Governor Kate Brown Commutes Oregon’s Death Row

December 13, 2022 Rob Taylor

NEWS RELEASE

December 13, 2022

Media Contact:
Liz Merah, 503-877-8287
Charles Boyle, 503-931-7773

Governor Kate Brown Commutes Oregon's Death Row

Sentences commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole

(Salem, OR) — Governor Kate Brown today announced that she will use her executive clemency powers to commute the sentences of the 17 individuals on Oregon’s death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

“I have long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people—even if a terrible crime placed them in prison.

“Since taking office in 2015, I have continued Oregon’s moratorium on executions because the death penalty is both dysfunctional and immoral. Today I am commuting Oregon’s death row so that we will no longer have anyone serving a sentence of death and facing execution in this state. This is a value that many Oregonians share.

“Unlike previous commutations I’ve granted to individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary growth and rehabilitation, this commutation is not based on any rehabilitative efforts by the individuals on death row. Instead, it reflects the recognition that the death penalty is immoral. It is an irreversible punishment that does not allow for correction; is wasteful of taxpayer dollars; does not make communities safer; and cannot be and never has been administered fairly and equitably. My action today is consistent with the near abolition of the death penalty that has been achieved through SB 1013.

“I also recognize the pain and uncertainty victims experience as they wait for decades while individuals sit on death row—especially in states with moratoriums on executions—without resolution. My hope is that this commutation will bring us a significant step closer to finality in these cases.”

The Governor’s order takes effect December 14, 2022.

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www.governor.oregon.gov

DARE TO READ THE GRIZZLY CRIMES BROWN JUST DISMISSED

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

Oregon Governor Brown just spared the voter-approved death penalty for 17 heinous criminals on death row. The Governor’s Press release failed to mention the crimes that were at the center of the commutations. Read what they did and see what Governor Brown refuses to disclose to the public.

Christian Longo
— “Longo was convicted of killing his wife and three children on the Oregon coast. The bodies of the four were recovered from two coastal inlets around Christmas 2001. Longo went on the lam, landing on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list before he was captured in Mexico posing as a travel writer. “ – Murderpedia

Matthew Dwight Thompson
— “In 1989, Matthew Dwight Thompson, then 19 years old, was convicted of an unprovoked stabbing. He had a prior conviction for assault in the fourth degree. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison. While in prison, he got into fights and threatened to kill a counselor. Mr. Thompson was paroled after serving 6 months of a 5 year sentence. While on parole, he broke his mother-in-law’s arm and chased her husband down the halls of a hospital with a butcher knife. He also threatened to kill a teacher. His parole officer recommended that his parole be revoked but it was not. In November of 1994, in another unprovoked attack, Thompson stabbed a young woman and murdered her husband, Andrew J. McDonald, 32. Thompson also murdered Paul Whitcher, age 32, that night.” Crime Victims United

Jesse Caleb Compton
— “Compton, a Springfield methamphetamine user, killed Tesslynn O’Cull, the 3-year-old daughter of his live-in girlfriend. The girl, whose body was found in a grave near Sweet Home in 1997, had been bound, shocked and sexually assaulted. Prosecutors called it the worst case of child abuse they had ever seen. “ – Murderpedia

Clinton Wendall Cunningham
— “Cunningham raped and murdered 19-year-old Shannon Faith of Vancouver, B.C., in 1991. After stabbing her 37 times, Cunningham dumped Faith’s partially clothed body along a logging road near Elkton. …Cunningham’s sister testified that he once stabbed her in the back during a game of “chicken” and often tried to force her to have sex with him.” Murderpedia

Michael Martin McDonnell
— “McDonnell was serving a 10-year sentence for perjury and theft when he walked away from the Oregon State Penitentiary farm on November 21, 1984. While an escapee McDonnell encountered and stabbed Joey B Keever, 22, of Roseburg 42 times in her pickup truck near Yoncalla on December 22, 1984. Keever’s throat was cut and she was dumped near U.S. 99.” – Oregonian

Randy Lee Guzek
— “Guzek was convicted in the murders of Rod and Lois Houser of Terrebonne during a late-night burglary. Guzek, who was 18, shot Lois Houser three times with a handgun, chased her up a staircase and shot her for the last time as she huddled inside a closet. He then ripped the rings off her fingers.Rod Houser was shot 20 times by Mark Wilson” Murderpedia

Gary Haugen
— “He was originally sent to prison at 19 for murdering his girlfriend’s mother, though he received his death sentence for killing another inmate. Back in 2011, when Kitzhaber declared a moratorium on executions, Haugen said he wanted to be put to death.” OPB

Michael James Hayward
— “Hayward and three companions – including fellow Death Row inmate Jason Van Brumwell were convicted of killing a convenience store clerk and severely beating another in 1994. Frances Walls died after a metal bar went through her skull. Donna Ream survived despite being hit more than 50 times with a metal bar and losing nearly half her blood. Hayward’s three companions were convicted of murder and sentenced to terms in prison. Brumwell was later convicted along with Gary Haugen in the killing of another inmate and sentenced to death.” – Oregonian

Robert Paul Langley jr
— “Langley was convicted of killing and burying Anne Louise Gray, 39, and Larry Richard Rockenbrant, 24, in separate incidents in 1988.” – Murderpedia

Marco Antonio Montez
— “Montez and Timothy Aikens beat, raped and sodomized Candice Straub in a Portland motel room in 1987. They then strangled her with a sheet and set her body on fire. Aikens is serving a life sentence.” Murderpedia

Horacio Alberto Reyes-Camarena
— “Reyes-Camarena stabbed Maria Zetina and her sister, Angelica Zetina, and dumped their bodies along U.S. 101. Despite 17 stab wounds, Angelica Zetina survived and identified Reyes-Camarena as her attacker… Reyes-Camarena is the only Mexican national on Death Row in Oregon…Reyes-Camarena is serving his death sentence in Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla so he can undergo kidney dialysis treatment at a cost of more than $100,000 a year.” – Murderpedia

Ricardo Pineda Serrano
— “In 1991, Cunningham raped and stabbed a Canadian woman he picked up while she was hitchhiking on the Oregon Coast. The body of Shannon Faith, 19, of Vancouver, British Columbia, was found Oct. 20, 1991, off a logging road near Elkton. Cunningham was arrested in Oklahoma on a robbery charge after friends turned him in there. Prison admission date: Oct. 28, 1992.” Statesman Journal

Bruce Aldon Turnridge
& Joshua Turnridge
— “Bruce Turnidge, 63 and his son, Joshua Turnidge, 38, are on Oregon’s death row after they were convicted in the Dec. 2008 explosion that killed state police bomb technician William Hakim and Woodburn Police Lt. Tom Tennant. Woodburn’s police chief, Scott Russell, lost a leg, and a bank employee was wounded.Prosecutors said the Turnidges planned the bank robbery, built a bomb, left it outside the West Coast Bank and phoned in a bomb threat. Authorities found the device and brought it into the bank, where it went off.” KGW

Mike Spencer Washington Jr.
— Mike Spencer Washington Jr., 37, of Gresham was found guilty of killing Mohamed Jabbie in 2004 after prosecutors said Jabbie testified to a grand jury that Washington assaulted him.” Pamplin Media

Karl Anthony Terry
(now called Tara Ellyssia Zyst)
— “Born Karl Anthony Terry, she was convicted in 1995 on two counts of aggravated murder for the deaths of her boyfriend and his brother.” The Hill

No matter where one stands on the death penalty, it is no excuse to overturn the Constitution (approved by Oregon voters) without a vote of the people and it does not justify not disclosing the crimes at the center of the debate.

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