WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
NEWS
Hermiston opens up more
mobile food vending
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
H
HH FILE PHOTO
Tyree Houfmuse listens to his defense attorney Kara Davis during a pre-trial hearing in March at the Stafford Hansell
Government Center in Hermiston.
Murder charge dropped against Houfmuse
ing up to his death threaten-
ing Houfmuse’s life.
Judge Eva Temple, who
had presided over the case
from the beginning, was
recently disqualified from
presiding over criminal
cases by District Attorney
Dan Primus, and the case
had been turned over to Sul-
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
Tyree Houfmuse has
spent the last 14 months in
jail facing a slew of charges
in the death of James
Cragun.
On Monday, the Herm-
iston man pleaded guilty to
a single count of felon in
possession of a firearm and
was sentenced to 25 months
behind bars.
Judge Patricia Sullivan
dismissed all other charges,
including murder, man-
slaughter, and unlawful use
of a weapon, due to insuffi-
cient evidence.
Houfmuse, 36, was
arrested in June 2017 and
charged with killing Cra-
gun, who died from a gun-
shot wound on Memorial
Day weekend in 2017. This
is the fourth time he has
faced charges for a shoot-
ing. In both 2000 and 2005
he was charged with attempt
to commit murder, and both
charges were dismissed. He
was also charged in 2014
with a shooting outside a bar
in Kennewick that left a man
paralyzed, but a jury decided
that he acted in self-defense.
Cragun and Houfmuse
knew each other. The night
Cragun died, Houfmuse was
with a woman they both had
dated and who is the mother
of one of Cragun’s children.
In court proceedings that
have spanned more than a
year, Houfmuse has repeat-
edly claimed self-defense,
stating that Cragun charged
at him, and had been making
statements in the days lead-
“It was never
a good case
for murder.”
Kara Davis, Attorney
livan in the last week.
Primus released a brief
statement about the settle-
ment Monday afternoon.
He said Houfmuse pleaded
guilty on a new case, fol-
lowing a court decision
made last week requiring the
state to try the murder and
felon in possession charges
separately. The release said
the court was concerned
that trying the two together
would be too prejudicial to
the defendant.
“At the same time this
ruling to sever was made,
the court also ruled that
defendant’s
statements
would be inadmissible, leav-
ing insufficient evidence for
the state to continue to pro-
ceed to trial on the murder,”
the statement said.
Primus could not be
reached for further comment.
Houfmuse’s
attorney,
Kara Davis, said her client
always had a strong self-de-
fense case.
“Oregon is a stand-your-
ground state,” she said. “If
someone charges you, you
have the right to defend
yourself.”
She said the lack of con-
clusive forensic evidence
also played a part. The state
crime lab found that Cragun
was the primary contribu-
tor of DNA on the gun, and
Houfmuse’s DNA was not
found on the gun — a fact
the state could not explain.
But Davis said one of the
biggest factors in the final
outcome was the judge’s
decision to suppress Houf-
muse’s statements.
“I think that was the final
nail in the coffin for the
state’s case,” she said.
Davis said had the case
gone to trial, the only charge
on which she would have
been concerned about a con-
viction was felon in posses-
sion of a firearm.
She said Houfmuse
agreed to plead guilty to
possessing the firearm after
it went off. The gun was
found in a field a few hun-
dred yards away from the
apartment complex where
Cragun died.
“It was tragic, but just
because it’s tragic doesn’t
make it criminal,” Davis
said. “It was never a good
case for murder.”
During a hearing in May,
Temple heard more than
eight hours of video and
audio interviews with Houf-
muse and several witnesses,
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including a woman both
Houfmuse and Cragun had
dated, and two other women,
all of whom were present the
night Cragun died.
According to descrip-
tions from witnesses and
Houfmuse, that night Cra-
gun drove up to the apart-
ment that Houfmuse and
Cragun’s ex-girlfriend were
about to enter, got out of the
car, jumped over a hedge
and started coming toward
Houfmuse.
Houfmuse said Cragun
came running toward him
and took a gun out of a bag.
Houfmuse said he grabbed
Cragun’s hands and twisted
the gun, and the gun went
off.
Autopsy reports showed
the entry point of the bullet
on Cragun’s upper left back
area. Primus said during a
May hearing that the angle
made it impossible for the
gun to have been twisted as
Houfmuse claimed.
Cragun had been con-
victed of assaulting the
woman two years before his
death, and she had a restrain-
ing order against him. The
video interviews and court
documents revealed that
Cragun had been calling her
and sending her threatening
text messages, threatening
Houfmuse’s life and hers.
Davis said with Houf-
muse’s credit for the time
he’s already spent in jail,
plus five months that will
be taken off his sentence for
“good time,” or time off for
good behavior, he will likely
spend between two and five
more months in jail.
ermiston is set to
welcome new food
trucks to town after
the city council unan-
imously amended the
mobile food vending ordi-
nance Monday.
Among the amend-
ments is an increase from
three food truck licenses
to six. Those six licenses
will be in addition to any
mobile vendors who set
up shop in the food “pod”
the city is looking to cre-
ate. The updated ordinance
also adds four temporary
licenses that vendors can
operate under for up to 90
days.
City planner Clint Spen-
cer said be believed all of
those options combined
were “well within what the
market can support for a
while.”
“You can always make
a change,” he said.
The city had begun
looking at amendments
to its original ordinance,
passed in 2013, after hear-
ing from potential entre-
preneurs, including the
owner of Southern Twain
BBQ in Pendleton, who
complained that they
wanted to open a food
truck in town but could not
because all three licenses
were already taken. Spen-
cer said his department
had also fielded numer-
ous requests for tempo-
rary licenses to sell things
such as ice cream, fruit
cups or hot dogs in the
summer. In an online sur-
vey that more than 900
people participated in, 86
percent said they believed
the city should add more
mobile food vending
opportunities.
The new ordinance
also loosens up some
restrictions,
includ-
ing reducing the num-
ber of parking spots
required from three to
five, allowing push-
carts and allowing
operation in the C1 and
C2 commercial zones,
which included down-
town. The ordinance
does not create a food
pod by statute, but the
city is looking into cre-
ating a gathering space
for food trucks in the
public parking lot on
Orchard Avenue across
from the post office.
On Monday the council
also discussed the results
of a community survey
regarding metal shipping
containers used as storage
units. The city does not
currently regulate them,
but the council asked that
city staff look into possible
regulations as the contain-
ers become more popular
as an inexpensive storage
option.
Spencer said 376 peo-
ple filled out the optional
online survey that was
open to anyone. Six-
ty-nine percent of those
respondents said they were
opposed to all use of the
containers in a residen-
tial zone, 51 percent said
they were opposed to use
in a commercial zone and
35 percent said they were
opposed to use in an indus-
trial zone.
Recommendations from
the planning commission,
however, suggested that
the containers be allowed
in residential zones under
a few circumstances —
requiring the containers
to be 20 feet long or less,
placed behind the front
line of the residence, on
a concrete slab, screened
from view and free of
rust or logos. One con-
tainer per acre would also
be allowed in commercial
zones and industrial use
of the containers would be
allowed. Shipping contain-
ers would require a license,
with 90-day and longterm
licenses available. Existing
containers would be grand-
fathered in.
Councilors had mixed
reactions, and Spencer said
he would take their com-
ments into account while
drafting rules for approval.
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