NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
‘Ezra’s Law’ would stiffen penalties for causing permanent injury
By GARRETT ANDREWS
EO Media Group
BEND — Abusers who
cause their victims per-
manent physical injuries
could serve an automatic
25-year prison term in
Oregon under a proposed
law announced Monday in
Madras.
Three victims with
severe
injuries,
their
families and supporters
crowded into the lobby
of the Jefferson County
Courthouse to hear District
Attorney Steve LeRiche
announce “Ezra’s Law.”
“I think all of us want
to see the narrative change,
from a narrative where
criminals are put first and
victims are forgotten,” he
said. “Today, you see three
people and their families
who have a sentence they
can’t look forward to com-
pleting. Their sentence is
for their entire life.”
LeRiche said these cases
are rare in his jurisdiction
— one about every one to
five years — and therefore
deserve a rare penalty.
“As a society I hope we
embrace people who have
been offended in crimes
and their lives altered in
this way, and we put them
first, and we take care of
them first before anyone
else,” he said.
EO Media Group Photo/Garrett Andrews
Ezra Jerome Thomas, 4, appeared with relatives at the Jefferson County Courthouse on Mon-
day to hear District Attorney Steve LeRiche announce a proposed state law named in the
boy’s honor. Ezra was severely injured by his mom’s boyfriend, Josue Jair Mendoza-Melo,
who was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The bill would work by
allowing judges to deter-
mine if a permanent injury
has resulted from a crime
against a person. “Perma-
nent physical injury” is
defined in the statute as
“permanently and signifi-
cantly impairing a per-
son’s cognitive function,
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
A little rain late in
the p.m.
Cloudy
Cloudy and milder
Sun, then clouds
Chance for a
couple of showers
50° 37°
52° 47°
49° 35°
50° 42°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
64° 49°
65° 33°
42° 21°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
66° 45°
65° 37°
OREGON FORECAST
47° 24°
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PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
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TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
52/42
44/35
46/27
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
50/38
Lewiston
51/44
49/35
Astoria
52/41
Pullman
Yakima 43/31
50/37
49/37
Portland
Hermiston
51/44
The Dalles 49/35
Salem
Corvallis
51/45
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
42/34
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
53/46
49/36
43/38
Ontario
46/35
Caldwell
Burns
57°
38°
44°
29°
61° (1984) -21° (1957)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Albany
50/46
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
51/44
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WINDS (in mph)
46/36
42/26
0.21"
1.86"
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1.86"
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1.28"
through 3 p.m. yest.
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TEMP.
Pendleton 41/31
51/45
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
50/37
48/36
53°
42°
43°
28°
67° (1931) -14° (1957)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
51/35
Aberdeen
43/32
38/26
Tacoma
Yesterday
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Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
52/40
Today
Thu.
SSW 4-8
S 6-12
NNE 3-6
SE 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
43/34
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Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:21 a.m.
4:56 p.m.
9:56 a.m.
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vision or hearing or abil-
ity to walk, eat, breathe or
move the person’s limbs.”
If such a determination is
made, the assumed sen-
High 88° in McAllen, Texas Low -10° in Grand Forks, N.D.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. —
Tribal treaty rights make
salmon akin to a fourth branch
of government in Washing-
ton, and fish recovery should
guide farming near water, and
rural and economic develop-
ment, according to a bill intro-
duced by Democratic state
Rep. Debra Lekanoff.
Lekanoff said builders, cit-
ies and counties should follow
federal court decisions that
guaranteed Western Wash-
ington tribes access to fish
and that ordered the state to
remove culverts that block
spawning grounds.
“We are not looking to hin-
der growth,” said Lekanoff,
who represents portions of
Whatcom, Skagit and San
Juan counties in Northwest
Washington and is also the
government affairs direc-
tor for the Swinomish Indian
Tribal Community.
“We’re looking to be able
to work with those build-
ers, work with those cities
and counties, and to do it in
a manner that adheres to the
Boldt decision and adheres to
the culvert decision,” she said.
The 1974 Boldt decision
awarded treaty tribes 50% of
the annual fish harvest. The
state is under a federal court
order to remove hundreds
of fish-impeding culverts.
The Boldt decision and cul-
vert court order stem from a
long-running lawsuit between
the state and federal govern-
ment over the scope of treaties
signed in 1854 and 1855.
