A4 The BulleTin • Thursday, OcTOBer 21, 2021
NIKOLAS CRUZ PLEADS GUILTY TO 2018 PARKLAND MASSACRE
Gena Hoyer,
right, hugs
Debbi Hixon
during a court
recess Wednes-
day follow-
ing Marjory
Stoneman
Douglas High
School shooter
Nikolas Cruz’s
guilty plea on
all 17 counts
of premedi-
tated murder
and 17 counts
of attempted
murder in the
2018 Florida
shootings. Hoy-
er’s son, Luke
Hoyer, 15, and
Hixon’s hus-
band, Chris-
topher Hixon,
49, were both
killed in the
massacre.
amy Beth Bennett/
south Florida sun
sentinel via aP, pool
Commutation
Continued from A1
Several have convictions dat-
ing to the early 1980s. About
two dozen are serving life sen-
tences.
Brown is looking at two
groups:
An estimated 78 people
who were convicted of felonies
as juveniles and have served
at least 15 years of their sen-
tences.
And an estimated 214 peo-
ple who were convicted of
crimes as juveniles and have
served half their sentences or
will have served half of their
sentences by the end of next
year.
Combined, the two groups
represent about 63% of all peo-
ple in Department of Correc-
tions custody who are serving
time for crimes they commit-
ted as juveniles.
Two years ago, the Legisla-
ture passed Senate Bill 1008
with the goal of keeping teens
accused of Measure 11 crimes
in the juvenile system, which
places an emphasis on rehabili-
tation, instead of moving them
into the adult system.
The law made several
changes. Perhaps the most sig-
nificant: Juveniles accused of
Measure 11 crimes are no lon-
ger automatically prosecuted as
adults. Prosecutors must seek a
hearing before a judge who de-
cides whether a juvenile will be
waived into adult court.
Lawmakers at the time
stressed the law would apply
only to future cases, but Brown
this month said she would use
her authority to review older
cases as well.
The governor “intends to
use her constitutional clem-
ency powers to consider youth
— on an individualized basis
— who didn’t benefit from that
legislation,” Merah said.
Merah said Brown this week
plans to grant commutations
for dozens of people who have
served at least 15 years for
crimes they committed as juve-
niles. She stressed that Brown
will not make decisions about
their release.
“That discretion lies with the
Parole Board in these cases,”
she said in an email.
She said 45 days after the
governor authorizes the com-
mutation, defendants can be-
gin seeking a parole hearing.
She said victims and their fam-
ilies will “receive notifications
in accordance with the stan-
dard victim notification proce-
dures for commutations, and
they will have an opportunity
to participate in the hearing
process.”
She said the governor will
use a different approach with
people who have served at least
half of their sentences. In those
cases, Brown’s office will “en-
gage in an individualized re-
view process” that will include
conversations with prosecutors
and victims.
“If the governor deter-
mines that a commutation is
warranted, the youth will be
granted a conditional release,”
Merah said.
She said the review process
will take place over the next
several months with the earli-
est decisions being made start-
ing in December or January
“and the process will continue
until a final decision has been
made on each case.”
The numbers released by
Brown’s office Tuesday differ
from the Department of Cor-
rections tally. That’s because
some offenders fall under the
criteria for both categories. The
Department of Corrections
said it has identified a total of
248 people who meet the gov-
ernor’s criteria for commuta-
tion.
Gabe Newland, director and
managing attorney at Youth
Justice Project at the Oregon
Justice Resource Center, called
Brown’s decision “a step in the
right direction.” The group ad-
vocates for a reexamination of
the criminal justice and prison
systems.
Newland declined to say
whether his organization had
lobbied the governor to revisit
the sentences of people con-
victed as juveniles.
“Now is a good time to cor-
rect those harms and acknowl-
edge that we have been mis-
treating kids,” he said.
Rosemary Brewer, executive
director of the Oregon Crime
Victims Law Center, said vic-
tims’ perspectives and con-
cerns need to be part of any
sentencing review.
She said victims should be
asked how they feel about the
possible release of a defendant
and be given adequate time to
come up with a plan for their
own safety.
“They should know where
the person is going to be re-
leased to so they can make
those safety plans that they
need,” she said.
The news that defendants
might face release much
sooner than expected upset
some crime victims, who said
the governor’s decision has re-
opened deep wounds.
Lorna Flormoe’s sister, Lisa,
was 22 in 1991 when Todd
Davilla forced his way into
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the Wilsonville home where
she was staying and tried to
rape her. When she resisted,
he stabbed her 15 times in the
neck, nearly decapitating her.
Davilla was 16 at the time.
Today he is 47 and awaiting
his latest resentencing after the
Oregon Court of Appeals last
year overturned his 50-year
sentence. He is awaiting a new
sentencing hearing in Clacka-
mas County.
Davilla meets the criteria for
both categories of offenders
outlined by Brown. It is unclear
whether he will be eligible to
seek parole or if Brown will re-
view his sentence for possible
early release.
“I wish I could talk to Gov.
Brown and give her some de-
tails on what Todd Davilla did
to my sister,” Flormoe said.
“It’s so easy for lawmakers and
appeals court people to make
these sweeping statements
about letting certain folks back
into our community. I would
just like for them to think
about how they would feel if
that was their family member
that happened to and to know
some of the gory details and to
have to face those.”
