The lawmaker who championed an aggravated murder statute intended to significantly reduce Oregon’s use of the death penalty said he will push for a change that ensures the law applies only to crimes committed on or after Sept. 29.
Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, on Monday met at the Capitol with a group that included Oregon Department of Justice staff, prosecutors, the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon and Rep. Jennifer Williamson. Prozanski closed the meeting to the press, saying the presence of an Oregonian/OregonLive reporter would chill a candid exchange.
According to multiple people who took part in the meeting, Prozanski floated draft language for a change to the law, known as Senate Bill 1013. One of the proposals includes a victim notification provision. He told the group he supports an effective date of Sept. 29, meaning the new statute would apply only to crimes committed on or after that date and not to pending cases or appeals of old cases.
Prozanski told the group that he’s pressing for the change because he gave fellow lawmakers certain impressions about the law’s implications for old cases and that, in turn, sowed confusion and concern, people in attendance said.
In an interview after the meeting, Prozanski said he plans to present the draft to his colleagues on Monday night.
“Not everyone around the table agreed necessarily with what is being proposed,” he said. “But I wanted to give them the opportunity to give their feedback.”
The new law narrows the definition of aggravated murder -- the only crime in Oregon eligible for a death sentence. Aggravated murder is now limited to defendants who kill two or more people as an act of organized terrorism; kill a child younger than 14 intentionally and with premeditation; kill another person while locked in jail or prison for a previous murder; or kill a police, correctional or probation officer.
A recent opinion by the Oregon Department of Justice concluded that the new law applies to death penalty convictions and sentences that have been overturned, as well as pending cases. That matters because most of those defendants’ crimes no longer fall within the new aggravated murder definition, so if they’re retried or resentenced, they would no longer be eligible for the death penalty.
Whether Gov. Kate Brown will call a special session at Prozanski’s request remains an open question. Her office said a decision hasn’t been made.
Prozanski said if a session is called, it would likely be on Sept. 27.
Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek last week cast doubt on whether support exists among legislators for a special session this month to change the bill. Kotek, D-Portland, said she supports the law as it was passed.
Williamson, a vocal proponent of the law during the session, has said she supports the law as it was drafted. She didn’t speak during Monday’s meeting.
Kimberly McCullough, policy director of the ACLU of Oregon, said afterward that the organization opposes the changes Prozanski drafted. She said the group is against the death penalty, citing racial disparities in who is sentenced to death, the expense associated with capital cases and the risk of executing an innocent person.
“We oppose the death penalty because of the fact that there are wrongful convictions,” she said. “We know innocent people have been sentenced to death and the risk that an innocent person would be executed is too great a risk for us to take.”
She said the ACLU has begun lobbying against any changes to the bill.
The Legislature, she said, “took a big step step away from the death penalty and we would hate to see them take a step back towards it.”
The new also statute calls for a sentence of life in prison with a minimum of 30 years for murder convictions unless a judge determines the defendant should serve true life. After 30 years, the person would be eligible to apply for a parole hearing.
The renewed debate centers on the law’s implications for the 31 inmates currently on Oregon’s death row. Appeals and court reviews of death penalty convictions grind on for years and even decades. It’s not unusual for aggravated murder convictions or death sentences to be overturned. In the past 2 1/2 years, seven cases have been reversed. None of the people on Oregon’s death row have exhausted their court challenges.
-- Noelle Crombie
503-276-7184
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