Capital punishment in Oregon
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/* History */ note West's advocacy, cite 1914 repeal
'''[[Capital punishment]]''' is legal in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Oregon]]. The first execution under the [[Oregon Territory|territorial government]] was in 1851. Capital punishment was made explicitly legal by statute in 1864, and executions have been carried out exclusively at the [[Oregon State Penitentiary]] in [[Salem, Oregon|Salem]] since 1904. The death penalty was outlawed between 1914 and 1920, again between 1964 and 1978, and then again between a 1981 [[Oregon Supreme Court]] ruling and a 1984 ballot measure.
Since 1904, about 60 individuals have been executed in Oregon. Thirty-two people are on Oregon's [[death row]] as of [[January 3]] [[2006]].<ref>{{cite web
|title= Capital Punishment in Oregon: List of Inmates on Death Row
|url=http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/PUBAFF/cap_punishment/cap_punishment.shtml#List_of_Inmates_on_Death_Row
|publisher=Oregon.gov}}</ref> The current method of execution in Oregon is [[lethal injection]]. Aggravated murder is the only crime subject to the penalty of death under Oregon law.
== History ==
The [[Oregon Constitution]] originally had no provision for a [[death penalty]]. A statute was enacted in 1864 allowing for the death penalty in cases of first degree [[murder]]. Authority to conduct executions was initially granted to local [[sheriff]]s, but in 1903, the [[Oregon Legislative Assembly]] passed a law requiring all executions to be conducted at the [[Oregon State Penitentiary]] in [[Salem, Oregon|Salem]].<ref name=OR.gov>{{cite web
|title=History of Capital Punishment in Oregon
|publisher=Oregon.gov
|url=http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/PUBAFF/cap_punishment/history.shtml#N_2_
}}</ref>
Oregon voters amended the Constitution in 1914, to repeal the death penalty, by a margin of 50.04%. The repeal was an initiative of Governor [[Oswald West]].<ref>{{cite book
|title=Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature
|first=John B.
|last=Horner
|date=1919
|publisher=Press of the Gazette-Times
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=J8IdAAAAMAAJ
|pages=p. 313
}}</ref> The death penalty was restored, again by constitutional amendment, in 1920.<ref name=OR.gov/>
Initially, all executions were performed by [[hanging]]; [[lethal gas]] was adopted as the method after 1931.<ref name=OR.gov/>
Voters outlawed the death penalty in the general election of 1964, with 60% of the vote. Governor [[Mark Hatfield]] commuted the sentences of three death row inmates two days later.<ref name=OR.gov/>
Voters reenacted the death penalty in the general election of 1978, by statute; Measure 8 required the death penalty in certain murder cases. Measure 8 was overturned by the [[Oregon Supreme Court]] in 1981, on the grounds that it denied defendants the right to be tried by a jury of their peers.<ref name=OR.gov/>
In 1984, Measure 6 amended the Constitution to once more make the death penalty legal. Measure 7, a statutory measure passed in the same year,<ref>[http://bluebook.state.or.us/state/elections/elections20.htm Oregon Blue Book: Initiative, Referendum and Recall: 1980-1987<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> required a separate sentencing hearing before a jury in cases of [[Aggravation (legal concept)|aggravated murder]].<ref name=OR.gov/>
In 1988, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] ruling in [[Penry v. Lynaugh]] affected the Oregon death penalty, because Oregon's law is based on the [[Texas]] law involved in the case. 17 Oregon cases were remanded for resentencing following Penr; eight convicts were re-sentenced to death.<ref name=OR.gov/>
In 2000, the [[Benetton Group]] featured several inmates on Oregon's death row in a controversial, anti-death penalty ad campaign. [[Cesar Barone]], [[Conan Wayne Hale]], [[Jesse Caleb Compton]], and [[Alberto Reyes Camarena]] were featured in the ad.<ref>{{cite news
|title=Benetton features Oregon killers
|first=Holly
|last=Danks
|work=The Oregonian
|date=[[January 20]], [[2000]]
|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:ORGB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB08C24E4AD895C&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0F4627A8B371FF3F
}}</ref>
Between 1904 and 1994, 115 people were sentenced to death in Oregon, and 58 of those were executed.<ref name=OR.gov/>
==Process==
The [[jury]] decides the [[Sentence (law)|sentence]] in Oregon for the crime of aggravated murder, as proscribed by [[Oregon Revised Statutes|ORS]] 163.105.<ref name=OR.gov/> Death, imprisonment without [[parole]] and [[life imprisonment]] are allowed as sentences. Life imprisonment must have a minimum period where the defendant is not allowed parole of thirty years. Mitigating and aggravating factors are to be considered during sentencing.