Clackamas County District
Attorney John Wentworth
said nearly a dozen defendants
from his county are among the
names submitted to the gov-
ernor. He said he is stunned
by the prospect of their early
release.
“These are pretty extraordi-
nary cases that include sexual
assault, rapes, murder,” he said.
“I am frustrated,” he said. “I
don’t know that the governor
appreciates the emotion and
work and faith in the system
that go into getting the sen-
tences that we have because she
can undo them with the stroke
of a pen and that’s what she
seems intent on doing.”
Mike Dugan was the De-
schutes County district attor-
ney when the office prose-
cuted Justin Link, now 38, in
the 2001 killing of his mother,
Barbara Thomas. The case in-
volved four other juvenile de-
fendants who became known
as the “Redmond five.” Three
other defendants from the case
are also on the list for commu-
tation.
“My belief is a prisoner
should have some sort of hope
for release,” Dugan said.
Hope, he said, might lead to
less despair among prisoners
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and generally safer pris-
ons.
He recalled that Link
was portrayed during
trial as a “ringleader” of
the group.
“He deserves a long
sentence,” Dugan said,
“but I don’t have any ob-
jections to him having
hope.”
Link’s lawyer, Thaddeus
Betz, called Brown’s de-
cision to review the cases
for commutation or parole
eligibility the “absolutely
right thing to do” for juve-
nile offenders like Link.
He pointed to research
showing “children are
incredibly capable of re-
form.”
“Most youth that are
sentenced to very length
terms in prison behave
really well, reform suc-
cessfully and when they
are released, they seem to
do really well on release,”
he said. “Kids change.”
Assault
Continued from A1
In January, with his criminal
case pending, Mastalir filed a $1
million lawsuit against Bowlin
accusing her of “extreme vio-
lence,” and alleging a much dif-
ferent version of the incident. In
his suit, Mastalir says that during
the ride home, he was trying to
communicate to her that she
had missed his turn when she vi-
ciously attacked him.
“Wanting Bowlin to stop the
car from traveling in the wrong
direction, Mastalir attempted to
get Bowlin’s attention by reaching
from the back seat to gently grasp
her right arm,” Mastalir’s law-
suit states. “This evoked a sud-
den and violent response from
Bowlin.”
The lawsuit accuses Bowlin of
lying about the incident to police,
on social media and in interviews
with journalists.
In the civil case, Bowlin en-
tered into evidence dashcam
video said to document incrimi-
nating behavior by Mastalir, who
has sought to prevent its entry
pending the resolution of the
criminal trial.
The footage, which was pro-
vided to The Bulletin, documents
Bowlin telling Mastalir numer-
ous times to not touch her and
shows him grabbing her arm.
“Are you kidding me, baby?”
he says at one point.
After the altercation, Bowlin
drives a short distance away,
parks and cries for several min-
utes.
Mastalir is a big name in the
world of running.
Mark Mastalir and his iden-
tical twin brother, Eric, were
a dominant force in track and
cross-country in the 1980s, first as
nationally top-ranked high school
athletes and later as All-Ameri-
cans at Stanford University.
Mark Mastalir went on to
work in marketing for Reebok
and Nike, and more recently,
as vice president of marketing
for running shoe manufacturer
Hoka One One.
He has one prior conviction on
his record: a DUI from 1993.
Kafoury said Mastalir has been
offered a plea bargain by the De-
schutes County District Attor-
ney’s Office reducing charges to
misdemeanor harassment. He
said Bowlin opposes the deal,
and if Mastalir accepts, she in-
tends to attend his plea hearing to
voice her objections.
Kafoury’s co-counsel, Mark
McDougal, said he was told by
prosecutors they don’t have ev-
idence to support a charge of
felony assault against Mastalir,
which Bowlin’s lawyers dispute.
They say Hummel was in the
room for the negotiations.
“We’re not happy with that at
all,” McDougal said. “You might
let the guy off the hook because
he had one night. But this guy
had four to six months, with at-
torney’s advice, and he still de-
cided to revictimize the same vic-
tim. Tells you something about
the guy.”
Kafoury and McDougal said
the district attorney’s office came
to them asking to settle the civil
case as part of the criminal case,
which they declined.
“That was totally inappropriate
— who are they representing?”
McDougal said. “They’re trying
to make this go away.” Mastalir’s
attorney, Bill Buchanan, denied
the civil case is intended to put
pressure on Bowlin.
“That’s hogwash,” Buchanan
said. “He did the responsible
thing by taking an Uber home
when he drank too much, and
for that he got tased, beaten and
maced when she tried to point
out that she’d missed the turn by
a mile and a half. There’s one vic-
tim here and it’s Mark Mastaril.”
Buchanan said Mastaril lost his
job as a result of the case, while
Bowlin has sought to “enrich her-
self” by discussing the case on
social media.
“Mr. Mastalir will not litigate
his case against Rhonda Bowlin
in the press while a criminal case
remains pending,” Buchanan
later said in a statement. “His
position is set forth in his law-
suit against Rhonda Bowlin. The
timing and content of her civil
lawyers’ statements to the press
reflect a transparent attempt to
influence the District Attorney’s
office to gain some perceived
advantage in defending the civil
claims brought against her by Mr.
Mastalir.”
A trial in the civil suit is cur-
rently scheduled for early No-
vember.
e
Reporter: 541-383-0325,
gandrews@bendbulletin.com