Oregon Gov.Kate Brown announced on Dec. 13 that 17 inmates awaiting execution will instead have their death sentences changed to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“I have long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people—even if a terrible crime placed them in prison,” Brown, a Democrat, said in a statement.
“Since taking office in 2015, I have continued Oregon’s moratorium on executions because the death penalty is both dysfunctional and immoral. Today I am commuting Oregon’s death row so that we will no longer have anyone serving a sentence of death and facing execution in this state. This is a value that many Oregonians share,” the governor added.
Brown, who has less than a month remaining in office, said she will use her executive clemency powers to commute the sentences of the individuals, who are awaiting execution for crimes including murder. Her order (pdf) is effective immediately.
Among the 17 individuals currently on death row in the state’s prisons include Christian Longo, who was sentenced to death in 2003 for the murders of his wife Mary Jane and their three children, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Others include Jesse Compton, who killed Tesslynn O’Cull, the three-year-old daughter of his live-in girlfriend, in 1997; and Bruce Turnidge and his son Joshua Turnidge, who were both convicted of aggravated murder following the 2008 Woodburn bombings that killed two law enforcement officials.
Brown said in her statement on Monday that she recognizes the “pain and uncertainty” victims experience as they wait for decades while individuals sit on death row.
“My hope is that this commutation will bring us a significant step closer to finality in these cases,” she said.
Oregon is one of 27 states that permit the death penalty. The others are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 17 people have been executed in the United States in 2022, all by lethal injection. The executions took place in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Missouri, and Alabama,
‘Zero Input From Oregonians and the Legislature’
Oregon has not executed a prisoner since 1997, when Harry Moore was given the lethal injection after being convicted of murdering his half-sister and her former husband.
Prior to that execution, Oregon had reinstated the death penalty in 1984 after the state’s supreme court declared it unconstitutional in 1981.
Brown became governor in 2015, succeeding Gov. John Kitzhaber, who stopped enforcing the death penalty in 2011. Multiple polls have found that Brown has the highest disapproval ratings of any governor in the country, with Oregonians dissatisfied with her leadership throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, volatile economy, and intense wildfires.
She is set to be succeeded by Democrat Tina Kotek in January after her term in office ends.
Rep. Vikki Breese-Iverson, leader of the minority Republicans in the Oregon House of Representatives, opposed Brown’s decision on Monday, and said the governor was showing “a lack of responsible judgment.”
“Gov. Brown has once again taken executive action with zero input from Oregonians and the legislature,” Breese-Iverson said in a statement. “Her decisions do not consider the impact the victims and families will suffer in the months and years to come. Democrats have consistently chosen criminals over victims.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Gov. Brown has once again taken executive action with zero input from Oregonians and the legislature,” Breese-Iverson said in a statement. “Her decisions do not consider the impact the victims and families will suffer in the months and years to come. Democrats have consistently chosen criminals over victims.”
The only thing that Democrats thing Victims are good for is furthering their propaganda to secure votes. Asking for a victims’ input is not allowed by them.
What’s immoral is that they say killing CONVICTED RAPISTS AND MURDERS is immoral, but killing PURELY INNOCENT KIDS in the womb is a-ok!
these left wing godless idiots make me puke.
oregon california washington should have a wall built seperating them from the rest of america.
no one in no one out!
When she gets convicted of the usual Democrat party crimes against honest government, she should be housed as roomates with those killers she commuted, and see how long her life sentence lasts beyond theri next immediate gratification in taking the lives of others than their own.
Take that wall from Canada, down to the mexican border.. AND HAVE NO OPENINGS in it!
Fetal babies eventually are liberated from the womb, but she’s OK with the cessation of their lives to deny them any liberty. We’ve had 60 million en utero executions in the last 50 years, so why aren’t some of us used to it yet? She is.
“I have long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people”…”the death penalty is both dysfunctional and immoral.”
Unless, of course, the death penalty is imposed on an unborn, innocent human being in which case it is the ‘right’ of the mother to decide if the child should live or die and the state has a responsibility to make sure that if the mother wants that child dead they will be able to do so.
Abortion is the execution of an innocent human being, it is both dysfunctional and immoral. Yet, as a Democrat this governor sees absolutely nothing wrong with it.
‘Dysfunctional And Immoral’…..Dang, I immediately looked for Biden’s name, Fraudci’s, Fetidman’s,……………………
How those dems just love spending tax dollars on our enemies abroad, thugs everywhere and criminals in our prison system. Their hearts beat with their excitement of the sadists they are!
AND note, its EVERYONE ELSES money they spend.
NEVER taking from their OWN bank accounts.
Killing babies in the womb ok but she draws the line at death row murderers. Hmmmm IMO
This lunatic “Governor” speaks of the people who elected her in the first place.
I want NONE – ZERO of the idiots who inhabit the West Coast states to ever set foot in my state.
Message to all you “Left Coasters'” : Stay put and wallow in your stupidity.
We wonder why crime is on the rise with violent crimes leading the charge to the top! Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat and no doubt a liberal decided she has the right to undermine our judicial system with her unbridled liberalism with this decision to commute the Death Sentences of seventeen (17) murderers to life in prison, without parole. Should Governor Brown have another attack of liberalism and decide to parole these same prisoners because they have been model prisoners, who will stop her? If Governor Brown does not parole these prisoners, perhaps several years later, a new Democrat governor decides to release these prisoners whose sentences former Governor Brown commuted and they leave the prison as free men. If one (or more) of these released murderers commits another murder, will Governor Brown approach the family of the murdered person and offer her sincere condolences for the family’s loss? Will the new governor dismiss his or her part in the murder because Governor Brown decided execution was both dysfunctional and immoral when she commuted their sentences? There is one absolute here: if you execute a person who commits a wanton, unprovoked murder, that person will never commit another crime, much less murder! The last time I read something on repeat offenders, the rate of repeating crimes was nearly 70%. This leads me to believe paroled murderers will kill again: it is just a matter of time!
I also wonder. I’ve been seeing shows like ‘Neighbourhood wars/Car wars and such” on AE tv.. I wonder, are the rises of those things, MORE IN LIBERAL states/cities, or all over??
If I had never heard of her, one look at this picture would have been enough to not vote for her. That picture is the picture of a totally out of touch politician who does not care about the voters only her own opinion.
How lovely to be so compassionate toward people who have so hurt others. If someone commits a horrible crime against Brown I would agree that they should be shown the same leniency.
I have to applaud the Governors actions, but not for the reasons she cited. The simple, awful, truth is that we convict many innocent people in America every year. Most convictions result in a prison sentence and a criminal record, both of which can completely change an innocent person’s life.
Our system of justice works pretty well most of the time, but when it doesn’t, the results are more horrendous than we can know. From time to time we see in the news that someone on death row has been exonerated due to an over eager prosecutor, un-reliable witnesses and just plain mistakes. When mistakes happen in non-capital crimes, we can partially compensate the person with money. How do you correct a case where we have executed someone?
WITH how long someone stays on death row these days, 25+ years according to some stats.. I’d hardly say we ‘are killing the wrong people’. ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY GET appeal, after appeal, after appeal, after appeal…
I have had it with all these fools in office. The wisest of all common sense is to put these creeps to sleep!
But we spend billions just to keep these leaches of the world alive. Just think of all the great things we could do with this money. This Governor is a complete ***! And all the fools who think like them!
The reason it costs/takes so bloody long, is the fact we give them appeal after appeal after appeal.. IMO IT SHOULD HAVE ONE mandatory appeal.. That’s it.