The 2022 Oregon Legislature passed a law so that people wrongly convicted of crimes can be compensated for the time they lost in prison before being exonerated.
Two years later, around 50 people whose convictions were overturned have filed for compensation or said they intend to. But only a handful have actually been compensated because the Oregon Department of Justice is opposing most of the filings.
The Oregon Senate Judiciary Committee will hold the second of two hearings on the problem on Tuesday, Sept. 24, in Salem. By coincidence, that is the same day that a Marion County Circuit Court judge will hold the fifth status conference on Frank Gable’s civil suit seeking compensation under the 2022 law.
Gable is the most highly publicized person to be wrongfully convicted, imprisoned and subsequently exonerated in state history. He was convicted of the 1989 murder of Oregon Correction Director Michael Francke and served nearly 30 years in prison before his conviction was reversed with prejudice in federal court. That means his record was expunged and he cannot be arrested or tried for killing Francke again in any court.
Gable filed a civil suit in Marion County Circuit Court in November 2023 seeking $2 million in compensation. Despite his exoneration, ODOJ lawyers have told Marion County Circuit Court Judge Lindsay Partridge that Gable has not proven his innocence, as required by the state law. But, 10 months later, that question is not even before the court yet. Gable’s lawyers have yet to receive the records they have requested from the state, and Oregon Justice Department is still considering whether to withhold any of them.
Both issues were first highlighted as problems in a Dec. 20, 2023, story on the Huffington Post news website headlined, “Oregon Passed A Bill To Compensate The Wrongfully Convicted. Almost None Of Them Have Been Paid.” State Sen. Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer), the chief sponsor of the law, was quoted as saying, “That was not the intention. There was no intention to have to have a court battle.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee, where Thatcher serves as vice-chair, held its first hearing on the problems with the rollout of the 2022 law on Feb. 29 of this year. Advocates for the wrongly convicted argued it was unrealistic for most of them to prove they are innocent if no one else has subsequently been convicted for the crimes, which hardly ever happens. And fighting over multiple pre-trial motions is time consuming and costly for the those who have limited resources because they were wrongfully imprisoned.
Forensic Justice Project Executive Director Janis Puracal, an original supporter of the 2022 law, expressed frustration with the Justice Department at the hearing, saying their opposition to so many filings was the opposite of what the Legislature intended. She intends to testify again at the Sept. 24 hearing, telling the Portland Tribune that nothing has changed in the last six months.
"I don't understand why the Department of Justice is doing this. We have cases when convicted people have been proven innocent, the governor has acknowledged it, and the department is still fighting their compensation. That's not helping anyone, including the victims," said Puracal, who believes the 2025 Oregon may have to change the law to achieve what was originally intended.
Justice officials defended the department's actions as necessary to prevent someone who actually committed the crime from taking advantage of the law.
“Remember, in a criminal case, the state has a high burden to prove guilt: beyond a reasonable doubt. This burden is high to protect our constitutional rights. It also means there are cases where a person did in fact commit a crime, and yet the person is acquitted because the state could not meet that high bar in the particular case,” said the testimony submitted by Justice Department Legislative Director Kimberly McCullough and Chief Trial Counsel Sheila Potter.
Judge Partridge previously held status conferences in Gable’s suit on Feb. 27, April 22, June 11 and Aug. 21 of this year. Lindsey was not able to make any rulings or set a trial date at any of them, however, because of the many unresolved issues. At the last conference, Partridge said he plans to settle the disputes and final set a trial date on Sept. 24.
In the meantime, Gable’s attorneys have filed suit in federal court seeking damages against 24 law enforcement officials he claims framed him for Francke’s murder with no evidence.
The suit, filed in the Eugene Division of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, includes many claims made in Gable’s successful federal appeal of his conviction.
The 28-page suit filed on July 11 alleges that law enforcement officials investigating Francke’s murder fabricated evidence against him and coerced associates to lie under oath about Gable’s involvement in the murder.
That is consistent with what two federal courts found in Gable’s case. On April 18, 2019, Oregon U.S. District Magistrate Judge John Acosta ruled that Gable had not received a fair trial, was likely innocent, and should be released or given a new trial within 90 days. The Oregon Department of Justice appealed the ruling to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld Acosta’s ruling that much of the trial testimony against Gable was coerced and had been recanted by most of the witnesses against him.
“They attribute their false testimony to significant investigative misconduct, which the State — remarkably — does not dispute,” a three-judge appeals panel wrote. “The state’s error was compounded by the trial court’s refusal to allow evidence that another man, John Crouse, had confessed multiple times to the murder. Crouse’s confession was particularly compelling because he gave details of the crime that were not publicly known.”
The Justice Department then appealed the rulings to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to consider it, sending the case back to Acosta to be finalized. Gable was released from prison during the federal appeals and currently lives in Kansas with his wife, Rain, where he has worked and stayed out of trouble.
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