A4 The BulleTin • Friday, May 28, 2021
Kilby
The state was still building
its case in the Banks matter
when the bodies of the Taylor
brothers-in-law were found
March 21 inside the Gran-
ite Drive home. A hatchet
had been used in that attack,
Hummel has said.
At the time, four people
lived in the house: the Taylors,
Kilby and Kilby’s mother, Dar-
lene Allen.
Allen said that on the night
in question, her son had held
her captive. The next day she
suggested they go for a walk,
which is when she signaled a
bystander to call for help.
Kilby was arrested nearby,
at which point he reportedly
confessed to using a hammer
to attack Banks on Christmas
Day, Killian has said.
On April 6, the Gran-
ite Drive home was lost in
a fire. Allen told police she
started a fire in the fireplace
to help clear the flue, then
fell asleep in her car. She was
not charged in the fire and
remains uncharged with any
crime.
In addition to Spear, Kilby
will be defended by attorney
Michelle McIver. Spear and
McIver defended Joanna Lynn
Kasner, a onetime Bend res-
ident found guilty except for
insanity in the random shoot-
ing death of her neighbor.
The Kilby murder cases
will be prosecuted by Aaron
Brenneman and Kyle Pearson
of the Deschutes County Dis-
trict Attorney’s office.
In his career, Brenneman
has been both a prosecution
and defense attorney, work-
ing three spells as a prosecu-
tor at different points. He was
involved in one recent major
homicide trial as a defense at-
torney, when he represented
Sacora Rose Horn-Garcia,
who along with her husband
was found guilty of murder-
ing their 5-year-old daugh-
ter, Maliyha Hope Garcia, in
2019.
Continued from A1
Deschutes County District
Attorney John Hummel has
defended the investigation
into Kilby, saying authorities
were being careful so as to en-
sure a conviction.
At Thursday’s hearing, Kil-
by’s attorneys said they will
request a two-week trial in the
Banks case be held in April,
to be followed by a two-week
trial in the Taylor case that
would be held in June 2022.
Prosecutors, however, in-
dicated they intend to file a
motion to consolidate the two
cases.
“Obviously, this case takes
very high priority with the
court,” Judge Wells Ashby
said. “But as you gentlemen
know, the court has other
high-priority cases, as well.”
Several people connected to
the case attended the hearing.
Banks’ daughter Laci Killian
stood and raised several con-
cerns, and Ashby allowed her
to speak. She objected to Kilby
being represented by attorney
Thomas Spear, whom she said
attended her mother’s memo-
rial service Jan. 17.
Spear said he attended on
the invitation of a mutual
friend and is confident there is
no conflict.
Killian filed a letter with the
court outlining her objections.
Ashby told her he’d read her
letter.
“What I’ve seen so far is not
adequate to remove Mr. Spear
as trial counsel,” Ashby said.
On Christmas morning,
Daphne Banks was found un-
conscious in the detached ga-
rage at 60971 Granite Drive,
where she’d been living. Kilby,
the only witness, claimed
she fell off a stool and hit her
head, though police and doc-
tors didn’t believe that expla-
nation. Kilby was arrested that
day on suspicion of assault.
Banks survived for two
weeks at St. Charles Bend be-
fore dying from her injuries.
e e
Nonpartisan
Continued from A1
This effort began about six
months ago when Chang ap-
proached the nonpartisan po-
litical group League of Women
Voters about whether the group
would support an initiative that
would make county commis-
sion races nonpartisan, said
Alkire, who also serves as the
vice president of the League of
Women Voters.
The conversation happened
after the commission voted to
not put the issue on the ballot
this year due to cost, and state
law prevents a commission
from putting this kind of issue
on a special election ballot.
Alkire began to do research
on the idea, seeking out people
in favor and in opposition be-
fore making a decision. She has
yet to find anyone who is op-
posed to the idea, she said.
Even people who vocally op-
posed a 2006 ballot initiative
to change the county charter,
which included making the
seats nonpartisan, were sup-
portive, she said. The changes
they were opposed to had to do
with other aspects of the pro-
posed county charter change,
such as adding commissioner
districts and reducing commis-
sioners to part-time jobs.
Alkire argues there are many
benefits to a nonpartisan com-
mission. The county commis-
sion race is the only partisan
one in Deschutes County, and
the only one that forces can-
didates to run two campaigns:
one for the primary and an-
other for the general election.
This is costly and can serve as a
barrier to entry for many can-
didates.
Reporter: 541-383-0325,
gandrews@bendbulletin.com
There is also the issue of rep-
resentation, Alkire said. In or-
der to vote in a Republican or
Democratic primary, someone
must be registered as a Repub-
lican or Democrat. But nearly
40% of all registered voters in
Deschutes County are either
unaffiliated or registered with a
minor party, Alkire said.
“Forty percent of the voters
don’t get to vote in the primary
for our county commissioners,
which isn’t right,” Alkire said.
In a political climate that is
growing more partisan, having
partisan primaries can serve
as a barrier to moderate can-
didates and support more ex-
treme candidates, Alkire said.
Having nonpartisan positions
can help better represent De-
schutes County as it really is:
about 30% registered Republi-
cans, 31% registered Democrats
and 39% unaffiliated or a part
of another party.
“We’ve got the whole gamut,
and we need to have our lead-
ers to have that sort of picture,
and not representing one-third
of Deschutes County,” Alkire
said, referring to how the com-
mission historically has leaned
Republican.
Making the commission
nonpartisan was a key part of
Chang’s campaign last year. So
when his colleagues declined to
take up the issue in January, he
offered his support to the citi-
zen petition effort, he said.
