9th Circuit Dismisses Most of Prisoner Wrongful Death Suit by Lonnie Burton The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld the dismissal of the majority of a lawsuit brought by the estate of a prisoner who was beaten to death by his cellmate. In 1997, prisoner Daniel …
Oregon Federal Court Denies Motion to Dismiss Release Debit Card Suit by Derek Gilna On August 25, 2016, a federal district court in Oregon denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by former prisoner Danica Love Brown, who had filed a class-action complaint naming Stored Value Cards, Inc. d/b/a …
Oregon Post-conviction Judgment Violates State Law by Mark Wilson Last year the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s judgment denying a prisoner’s collateral appeal, because the judgment violated state law. Following the direct appeal of a conviction and sentence to the Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court, …
Oregon Habeas Cognizable to Challenge Confinement in Florida and Colorado under Interstate Compact by In a pair of rulings, the Oregon Court of Appeals held that prisoners incarcerated in other states under the Interstate Corrections Compact (ICC) may challenge the conditions of their confinement in habeas corpus actions against Oregon …
Coos County Sheriff's Office Contract Summary With Correct Care Solutions, LLC, 2016 coos co UNTY FILING COVER SHEET TO: Coos County Clerk - Filing FROM: Office of Legal Counsel COOS COUNTY, OREGON Commissioners' · Journal CJ 2016-000598 09/07/2016 4 :37:24 PM Please file th e attached document in the County …
Oregon DOC Sees Spike in Gang-related Murders by Mark Wilson “This is a systemic problem,” said attorney Dennis Steinman, who represented the widow of an Oregon prisoner murdered in his cell. “This is not only about Snake River. This is about the prisons statewide.” Steinman appears to be correct, given …
Appeal Doesn’t Stay ODOC’s “Second Look” Release Plan Obligation by Mark Wilson The en banc Oregon Supreme Court held on October 22, 2015 that appealing a trial court order conditionally releasing a juvenile murderer who had served half his minimum sentence did not relieve prison officials of their statutory obligation …
Mentally Ill Oregon Prisoner’s Wrongful Death Suit Settles for $7.4 Million by Mark Wilson The family of a mentally ill Oregon prisoner who died due to complications from an untreated broken neck received $7.4 million to settle their claims. In 2012, the Lane County Jail (LCJ) in Eugene, Oregon entered …
Oregon Prosecutor & Defense Attorney Face Discipline for Illegal Confinement of Mentally Ill Defendant by The Oregon State Bar has voted to pursue disciplinary action against the Washington County District Attorney and a mentally ill criminal defendant's attorney for causing the man's illegal confinement. Donn Thomas Spinosa stabbed his wife …
Oregon Guard Fellatio Nets Probation, Prosecutor Blames Victim by On September 25, 2012, a former Oregon jail guard was sentenced to just two years of probation for sexually abusing a female prisoner. Prosecutors defend the light sentence by blaming the victim. As we've previously reported, guard Eddie James Miller's 21-year …
Assaultive Oregon Jail Guard Quits for Prisoner-Lover by "I crushed a dude's eye socket from repeatedly punching him in it, then I charged him with menacing and harassment," bragged Oregon jail guard David B. Thompson in one of more than 1,700 internet gaming site postings in eight months while at …
Repeated Oregon Sex Scandals Cost $2 Million and Nine Staff Prosecutions by It is deja vu all over again, and again, and again, as yet another employee at Oregon's only women's prison was arrested for sexually abusing a prisoner, continuing a disturbing trend across the nation that we report on …
BOP Admits to Email Destruction Policy; Discovery of Policy Compliance with FRA Allowed by A federal court in Oregon held that a party to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) action was entitled to discovery regarding the record retention/destruction policy of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). In November 2008, …
New Wrongful Death Trial Prompts Potential $600,000 Settlement; Judge Gave Faulty Jury Instructions, Finds Excessive Force by On December 5, 1999, 29 year-old Damon Lowery’s life came to a tragic and, in police custody. Now, more than five years later, the new trial looming, Portland, Oregon, officials are considering paying …
State Pays $1 Million to Settle Sex Claims; Jury Finds Against Juvenile Prison Chaplain by Following an eleven-day trial, a Portland, Oregon jury awarded two men $1,400,000 on claims that they were sexually abused by a chaplain at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in the 1970s. Fourteen men brought suits …
Guard’s Internet Boasts Expose Jail’s “Culture of Violence” by “Seeing someone get TASER’d is second only to being the guy pulling the trigger. That is money. Puts a smile on your face—My job is sweet sometimes,” wrote Multnomah County Jail Deputy David B. Thompson on an Internet gaming site called …
Oregon Nurse Resigns Over 2-Year Affair with Mental Patient by A registered nurse at the Oregon State Hospital (OSH) sexually abused a mental patient for two years, according to a recently released state investigation report. While employed at OSH, registered nurse Jennifer Barren appears to have engaged in a long-term …
Oregon Judges Implicitly Authorized to Order Involuntary Psychotropic Medication by In a case of first impression, on March 20, 2014, the En Banc Oregon Supreme Court held that Oregon law implicitly authorizes trial courts to order involuntary psychotropic medication to restore a criminal defendant’s trial competency. The Court held, however, …