Lekanoff’s
proposal,
House Bill 2549, would
amend the state’s Growth
Management Act and make
salmon recovery a priority for
local governments. Any harm
to fish caused by development
would have to be outweighed
by fish projects, according to
the bill.
The standard — called “net
ecological benefit” — would
go a step beyond require-
ments to not hurt fish. The
higher standard also would
apply to the Voluntary Stew-
ardship Program, a conserva-
CO leak at vacation rental
sends 25 to hospital
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they had symptoms consistent with carbon
monoxide poisoning, fire crews tested the air
in the home and found carbon monoxide lev-
els that were above normal, Bonilla said.
That’s when the other 21 residents were
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— Associated Press
CORRECTIONS: In the Page A2 story “Women claim first two places at Eagle Cap
Extreme,” published Tuesday, Jan. 28, the story misspelled the name of Gabe Dun-
ham, the first-place finisher in the 200-mile race.
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24, the incorrect date was given for the meeting, which will be held Thursday, Jan. 30.
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52 weeks
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tion initiative championed by
the Washington Farm Bureau
and embraced by some coun-
ties to help farmers preserve
fish and wildlife habitat with-
out being regulated off the
land.
Tribes and environmen-
tal groups have endorsed
Lekanoff’s bill. The Farm
Bureau, Washington State
Dairy Federation, the Wash-
ington Association of Wheat
Growers and the Washington
Potato and Onion Association
formally opposed the bill at a
House environment commit-
tee hearing Monday.
Farm Bureau Director of
Government Relations Tom
Davis said the definition of
“net ecological benefit” was
too vague. “That frankly
scares us to death,” he said.
The GMA requires local
governments to plan for trans-
portation, housing and indus-
trial development, while
curbing urban sprawl and
preserving farmland. HB
2549 would add a “salmon
and steelhead protection and
recovery element.”
BRIEFLY
DONNELLY, Idaho — Authorities say
25 people were hospitalized for carbon mon-
oxide poisoning while staying at a vacation
rental home in an Idaho mountain town.
Donnelly Rural Fire Protection Chief
Juan Bonilla says firefighters were called
to the vacation home in Donnelly about
6:30 a.m. Monday, where they found the
occupants complaining of headaches and
nausea.
Two adults and two children were ini-
tially taken by ambulance to a hospital in
McCall. Once health care workers realized
-10s
unsuccessful. But LeRiche
thinks tweaks and added
specifics as well as its
bipartisan sponsors, Dan-
iel Bonham, R-The Dalles,
and Rep. Carla Piluso,
D-Gresham, will improve
the bill’s chance of success.
Oregon’s short legislative
session starts Monday.
“We’ve got Daniel Bon-
ham on our side this time,”
LeRiche said to applause.
“And maybe more impor-
tantly, we got Tina (Jor-
genson) and we got Liz
(Crouch), and we have Jes-
sica, and their story has
been heard in Salem. And
maybe when they see real
people who are affected
and hurt, and their lives
altered forever, maybe
they’ll feel the empathy
that all of us feel for them,
as well.”
Jorgenson is Ezra’s
grandmother and guardian,
and Crouch is Roy Fast’s
grandmother and guardian.
Jorgenson and Crouch met
on the internet when the
bill was being developed,
and grew close sharing sto-
ries about their grandsons.
Fast, now 7, was abused
when he was 6 months old
and diagnosed with shaken
baby syndrome.
Crouch said she burst
into tears Monday when
she finally met her counter-
part in person.
Washington bill likens salmon
to 4th branch of government
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
tence under the law would
be 25 years, and judges
could make exceptions for
lighter sentences.
LeRiche said the law
would have likely applied
in two cases in the past
seven years. Those two
victims were in attendance.
Jessica Haynes, 29, used
a cane to walk to her seat.
She recently learned to
walk again after an ex-boy-
friend shot her in the head
in 2013.
That man, Thomas
Knapp, received a sentence
of five years and eight
months.
“It has affected me so
much, and not just me,
it’s affected my family so
much,” she said.
Knapp is scheduled to
be released from prison in
May 2021.
The bill’s namesake,
Ezra Jerome Thomas,
was also there. His mom
and grandmother told The
Bulletin his health has
improved since he appeared
at the sentencing of the man
who injured him, Josue Jair
Mendoza-Melo.
Mendoza-Melo was 21
when a judge assigned him
12 years in prison but with
the possibility of getting
out a few years early.
Last session, a bill simi-
lar to Ezra’s Law sponsored
by Sen. Sara Gelser was
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