On Tuesday afternoon, Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s office announced that she will commute the death sentences of 17 people to life sentences without the possibility of parole. She announced plans on Tuesday to commute the death sentences of these people to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The governor completes her term in January 2023. This could most likely be the last execution of her executive clemency powers as the governor, reports say. Since 1997, no one has been executed in the state. The administration announced in 2020 that it would phase out death row and reassign the prisoners. The governor’s order takes effect on Wednesday.
Brown continued then-Gov. John Kitzhaber’s 2011 moratorium on executions after taking office in 2015. She signed legislation restricting the use of the death penalty in 2019.
The death penalty has been in place in the state since 1984 (capital punishment was abolished in 1962), but it was not used until Douglas Wright was executed by lethal injection in 1996. In May 1997, Harry Moore was killed by lethal injection. Both men waived their petitions.
Brown’s decision to commute the death sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole has enraged the families of the murderers’ victims as well as government officials. The relatives of those killed by the criminals are now enraged. They are concerned that justice will not be served and are angry that they have been denied a voice.
Clemency and opposition to the death penalty are hallmarks of the Brown administration. Governor Brown has also requested that the death chamber be demolished. Randy Lee Guzek, a death row inmate, murdered Rod and Lois Houser when he was 18 years old. He shot Lois three times with a handgun before chasing her up a stairwell and firing one final shot.
Christian Michael Longo, another criminal, murdered his wife Mary Jane and their three children in 2001. According to Oregon Live, Mary Jane’s father, James Baker, believes the decision was “wrong” because the family will suffer for the rest of their lives. Baker is concerned that the sentence will eventually allow Longo to leave prison, endangering his family.
The death penalty is legal in 27 states, including Oregon. According to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures, Virginia became the most recent state to legislatively abolish the practice last year, opting instead for a sentence of life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.
The death penalty was first legalized in Oregon in the nineteenth century, but it has since been repealed and reinstated three times. Democrat Brown was elected in 2015 and will be succeeded in January by Democrat Tina Kotek.
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