In his second week of office, Nathan Vasquez, the district attorney for Multnomah County, has a long list of things he needs to get done.
Vasquez made a major departure from his predecessor on Wednesday when he announced that his office would no longer support Frank F. Swopes’ leniency plea. Swopes had been serving 32 years in state prison for a violent house invasion in Portland and had requested to be released three years early.
Through his Justice Integrity Unit, former District Attorney Mike Schmidt had supported Swope’s appeal. Last month, Vasquez and a new law-and-order advocacy group stepped in just as a circuit court was about to accept it and four others.
The Oregon Criminal Justice Truth Project was successful in postponing the petition until Vasquez took office on procedural grounds. Swope’s petition cannot proceed without Vasquez’s backing.
In a statement, Vasquez claimed that Swopes’ rampage included sexually assaulting another woman during a subsequent break-in in addition to killing one victim.
“His early release back to our streets is not in the best interests of the surviving victims or the community, given the permanent scars he left behind,” Vasquez stated.
In his leniency papers, Swopes gave a different account of the 1992 burglary gone awry, claiming that he was in a different area of Jean Stevenson’s home when the accomplice strangled her and that he didn’t realize she was dead until he saw it on television.
The well-known reformer who backed Swopes’ argument, Aliza Kaplan, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, was not immediately available for comment.
According to Vasquez, he is currently examining four additional leniency cases, which involve individuals who are not in detention and who wish to have their sentences modified on paper in order to qualify for expungement.
Kelli Rhoades, a senior deputy district attorney who oversaw Schmidt’s Justice Integrity Unit, has been reassigned to lead the misdemeanor trial unit.
VASQUEZ ORDERS SUPERVISORS BACK TO THE OFFICE
Vasquez said he wants all top prosecutors and other officials to work from their desks every day of the week beginning February 3 in another policy change that was revealed Wednesday.
The new DA stated in an email to all employees that he wanted to foster camaraderie, make sure lower-level employees had easy access to assistance, and boost the downtown economy.
“We can never get the same energy over a Zoom call when we are all together, working together, laughing in the hallways, and asking quick questions when we bump into each other,” he said. Human engagement and collaboration, in my opinion, are the most effective ways for an organization like ours to function.
Vasquez’s new policy was announced just one day after Keith Wilson, the mayor of Portland, issued a similar directive, telling 700 managers to return to work five days a week.
Since nearly all criminal proceedings are held in person, the 17-story Multnomah County Courthouse has remained a busy hub of activity in contrast to the serene hallways of the Portland Building.
The district attorney’s office acknowledged that the majority of those affected by the new rule were already working face-to-face.
FIRST ARREST FOR NEW TRANSIT DRUG USE LAW
The state’s new law that expressly makes using drugs on a public bus or rail illegal is having an effect, according to the district attorney’s office.
According to a probable cause affidavit, an undercover sheriff’s officer on an eastbound MAX train on Tuesday saw a woman crouched beneath her jacket as a butane lighter clicked and the train car smelled of fentanyl.
The dubious honor of being the first person detained under the new law, which makes drug use on public transportation the most serious misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, belongs to Bethany L. Zipfel, 34.
Prosecutors stated during a press conference on Wednesday that probation will probably be given to offenders, but that the new law might encourage them to change their ways.
According to prosecutor Julian Samuels, many people find that entering the criminal judicial system is one way to obtain the assistance they require.
According to court documents, Zipfel left the jail many hours after being arrested and did not show up for her arraignment.
For The Oregonian/OregonLive, Zane Sparling reports on court proceedings and breaking news. You may contact him at [email protected], 503-319-7083, or pdxzane.
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