland practice on the lawn across from the Pendleton Center for the Arts during a rehearsal time as a part of the 2019 Pendleton Rock & Roll Camp. locals like musician Sallie Ford and writer Casey Jar- man — who travel to Pend- leton to teach the kids about all corners of the music industry. For kids less interested in playing music, there is instruction on music jour- nalism, photography and film-making. On Wednesday, the camp- ers gathered in the Pendle- ton Center for the Arts audi- torium to have a discussion about what happens when a musician experiences techni- cal difficulties on stage. When the discussion was over, the action started. “Who likes Panic At the Disco?” asked one of the counselors to the crowd. Immediately, three teens hopped up and assumed positions at the instruments on stage for an impromptu jam session as “Girls/ Girls/Boys” blasted on the speakers. The whole room erupted in dancing. “(This) is giving a 15-year- old the confidence to get up Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Clare Durantbailor practices with her band Diamond Head during the 2019 Pendleton Rock & Roll Camp Wednesday af- ternoon. on stage and develop a sense of self- confidence and self- worth,” said Roberta Lava- dour, director for the Pendle- ton Center for the Arts. Pendleton Rock & Roll camp was formed 14 years ago when the arts center’s development director, J.D Smith, and local musician Peter Walters became inter- ested in finding something more for teenagers in the area to do during the summer. “J.D. raised the money, and Peter got the human cap- ital together,” Lavadour said. Campers will be per- forming all-original music during a free outdoor con- cert at 400 S. Main St. at 7 p.m. on Friday. Records: First ever survey shows mixed bag for Oregon government transparency practices Continued from Page A1 gets all kinds of records requests from the public in addition to media. Some- times it’s a copy of a citation, sometimes it’s information from about the sex offender registry. The requests are large, and often “weird,” said Capt. Tim Fox. OSP has to run things by partners like dis- trict attorneys to make sure the information won’t impact an ongoing case, and some requests, like for video, can take a long time. “I think we do pretty well on public records given the inordinate amount we get,” Fox said. Other state agencies, like the Department of Justice, reported they don’t track this information. McCall said many agen- cies who struggle to fill requests on time say it’s a staffing issue, but she said that speaks to the priorities of the agency. She suggested uni- form software to help agen- cies track this stuff. “It seems like one potential area for improvement would be to procure and provide to state agencies at least some kind of tool to track and ful- fill public records requests,” McCall said. Fox said public records aren’t a low priority — he said despite it not being in his job description, he spends about 20% of his time working on records requests. It’s just a business decision. If you add to records staff, are you going to pull from sex offender reg- istry staff, or troopers on the highway? Many state agencies reported relatively little rev- enue from records process- ing, in part due to a statewide policy by the Department of Administrative Services that instructs agencies to waive 30 minutes of staff time at a min- imum. Many agencies elect to waive processing fees com- pletely, though some still did take in significant money. OSP came in first with $59,000 in billing, the med- ical board reported nearly $24,000 and the Department of Environmental Quality had $20,000. All reported often waiving fees when asked by the requester. The Depart- ment of Human Services reported it does not track fees or fee waiver requests, but has created a work group to figure out how to do so. McCall said the amount of money coming from fees should be investigated further, especially when it comes to police departments. A handful of cities sur- veyed broke their fee rev- enue down to show how much was being charged by police departments. In Port- land, $629,125 of the overall $767,659 was charged by the police. Medford only tracked fees charged by the police department, which amounted to $58,466. The city of Salem reported 8,989 public records requests in 2018. The city completed 6,103 within 15 days, and charged about $155,000 to hand over the records (the city did not break the fees down by department). It received 46 fee waiver requests, and denied 11 of them. McCall said the survey will be sent out annually and will include new participants. She also supports continu- ing to send the survey to the bodies who already partici- pated to see how their behav- ior changes over the years, as well as to the agencies who didn’t respond in the first survey. McCall’s efforts with the survey is to better under- stand the public records landscape in Oregon, but she said she was also trou- bled by the 2019 legisla- ture passing 20 new exemp- tions to state public records law. While she said none of the 20 stood out as egre- gious, she suggested a state with about 650 exemptions should look at condensing, rather than adding 20 more.