Mitigating Factors:
* Whether the conduct of the defendant that caused the death of the deceased was committed deliberately and with the reasonable expectation that death of the deceased or another would result;
* Whether there is a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society;
* If raised by the evidence, whether the conduct of the defendant in killing the deceased was unreasonable in response to the provocation, if any, by the deceased; and
* Whether the defendant should receive a death sentence.
The [[Governor of Oregon]] has sole authority over clemency, including capital cases.
==Method==
The first death sentence carried out under the territorial government came on [[April 18]] [[1851]], when William Kendall was hung in [[Salem, Oregon|Salem]].<ref name=first>Terry, John. Oregon's Trails - 'Necktie Parties' does justice to legal hangings in Oregon. ''[[The Oregonian]]'', [[November 6]] [[2005]].</ref> Kendall's sentence was handed down by judge [[William Strong (Oregon judge)|William Strong]] of the [[Oregon Supreme Court]].<ref name=first/> Hangings were conducted by the local sheriff until 1905 when executions were moved to the [[Oregon State Penitentiary]] in [[Salem, Oregon|Salem]].<ref name=first/> Capital punishment in Oregon was performed by hanging until 1931. The gas chamber was used starting in 1939 and was performed until 1962. In 1964 death penalty laws in Oregon were repealed and they were restored in 1984. Currently the sole method is lethal injection. [[Death Row]] and executions are performed at the Oregon State Penitentiary.
==Capital offenses==
*Aggravated Murder
** The [[defendant]] committed the murder pursuant to an agreement that the defendant receive money or other thing of value for committing the murder.
** The defendant [[Solicitation|solicited]] another to commit the murder and paid or agreed to pay the person money or other thing of value for committing the murder.
** The defendant committed murder after having been convicted previously in any jurisdiction of any [[homicide]], the elements of which constitute the crime of murder as defined in [[Oregon Revised Statutes]] (ORS) 163.115 or manslaughter in the first degree as defined in ORS 163.118.
** There was more than one murder victim in the same criminal episode as defined in ORS 131.505.
** The homicide occurred in the course of or as a result of intentional maiming or [[torture]] of the victim.
** The victim of the intentional homicide was a person under the age of 14 years.
** The victim was a police officer, correctional, parole and probation officer or other person charged with the duty of custody, control or supervision of convicted persons, a member of the [[Oregon State Police]], judicial officer, juror or witness in a criminal proceeding, employee or officer of a court of justice or a member of the State Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision and the murder was related to the performance of the victim's duties in the justice system.
** The defendant committed murder by means of explosives
** The defendant personally and intentionally committed the homicide.
** The murder was committed in an effort to conceal the commission of a crime, or to conceal the identity of the perpetrator of a crime.
** The murder was committed after the defendant had escaped from a state, county or municipal penal or correctional facility and before.
==List of individuals executed after 1976==
{|class="wikitable"
!
!Executed person
!Date of execution
!Murder victim
!Under Governor
|----
|1
|[[Douglas Wright (murderer)|Douglas Franklin Wright]]
|[[6 September]] [[1996]]
|William Marks and 2 others
|[[John Kitzhaber]]
|----
|2
|[[Harry Charles Moore]]
|[[16 May]] [[1997]]
|Thomas Lauri and Barbara Cunningham
|[[John Kitzhaber]]
|}
==See also==
* [[List of Oregon ballot measures]]
* [[Capital punishment in the United States]]
* [[Oregon Ballot Measure 11 (1994)]], which instituted mandatory minimum sentencing for certain violent crimes
==References==
{{Unreferenced|date=March 2008}}
{{Reflist}}
== External links==
* [http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/163.html Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 163], includes legal definition of aggravated murder
* [http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/PUBAFF/cap_punishment/history.shtml History of Capital Punishment in Oregon]
{{CapPun-US}}
[[Category:Oregon law]]
[[Category:Capital punishment in the United States by state|Oregon]]
[[Category:Lists of executed people|Oregon]]
{{Oregon legislation}}