Today the Oregon Supreme Court issued its opinion In the Matter of C.P.,[1] a juvenile delinquency case involving a 15-year-old “youth”[2] who snuck into my client’s bedroom in the early hours of the morning, climbed on top of her while she slept and smashed her in the face with a mallet. In representing the victim…
Ever since the passage of the Abuse of Vulnerable Persons Act (ORS 124.100-124.140), lawyers who represent vulnerable people injured by state actors have argued that the law applies to the state. The State of Oregon, through its Department of Justice, has argued that it does not apply because, among other (silly) reasons, the Oregon Tort…
On Tuesday July 10, 2012 at 7:48 pm, 47-year-old highway worker Gregory A. Priest of Salem was struck and killed by a drunk driver. Priest was on foot, placing construction warning signs on South New Era Road near South Haines Road, north of Canby when he was run down by 40-year-old Bruce Dancer, of Aurora….
An attorney has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Human Services on behalf of an 8-year-old girl who was molested by her North Portland foster dad. The suit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Monday, faults DHS for failing to adequately respond to reports that something was wrong in the…
Last month confidential files were turned over for a lawsuit in Minnesota to bring attention to the problem of sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America. These files, otherwise known as the “perversion files” or “ineligible volunteer,” span 1999 to 2008, which are more current than similar files presented in an Oregon case last…
When the girl was just 8 years old, the man had earned her mother’s trust enough to be left alone with her. Over the next three years, he crept into her bed. He cornered her on her family’s couch. He waited for her to step out of the shower. By the time the girl was…
The Oregonian reported today that the new TriMet buses are equipped with on-board microphones. According to TriMet spokesperson Mary Fetsch, audio recording came standard on all 55 of the new 3000 series buses. The audio recording system will complement the six video cameras on the new buses. While older TriMet buses had the ability to…
In 2015, I took on the representation of an officer who was injured on the job when she was struck by an uninsured drunk driver. Officer Allison Renander was knocked unconscious when Gary Clark’s Dodge Ram smashed into the back of her patrol car. Her patrol car rolled onto the sidewalk some 50 feet away,…
Registration is now open for the 16th Annual Crime Victim Law Conference. Join us May 11-12, 2017, at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. Keynote speakers the first day include Bob Marriott and Rus Rilee, presenting on the New Hampshire rape shield case that is on appeal, and Leslye Orloff speaking about immigrant crime…
Yesterday, in State v. Jimenez, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that police officers in the State of Oregon cannot ask people they lawfully detain if they have any weapons on them without some independent reason for doing so. The Court specifically rejected the fact the State Legislature implicitly recognized in both ORS 131.615 and ORS 810.410…
A plea agreement offered by the Columbia County District Attorney’s office to a Vernonia man charged with 28 counts of sexual crimes involving children isn’t sitting well with at least one of his victims. “The offer was extended – over the objections of my client and the objections of the other victims – for five…
A Sacramento, California Superior Court Judge reversed himself earlier today in releasing a 17-year-old rape victim he earlier ordered held on a material witness warrant to compel her testimony at her rapist’s trial. In bowing to growing pressure from victim rights advocates and the public, Judge Lawrence Brown released the girl with a GPS ankle…