A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022
STATE & NATION
Proposed law could vacate criminal convictions
BY ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
SALEM — Legislators are
pushing through a broad re-
form bill that would retroac-
tively allow criminals to ap-
peal their case if the verdict
wasn’t reached unanimously.
That could mean regional dis-
trict attorneys would be open
to dozens if not thousands
of formerly closed cases that
could stretch back decades.
Senate Bill 1511, which
would allow those previously
convicted of crimes with a less
than unanimous jury to ap-
peal their decision, is based on
the recent Ramos vs Louisiana
Supreme Court ruling that
found that nonunanimous ju-
ries were unconstitutional.
Oregon, along with Lou-
isiana, were the only two
states in the nation to allow
nonunanimous juries. The
Oregon law was put into effect
in 1934, and had racist and
xenophobic origins according
to numerous testimonies for
SB1511.
The Supreme Court of the
United States denied the ret-
roactivity clause by a 6-3 rul-
ing on May 17, 2021 in the
case of Edwards vs. Warden
Vannoy, with Justice Brett Ka-
vanaugh writing the majority
opinion. However, Kavanaugh
also wrote that the states could
make their own retroactivity
laws, which is what Oregon
aims to do with SB 1511.
Baker County District At-
torney Greg Baxter said the
law for nonunanimous juries
was followed at the time of
those previous convictions,
and it’s hard to say whether or
not those nonunanimous ju-
ries would have pushed for a
unanimous verdict if the laws
had been different.
“No one can say what the
juries would have done if
they had been required to be
unanimous,” Baxter stated in
an email. “No one knows if
the jury would have worked
just a little harder and longer
to obtain a unanimous ver-
dict. It is likely that once the
required unanimity was ob-
tained, they stopped.”
The broadness of the bill is
beset by its relative succinct-
ness — only about a single
page of amendments to exist-
ing law would take the bill far
beyond the Supreme Court’s
ruling. And it’s happening
during Oregon’s legislative
session that only will last for
35 days.
“I feel it’s been rushed. We’re
in the short session. This is
supposed to be certain matters,
fiscal aspects, things like that,”
said Justin Nelson, district at-
torney for Morrow County,
“and this is a very complicated
and, possibly, very costly bill
that goes far beyond what the
Supreme Court said needed to
be done. Is that something we
need to be doing for the short
re-litigated,” testified Rose-
mary W. Brewer, executive
director of Oregon Crime Vic-
tims Law Center (OCVLC).
“Yet as drafted, SB 1511 has no
provisions for increased victim
services. There is going to be
an enormous need for trau-
ma-informed services, and we
must ensure that victims have
easy access to these services as
they learn that a part of their
lives they considered to be
closed is reopened.”
The OCVLC testimony also
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File noted the bill does not provide
any notification for victims of
Union County Circuit Judge Thomas B. Powers presides over arraign-
crimes, or allow for their par-
ments in the county courthouse on Tuesday, July 20, 2021.
ticipation in the justice system.
“It is unfortunately all too
session? Is this something we jury was unanimous or not,
given that jury polling and re- common that victims’ voices
push through in 35 days?”
cords of jury polls were not
are left out of the criminal jus-
The Oregon District At-
torney Association (ODAA)
well tracked, and beyond any tice process. Without specific
raised numerous issues with
trial record, according to the
provisions for victim notifi-
the bill, including what would ODAA’s testimony.
cation and participation,” the
happen for verdicts that in-
The testimony also consid- testimony continued. “SB 1511
cluded multiple charges.
ers the possibility that the new unwinds the progress that has
“Let’s say you have a 10
law could be used in conjunc- been made in acknowledg-
count case,” Nelson said. “And tion with the 6th Amendment ing the critical role victims
the person’s found guilty of
to dismiss a conviction due to play and in Oregon’s commit-
all counts. Maybe count one
an untimely trial.
ment to ensuring victims are
is rape in the first degree, and
Foremost, the ODAA raised treated with the dignity and
then count 10 is false infor-
an issue with the cost of the
respect that the Constitution
mation to a police officer — a legislation, which provides no demands.”
misdemeanor of some sort
resources for victim assistance
Aliza Kaplan, professor and
and ends up being a nonunan- programs for resulting trauma director of the Criminal Justice
imous verdict. The concern
from having a decided case re- Reform Clinic at Portland’s
I have is that it actually over-
turned to trial.
