Death Penalty News

It’s been nearly a quarter-century since Oregon put anyone to death but the state remains ready. The Oregon Department of Corrections execution chamber lies deep inside the state’s oldest prison in Salem. The entrance to the three-room suite is unmarked. A window on the door is covered. The space sits undisturbed, suspended in time. The department allowed an Oregonian/OregonLive reporter and photographer to see the chamber on a recent visit to the Oregon State Penitentiary. The news organization requested a tour in light of a new law passed last year that represents the first major legislative restriction to Oregon’s death penalty since 1984, when voters amended the constitution to include capital punishment. “We keep it sanitary and clean,” said Corrections Capt. Toby Tooley. “We get a lot of visitors. We have a lot of interest in seeing it. It’s more of a historical stop.” The compact rooms -- a small holding cell, a shower room and the execution chamber itself...

Marion County veteran prosecutor Katie Suver ticked off the names and crimes of various death row inmates: A father and son convicted of conspiring to blow up a bank, killing 2 police officers in the process. Another man sentenced to death for stabbing a Salem woman then peddling her stolen jewelry. Several inmates who killed while incarcerated for other crimes. All of these current death row inmates, Suver said, stand the chance of skipping out on a death sentence in the event their convictions are overturned if lawmakers don't make quick changes before Senate Bill 1013 goes into effect on Sept. 29. The bill narrows Oregon's use of the death penalty by whittling down the number of crimes that qualify as aggravated murder — the only offense punishable by death. Previously, about 20 circumstances made a homicide qualify as aggravated murder, including murder for hire, murdering multiple people, torturing before killing, the murder of someone under 14 a...

To cope with his dread, John Kitzhaber opened his leather-bound journal and began to write. It was a little past 9 on the morning of Nov. 22, 2011. Gary Haugen had dropped his appeals. A Marion County judge had signed the murderer's death warrant, leaving Kitzhaber, a former emergency room doctor, to decide Haugen's fate. The 49-year-old would soon die by lethal injection if the governor didn't intervene. Kitzhaber was exhausted, having been unable to sleep the night before, but he needed to call the families of Haugen's victims. "I know my decision will delay the closure they need and deserve," he wrote. The son of University of Oregon English professors, Kitzhaber began writing each day in his journal in the early 1970s. The practice helped him organize his thoughts and, on that particular morning, gather his courage. Kitzhaber first dialed the widow of David Polin, an inmate Haugen beat and stabbed to death in 2003 while already servi...

Former governor urges greater spending on alternatives to alleviate poverty and prevent crime; group launches 'million conversations' Former Gov. John Kitzhaber is the most prominent voice against Oregon's death penalty, but he says repeal is a step toward a greater goal. "Not only do we want to repeal the death penalty, I think it is equally important we are cognizant of those social factors and risks that lead people into a life of crime in the first place," Kitzhaber said last week (Aug. 24) at the annual meeting of Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Kitzhaber, who in his third term in 2011 instituted Oregon's current moratorium on executions, spoke just before the group launched the "One Million Conversations" project. The group wants to encourage one-on-one conversations before it seeks repeal at a future statewide election. Tom O'Connor, a former research manager and head chaplain for the Oregon Departm...