The BulleTin • Wednesday, May 19, 2021 A13
OREGON | U.S. SUPREME COURT DECISION
LEGISLATURE
Advocates to keep fighting
nonunanimous convictions
More than 200 found guilty
by split juries in Oregon
still will seek to have
convictions overturned
BY ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — Advocates for over 200
people found guilty of crimes by Or-
egon juries that weren’t unanimous
said Monday that they will keep
fighting to have the convictions va-
cated after the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled that those people don’t need to
be retried.
The high court made that decision
Monday after barring convictions
by nonunanimous juries a year ago.
Oregon and Louisiana were the only
two states that had allowed such con-
victions.
Now, juries everywhere must vote
unanimously to convict. The high
court’s 2020 decision affected defen-
dants who were still appealing their
convictions but not those who had
exhausted their appeals.
The Criminal Justice Reform
Clinic at Lewis and Clark Law
School in Portland has been leading
efforts in Oregon on behalf of pris-
oners with no appeals left. Its direc-
tor, Aliza Kaplan, said the clinic will
keep at it despite the new Supreme
Court ruling.
“So we just keep proceeding as
we were, which is through our state
court system. Our state courts ... are
not bound by any federal test,” Ka-
plan said in a telephone interview.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen
Rosenblum said her office is care-
fully reviewing the high court’s Mon-
day decision.
“My office remains committed to
reviewing every case presented to us
that involves a request for a new trial
... and will be working expeditiously
on a plan for addressing these cases
going forward,” Rosenblum said.
Kaplan said the nonunanimous
jury system was based on Oregon’s
racist past and that such convictions
disproportionately affected people
of color.
Of the 226 cases with no appeal
remaining that the law clinic knows
about, 17% involved Black petition-
ers in a state where Black people
make up only 2% of the population.
In 1934, voters decided to amend
the state Constitution to allow split-
jury verdicts — a decision fueled by
white supremacy and anti-minority
sentiment. First-degree murder con-
victions still required a unanimous
verdict.
Digging back into old cases will
often be problematic.
One of the oldest Oregon cases
with a nonunanimous conviction
and no appeals remaining is a defen-
dant who was tried in 1983, accord-
ing to Laney Ellisor, staff attorney
with the Criminal Justice Reform
Clinic.
“All the attorneys on his trial case
have passed away,” Ellisor said.
The judge and court reporter are
both in their 70s and don’t remem-
ber it, Ellisor said. All the transcripts
have been destroyed.
CHARLES GRODIN • 1935-2021
‘Midnight Run’ star known for offbeat roles
Wait.” On Broadway, he starred with
Charles Grodin, the droll, offbeat
Ellen Burstyn in the long-running
actor and writer who scored as a
1970s comedy “Same Time, Next
caddish newlywed in “The
Year,” and he found many
Heartbreak Kid” and later
other outlets for his talents.
had roles ranging from Rob-
With bone-dry understate-
ert De Niro’s counterpart in
ment, Grodin could steal en-
the comic thriller “Midnight
tire scenes with just a look.
Run” to the bedeviled father
His commitment, whether
in the “Beethoven” come-
acting across De Niro or Miss
dies, has died. He was 86.
Piggy, was unsurpassed. In
Charles Grodin his many late-night appear-
Grodin died Tuesday in
in 1982.
Wilton, Connecticut, from
ances, he once brought a
bone marrow cancer, his
lawyer with him to threaten
David Letterman for defamation.
son, Nicholas Grodin, said.
(The lawyer instead took a shine to
Known for his dead-pan style and
everyday looks, Grodin also appeared Letterman.) Hosting “Saturday Night
Live,” he pretended to not understand
in “Dave,” “The Woman in Red,”
“Rosemary’s Baby” and “Heaven Can live television, ruining all the sketches.
Associated Press
Steve Martin, who co-starred with
Grodin in 1984’s “The Lonely Guy,”
remembered him as “one of the fun-
niest people I ever met.”
In the 1990s, Grodin made his
mark as a liberal commentator on ra-
dio and TV. He also wrote plays and
television scripts, winning an Emmy
for his work on a 1997 Paul Simon
special, and wrote several books hu-
morously ruminating on his ups and
downs in show business.
Actors, he wrote, should “think
not so much about getting ahead as
becoming as good as you can be, so
you’re ready when you do get an op-
portunity. I did that, so I didn’t suffer
from the frustration of all the rejec-
tions. They just gave me more time.”
AP file
A bill that would prohibit coyote-hunting contests in Oregon has failed for the third time.
3rd try to ban coyote
hunting contests fails
BY MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
An attempt to ban coyote hunting
contests in Oregon has failed for the
third time after a key legislative com-
mittee didn’t take action on the bill.
House Bill 2728, which would have
prohibited killing of coyotes in com-
petitions for cash or prizes, passed the
House 32-14 last month but has now
died in the Senate Energy and Envi-
ronment Committee.
The committee did not schedule a
work session on HB 2728 by the Fri-
day deadline for keeping legislation
alive.
Proponents of the bill argued that
it would stop a cruel and counterpro-
ductive practice while still allowing
ranchers to protect their livestock.
“It is past time we put an end” to
this vestige of a bygone era of non-
fair chase wildlife management, said
Rep. Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie, refer-
ring to the “fair chase” ethical stan-
dard of hunting without unfair ad-
vantages.
Such coyote-killing contests are dif-
ferent than hunting competitions or
fishing derbies in which participants
vie to obtain the largest antlers or fish
within bag limits, he said before the
House floor vote.
Killing coyotes on a large scale also
doesn’t result in meaningful popula-
tion control of the predators because
since they typically respond by accel-
erating reproduction, Witt said.
However, the bill would not have
limited hunting coyotes for popula-
tion control, he said. “Problem an-
imals or not, coyotes may still be
hunted or shot year-round, just not
for contest money or prizes.”
Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane, said
he disagrees with the characterization
of coyote hunting contests as wasteful
slaughter.
The pelts are collected and used to
raise money for good causes, while the
average number of coyotes killed by a
competitor is less than one, he said.
The contests also bring a surge of
tourism to remote parts of Oregon
during the wintertime, Owens said.
While the science shows that con-
tests aren’t a long-term way to reduce
coyote populations, the competitions
do serve an intermediate purpose due
to their timing, he said.
“They allow the dispatch of some
coyotes around calving grounds and
are historically done when the cows
begin to calve,” Owens said.
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