Court backs Brown at expense of crime victims, basic justice

By Kevin Mannix Press Release,

The Court of Appeals has issued a decision in Douglas R Marteeny et al vs. Katherine Brown, Governor of the State of Oregon et al Timothy Espinoza.

Please review the statement below from Kevin Mannix as to his next steps in this case.

This is a sad day for victims of crime, and district attorneys, and a sad day for the entire justice system in the State of Oregon. The Court of Appeals has held that the Governor’s clemency power is so broad as to negate procedural requirements established by the Oregon Legislature going back to 1864. The Court of Appeals approach seems to be that any attempt to establish a procedural requirement somehow restricts the Governor from ultimately making a clemency decision.

The legal requirements provide District Attorneys and crime victims with the right to be heard in each case when the Governor is considering clemency. The Court of Appeals decision eliminates that right.

We will appeal this decision to the Oregon Supreme Court. The basis for our appeal will be that the Court of Appeals has misinterpreted the laws regarding the clemency process.

Kevin Mannix, a former Oregon state legislator, is running for State Representative to serve House District 21 (Keizer and Central Salem) as a Republican. Mannix has run his own Salem law firm since 1986 and has passed more legislation than any other person in Oregon history. Mannix is well known in Oregon political and legal circles as a crime victim advocate and the father of Measure 11, the popular ballot measure that instituted mandatory minimum sentencing for violent crimes.