Oregon
Man convicted of killing corrections director fully freed
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man who spent nearly three decades in prison for the 1989 killing of Oregon’s prisons director has been granted his full freedom.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta ordered the Marion County murder indictment against Frank Gable be dismissed on Monday and prohibited the state from retrying him in the death of Oregon prison chief Michael Francke, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
“The state or any court is “BARRED from rearresting, reindicting or retrying Petitioner for the murder of Michael Francke,” Acosta wrote in a brief order. A full opinion is expected later.
Gable’s sister Francine Sinnett told the newspaper she learned about the decision from her brother: “He just called and said it’s over.”
“He’s ecstatic. I’m ecstatic. It’s such a load off of your soul,” she said.
Gable left prison in 2019 after the judge found that the trial court made an error in excluding evidence of third-party guilt. The ruling came after multiple witnesses recanted their testimony and defense lawyers cited a record of improper interrogation and flawed polygraphs used to question witnesses and shape their statements to police.
Acosta then ordered Gable to be released or retried within 90 days. The judge paused the 90-day clock at times as the state unsuccessfully appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and then unsuccessfully petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.
Gable has remained on federal supervision.
In 1991, Gable was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the killing of Francke, 42.
Francke’s brothers, Pat and Kevin Francke, have been staunch defenders of Gable and believe he was wrongly convicted.
Kevin Francke, Michael Francke’s youngest brother, told the newspaper in a statement, “We are beyond happy that Frank and his wife, Rain, will no longer be paralyzed with fear by every unexpected phone call or knock at the door, and they can go about a normal existence.”
Roy Kaufmann, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Justice, said the department respects the court’s ruling.
John Crouse, a Salem man who had then been on parole for a robbery, repeatedly said he killed Francke, telling law enforcement officers as well as relatives and a girlfriend that he stabbed Francke when Francke caught Crouse burglarizing his car. Crouse is no longer alive.
Acosta found that the exclusion of Crouse’s confessions at Gable’s trial was wrong and violated Gable’s due process rights. The 9th Circuit upheld Acosta’s ruling, calling the facts of the appeal extraordinary.
Alabama
State sets execution as it resumes lethal injections
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Supreme Court has authorized the execution of an inmate this summer as the state attempts to resume lethal injection s following a series of troubled executions.
The Alabama Supreme Court last week issued a death warrant for James Barber, 54, authorizing the state to carry out his execution sometime after June 2. It is the first execution scheduled in the state after Gov. Kay Ivey paused executions last year to conduct an internal review. The exact date of the execution will be determined later, under new rules established during the review.
“According to the Alabama Supreme Court’s order, the execution time frame set by the governor must begin sometime after Friday, June 2, 2023, and Governor Ivey will work with the Alabama Department of Corrections to establish this time frame,” Ivey spokeswoman Gina Maiola wrote in an email.
Barber was convicted of the 2001 beating death of 75-year-old Dorothy Epps. Prosecutors said Barber, a handyman who knew Epps’ daughter, confessed to killing Epps with a claw hammer and fleeing with her purse. Jurors voted 11-1 to recommend a death sentence which a judge imposed.
Ivey in November ordered the Alabama Department of Corrections to conduct an internal review of execution procedures after the state called off two lethal injections because of difficulties establishing IV access and another execution was delayed for several hours because of IV line problems.
Ivey rejected calls by several groups to have an outside group, or person, conduct the review. Faith leaders and other groups cited the example of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who authorized an independent review after acknowledging that the state failed to ensure its lethal injection drugs were properly tested.
Ivey announced in February that the state would resume executions. Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said then that prison system is adding to its pool of medical professionals, ordered new equipment and has conducted rehearsals. The Alabama Supreme Court also changed procedures to give the state more time to carry out a death sentence. Previously, the court issued a death warrant authorizing the state to carry out the execution on a single day.
The letter cited the May 2022 example in Tennessee where Gov. Bill Lee authorized a third-party review of its procedures after acknowledging the state failed to ensure its lethal injection drugs were properly tested. A former U.S. attorney took over the review and found the state had not complied with its own lethal injection procedure ever since its revision in 2018, resulting in seven executions from 2018 to 2022 that did not follow the state’s protocols.
New Mexico
Ex-high school coach guilty of federal child porn
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A former girls’ athletic coach at a New Mexico high school has been convicted of federal charges involving child pornography and coercion and enticement of a minor.
