Clackamas County employee indicted for tampering ballots
A former Clackamas County elections employee was indicted Thursday for tampering with ballots to cast additional Republican votes in the 2012 elections. According to The Oregonian, 55-year-old Deanna Swenson is charged with two counts of unlawfully altering a cast ballot, unlawfully voting more than once and first-degree official misconduct.
The number of ballots Swenson altered has not been disclosed.
Tampering with ballots is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $125,000 fine.
Supreme Court revises eyewitness reliability
In a decision that revised the criteria for an eyewitness account as evidence, the Oregon Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Samuel Adams Lawson, according to The Oregonian. Lawson was convicted for the murder of Noris Hilde in 2003 in an Umpqua National Forest campground. The main evidence in the case was the eyewitness account of Hilde’s wife, Sherl, who identified Lawson two years after the murder.
The court revised the ruling on the grounds that her identification was unreliable due to the inappropriate methods of officers, who showed her individual photos of Lawson and escorted her to the pretrial hearing to see him before she made the identification.
The decision overrules the 1978 State v. Classen ruling, which had looser guidelines regarding the reliability of eyewitness accounts.
Mount Hood climber rescued after posting to Facebook
After posting his predicament to Facebook, an experienced climber, was rescued early Thursday morning from Mt. Hood, The Oregonian reports. Jeff Kish, 30, was stranded on the mountain when the weather suddenly changed on Wednesday.
After using his cell phone to call for help, he posted his GPS coordinates to Facebook. Search-and-rescue crews were able to reach him on the south side of the mountain.
Beaverton police officer pleads guilty to prostitution charges
A $5,000 lawsuit involving a woman sexually assaulted by an on-duty Beaverton police officer was settled after he pled guilty to charges of prostitution, official misconduct and coercion charges.
The charges were filed after the former police officer, Joshua Jenson, arranged to meet a prostitute, then forced her behind a garbage can to perform oral sex. The woman said she felt like she had no choice, claimed she was not paid for the encounter and that he did not wear a condom.
The officer received a two-and-a-half year prison sentence, according to The Oregonian.
Woman arrested for robbing restaurants with BB gun
A 21-year-old Portland woman is in custody after being accused of holding up restaurants with a BB gun. Sylvana Louangsisongkham is charged with robbing three Portland restaurants on Monday, according to The Oregonian.
A spray-painted BB gun had been used in the robberies. She was arraigned on Wednesday and is being held on $1 million bail.