He officially serves as the
treasurer of this petition in
his capacity as an individual,
not on behalf of the commis-
sion, Chang said. He is the only
Democrat on the commission.
When asked whether he had
any concerns about his role in
the initiative giving the impres-
ICU
Continued from A1
“We are seeing a lot more
suffering,” Kroytz said. “We are
seeing patients that need beds.”
Debbie Robinson, chief nurs-
ing officer at St. Charles Bend,
said the hospital is bringing in
available nurses from around
the state and nation to help
with the overcrowding of pa-
tients. Outside of the ICU, all
other hospital beds were full
Thursday, and 15 people were
waiting in the emergency room
for beds, Robinson said.
Robinson is encouraging
people to stay safe from injury
and COVID-19 over Memo-
rial Day weekend, which is tra-
ditionally a busy time for the
emergency room, she said.
The best way to avoid the vi-
rus is to get vaccinated, social
distance and wear masks when
necessary, Robinson said.
“I want the community to
know we are absolutely not be-
hind this pandemic,” Robinson
said.
Dr. Louis Davignon, who
works in the St. Charles Bend
ICU, sees the benefits of getting
the vaccine. Since March, 98%
of infected patients were not
vaccinated, he said.
“And even the (vaccinated)
patients that get admitted do
much better,” he said.
On Thursday, Davi-
gnon monitored one of the
COVID-19 patients on a ven-
tilator. Davignon watched as
three nurses, a medical assis-
tant and respiratory thera-
pist rotated the unconscious
middle- aged man from his
stomach to his back.
Rotating patients helps take
pressure off of their lungs and
allows them to breathe better.
In serious COVID-19 cases,
the virus hardens the lungs and
doesn’t allow oxygen to reach
the bloodstream and causes or-
gans to fail, Davignon said.
“If we see that stiffening,
then we know we are in trou-
ble,” he said.
Kroytz, who has worked as
sion that the initiative could
give an advantage to Demo-
crats, Chang argued the oppo-
site is true.
Democratic registration has
surpassed Republican registra-
tion in the County, Chang said,
meaning if he wanted to have
an advantage for Democrats, it
would be in his interest to keep
this a partisan position.
“If anyone says ‘You are do-
ing this to try to benefit the
Democrats,’ I would say the
most partisan of the Demo-
cratic party are not going to like
this,” Chang said. “They are go-
ing to want to maintain party
control over who even gets to
show up on the ballot.”
Chang noted that making
a race nonpartisan does not
mean a candidate can’t be a
Republican or Democrat, or
take campaign money from ei-
ther party. Both the Bend City
Council race last year and the
Bend-La Pine School Board
races, which are nonpartisan,
saw donations from both par-
ties.
“It means you don’t have to.
You don’t have to depend on a
party apparatus to put yourself
forward to run for this office,”
Chang said.
The goal is to get more than
9,000 signatures by August,
Alkire said. That would mean
the initiative could go on the
ballot as soon as November. If
approved, it would mean there
would be no primary for com-
missioners next year, and the
next election, in November
2022, would be nonpartisan.
The positions held by Com-
missioners Patti Adair and
Tony DeBone are up for reelec-
tion next year.
Alkire said the group will
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Emily Kroytz, a registered nurse in St. Charles Bend’s intensive care unit, stands outside a room where hospi-
tal staff treat an unconscious COVID-19 patient Thursday.
“A lot of us have had to hold the iPad so
they can say goodbye to their loved ones.”
— Emily Kroytz, St. Charles Bend’s ICU registered nurse
a nurse since 2001, said the
majority of COVID-19 cases
recently are from family gath-
erings that led to multiple fam-
ily members getting infected,
including younger people in
their 30s.
For those patients who sur-
vive and return home, they
can face long-term health is-
sues. They usually feel weak
and have difficulty doing regu-
lar activities such as mowing a
lawn or shopping for groceries,
Kroytz said.
“They are exhausted, and
their lungs are damaged,” Kro-
ytz said.
The unconscious patient
Thursday has been on a ven-
tilator for two weeks. He has
stayed in a room that does
only put it on the November
ballot if there is another ballot
measure running, as well. A
special election in an odd year
costs the county $140,000 to
run, and the group wouldn’t feel
right imposing that kind of cost
for just one item, Alkire said.
If nothing else is added to the
ballot, the group will put it on
the May primary election bal-
lot, Alkire said.
For more information about
the initiative, residents can
email mimi.alkire@gmail.com.
e e
Reporter: 541-633-2160,
bvisser@bendbulletin.com
not allow visitors and requires
nurses to wear masks, gloves
and full-body suits.
“This patient has not seen
a family member since he has
been in the ICU,” Kroytz said.
“A family member has not been
able to touch or see him.”
ICU nurses use iPads to al-
low family members to see
their loved ones. The nurses
hold the iPad screen over the
patient, who is often not awake,
and let the family visit with
them.
“A lot of us have had to hold
the iPad so they can say good-
bye to their loved ones,” Kroytz
said.
Having a patient die is al-
ways difficult for the nurses,
Kroytz said. The ICU nurses
work 12- to 16-hour days,
three to five days a week. In
that time, they grow close with
their patients.
“We bond with them,” Kro-
ytz said. “It’s hard to come to
work and not see them again.”
Despite the current crisis
with capacity at the hospital,
Kroytz is optimistic if people
continue to get vaccinated.
Having the protection of the
vaccine has helped the nurses
feel safe, she said.
“We feel more confidence
because we are vaccinated,”
Kroytz said. “It’s encouraging
and brings comfort to be vac-
cinated.”
e e
Reporter: 541-617-7820,
kspurr@bendbulletin.com
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