Federal prosecutors say 31-year-old Jonathon Bindues used his former position as the coach of girls’ basketball and track teams at Los Lunas High School south of Albuquerque to gain special access to minor females between September 2020 and June 2021.
A federal grand jury in Albuquerque indicted him in March 2022. A jury convicted him Friday after a few hours of deliberations on one count each of production of child pornography and coercion and enticement of a minor.
Prosecutors say he exchanged more than 17,000 text messages with a freshman on teams he coached, requesting nude images of her and repeatedly encouraging her to delete the messages.
Her mother discovered the sexually explicit messages on the girl’s phone and reported them to New Mexico state police.
“This man, who was entrusted to mentor young people, was in actuality a predator of vulnerable girls,” said Amy Kaskel, FBI acting special agent in charge.
U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez praised the “bravery, fortitude and resilience” of the girl and her family for coming forward to report the crimes.
“Her strength in facing her abuser and sharing her story is nothing short of heroic,” he said. “Our children deserve schools and sports free of sexual predation.”
Bindues faces up to life in prison on the coercion and enticement charge, and between 15 and 30 years on the child pornography charge at his pending sentencing before U.S. District Judge James O. Browning in federal court in Albuquerque.
California
Ex-U.S. Homeland Security agent gets life for sex assaults
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A former U.S. Homeland Security special agent was sentenced to life in federal prison Monday for sexually assaulting two women he silenced by telling them he was “above the law.”
John Jacob Olivas, 48, of Riverside was sentenced by a judge who said he had engaged in “systematic torture of women” and his victims would “live with this trauma for the rest of their lives,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.
Last December, Olivas was found guilty of three counts of deprivation of rights under color of law.
Olivas began his career with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2007 and resigned in 2015 after working for more than six years as a Homeland Security special agent.
Olivas attacked both women in 2012, prosecutors said.
One victim testified that Olivas tried to rape her “after making it clear to her that the police would not be responsive to any report she would make about Olivas because he was ‘above a cop,’ and ‘untouchable’ and ‘invisible’ to police” because of his federal position, the U.S. attorney’s office statement said.
The woman also said Olivas told her that he could make her “disappear,” have her arrested on fake charges or have her children taken from her, the statement said.
Olivas also raped another woman on two separate occasions. She testified that Olivas made comments that led her to believe he couldn’t be touched by the criminal justice system, and before the first rape threatened her with his service gun, authorities said.
Olivas showed his Homeland Security credentials to both victims and asserted “that he was above the law,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Texas
Soldier to be sentenced for murder in protest shooting
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A U.S. Army sergeant convicted of murder in the shooting death of an armed protester in a Black Lives Matter march in Texas faced up to life in prison when his sentencing hearing began Tuesday, even as Gov. Greg Abbott presses for the chance to pardon the soldier.
Sentencing for Daniel Perry is scheduled to last up to two days. State District Judge Clifford Brown, who presided over Perry’s trial, last week denied his request for a new trial.
Perry, who was working as a ride-share driver the night of the shooting, was convicted in April in the 2020 shooting of 28-year-old Garrett Foster, who was legally carrying an AK-47 rifle through downtown Austin during a summer of nationwide unrest over police killings and racial injustice.
The verdict prompted outrage from prominent conservatives including former Fox News star Tucker Carlson, who called the shooting an act of self-defense and criticized Abbott on the air after he didn’t come on his show.
Abbott, a former judge who has not ruled out a 2024 presidential run, tweeted the next day that “Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws” and that he looked forward to signing a pardon once a recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles hits his desk.
The board has already begun what legal experts say is a highly unusual and immediate review of the case on the orders of Abbott, who appointed the panel.
The governor has not said publicly how he came to his conclusion. It is not clear when the parole board will reach a decision on Perry’s case.
Perry served in the military for more than a decade and was stationed at Fort Hood, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Austin. He had just dropped off a ride-share customer when he turned onto a street filled with protesters.
Perry said he was trying to get past the crowd blocking the street when Foster pointed a rifle at him. Perry said he fired at Foster in self-defense. Witnesses testified that they did not see Foster raise his weapon, and prosecutors argued that Perry could have driven away without shooting.
After the trial, the court unsealed dozens of pages of text messages and social media posts that showed Perry having hostile views toward Black Lives Matter protests. In a comment on Facebook a month before the shooting, Perry allegedly wrote, “It is official I am a racist because I do not agree with people acting like animals at the zoo.”