Lewis and Clark Law School,
turns the entire judgment, not
“Oregon’s victims of some
testified in support of SB1511,
just that count.”
of the most serious crimes we and cited statistics that show
Other issues the ODAA
see are going to be facing new that the nonunanimous jury
raised include how the court
trauma as thousands of cases
law had a disproportionate im-
would determine whether a
are returned and potentially
pact on communities of color.
The Lewis & Clark Law
School testimony also showed
that of the 244 cases that
raised Ramos concerns, only
six originate from Eastern
Oregon — all of which are in
Umatilla County. However,
these are simply the number
of cases with issues raised
about the constitutional-
ity of a nonunanimous jury
— cases would likely exist
where the issue of nonunani-
mous juries never was raised
at court, and there is no way
of knowing how many such
cases would be brought to
court once again.
“Due to the spread of un-
derlying convictions across
Oregon counties, mostly clus-
tered in Oregon’s most popu-
lous counties with the largest
district attorney offices, we
do not believe district attor-
neys would be severely over-
whelmed by the proposed re-
mands,” Kaplan testified.
The Oregon 2022 short leg-
islative session runs from Feb.
1 to March 8.
“The new parts are one page
on this bill. The amount of
change that it will do to our ju-
dicial system is staggering. The
cost that it could be is stag-
gering,” Nelson said. “Rushing
this through a special session
— something like this that is
one page — could have a dire
effect on victims and I’m not
sure that’s what we want to go
forward with.”
Biden nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson to Supreme Court
ers on a campaign promise to
make the historic appointment
and to further diversify a court
WASHINGTON — Presi- that was made up entirely of
dent Joe Biden on Friday, Feb. white men for almost two cen-
25, planned to nominate fed- turies. He has chosen an attor-
ney who would be the
eral appeals court
high court’s first former
Judge Ketanji
public defender, though
Brown Jackson
she also possesses the
to the Supreme
elite legal background of
Court, the White
other justices.
House said, mak-
Jackson would be the
ing her the first
current court’s second
Black woman se-
lected to serve on Brown Jackson Black justice — Justice
Clarence Thomas, a con-
a court that once
declared her race unworthy of servative, is the other — and
citizenship and endorsed seg- just the third in history.
Biden planned to intro-
regation.
duce Jackson in remarks at
In Jackson, Biden deliv-
BY COLLEEN LONG, MICHAEL
BALSAMO AND ZEKE MILLER
Associated Press
the White House Friday after-
noon, where Jackson was also
expected to speak, the White
House said.
She would also be only the
sixth woman to serve on the
court, and her confirmation
would mean that for the first
time four women would sit
together on the nine-member
court.
The current court includes
three women, one of whom is
the court’s first Latina, Justice
Sonia Sotomayor.
Jackson would join the lib-
eral minority of a conserva-
tive-dominated court that is
weighing cutbacks to abortion
rights and will be considering
ending affirmative action in
college admissions and restrict-
ing voting rights efforts to in-
crease minority representation.
Biden is filling the seat that
will be vacated by Justice Ste-
phen Breyer, 83, who is retir-
ing at the end of the term this
summer.
Jackson, 51, once worked
as one of Breyer’s law clerks
early in her legal career. She
attended Harvard as an under-
graduate and for law school,
and served on the U.S. Sen-
tencing Commission, the
agency that develops federal
sentencing policy, before be-
coming a federal judge in 2013.
Her nomination is subject
to confirmation by the Sen-
ate, where Democrats hold
the majority by a razor-thin
50-50 margin with Vice Pres-
ident Kamala Harris as the
tie-breaker. Party leaders
have promised swift but de-
liberate consideration of the
president’s nominee.
The next justice will replace
one of the more liberal justices,
so she would not tip the balance
of the court, which now leans
6-3 in favor of conservatives.
The news comes two years to
the day after Biden, then strug-
gling to capture the Democratic
presidential nomination, first
pledged in a South Carolina
debate to nominate a Black
woman to the high court if pre-
sented with a vacancy.
“Everyone should be repre-
sented,” Biden said. “We talked
about the Supreme Court —
I’m looking forward to making
sure there’s a black woman on
the Supreme Court to make
sure we in fact get everyone
represented.”
Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Dick Durbin has
said that he wants the Senate
to move quickly on the nom-
ination. Senators have set a
tentative goal of confirmation
by April 8, when they leave
for a two-week spring recess.
Hearings could start as soon
as mid-March.
March
26-27
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9:00 am–3:00 pm
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