Man incarcerated at Deer Ridge prison with COVID-19 dies
MADRAS, Ore. — A man who was incarcerated at the Deer Ridge Correctional Institution near Madras has died at a nearby hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, according to the state Department of Corrections.
The agency said Friday that the man, described as between 60 and 70 years old, died on Thursday, KTVZ-TV reported. The DOC doesn’t release the names of the people who die in custody if they report the person died after testing positive for COVID-19 as an attempt to balance the release of personal information.
As with all deaths of people in state custody, officials said the Oregon State Police have been notified, and the state medical examiner will determine cause of death.
Oregon chief justice asks lawyers to act as public defenders
PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters in an unusual public request is asking members of the State Bar to take on clients in need of public defense.
In a letter Thursday, Walters asked members to “help in representing those who are accused of a crime and cannot afford counsel,” calling it a very basic and fundamental right that Oregon is struggling to accommodate, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affords people charged with crimes a lawyer provided by the state if they cannot afford their own.
As of Friday, more than 40 people in Oregon did not have a public defender. Of those, 26 were in custody, according to the Office of Public Defense Services.
The shortage is most pronounced in the state’s largest counties including Multnomah, Marion, Lane and Washington.
A report released last week by the American Bar Association found Oregon has just 30% of the public defenders it needs for adequate representation with its current caseload.
Missoula man charged with fatally stabbing girlfriend
MISSOULA, Mont. — A Missoula man who called 911 to report his girlfriend had stabbed him is charged with deliberate homicide after responding officers found her dead in the residence with numerous stab wounds, according to charging documents.
The man reported the stabbing at about 1:15 a.m. Monday, KGVO-AM reported. Neighbors told investigators they heard a loud argument about 20 hours earlier, court records said.
The coroner estimated the woman had been dead for 20 to 30 hours when he examined her body just before 7 a.m. Monday, officials said. She had 10 stab wounds to her upper chest, and other stab wounds to her arms and right shoulder, detectives said.
Officers responding to the 911 call broke into the residence and found the woman in the living room and the suspect lying in bed with knife wounds to his neck, arms and torso. He reported that he woke up and discovered he’d been stabbed.
The man was still being treated at the hospital on Friday and had not been medically cleared to be moved to the Missoula County jail. When he is able to be jailed, he will be held on $1 million bail.
Man sentenced for hiding body in suitcase in Salem
SALEM, Ore. — An Albany man has been sentenced to six months in prison for putting a deceased man in a suitcase inside the trunk of a car in Salem.
Linson Johnson, 51, pleaded guilty this month to abuse of a corpse in Marion County Circuit Court following a grand jury indictment, The Statesman Journal reported. Judge Donald Abar also ordered Johnson to serve a year of post-prison supervision.
Salem police responded Dec. 2 to the Claxter Court Apartments after a neighbor reported seeing a person move a large suitcase from an apartment into the trunk of a vehicle in the parking lot. Officers found a vehicle belonging to apartment resident 59-year-old Richard Flennory. When they opened the trunk of his car, they found the suitcase and said Flennory’s body was inside.
Two people, including Johnson, were found living in Flennory’s apartment. Johnson was arrested on an outstanding warrant on suspicion of theft in Linn County.
The state medical examiner’s office determined no foul play in Flennory’s death after an autopsy, according to Salem Police. According to police, Flennory had health issues that may have contributed to his death.
