Blogtown, PDX

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

News Jury Today on “Wolverine” Eye Stabbing

Posted by Matt Davis on Wed, Nov 14 at 10:00 AM

Update, 3:10pm: The grand jury isn’t going to vote until Monday. But the DA is considering also indicting Nash not only with Assault 2, but possession of a weapon in jail [Unclassified felony, up to 20 years in jail]—in so far as the “wolverine pencils” constitute a weapon. Two of Evans’ jail-mates, who allegedly witnessed Nash walking out of the cell with his hands wrapped in the bedsheets following the assault—could not be located by the DA’s office for subpoena’ing, and subsequently, weren’t at the hearing this morning. It’s pretty much Nash’s word against Evans’, with a few of Evans’ eye-socket X-rays thrown in.

Original post, 10:00am:A grand jury meets this morning at 10:20 to decide whether Eric Nash, a 21-year old from Dallas, Oregon, should be criminally indicted for allegedly stabbing his fellow inmate, Michael Evans, in the eye.
JAIL ASSAULT: EYE FOR AN EYE?

Nash, who has four felony convictions and a total of 22 months of prison on his record, dating back to 2004, was in jail awaiting sentencing for an Assault 3 charge—a felony—on the night he is alleged to have assaulted Evans in their cell, on October 12. He was bought to Evans’ cell after already having allegedly assaulted another inmate that day—for which he will also appear before the grand jury today. You can read more about the story here.

In a letter to the Mercury received yesterday, Michael Evans, the 40-year old alleged stabbing victim, who is already suing the sheriff’s office for beating him in the booking area of the Multnomah County jail on September 11, 2006, alleged that Nash told him he was going to assault him before he went to sleep, and began wrapping torn bed sheets around his hands. When Evans woke up with a pencil stuck 2 inches into his eye, he alleges Nash had pencils sticking out of both hands, wrapped in bed sheets, looking “like Wolverine’s claws out of X-men.” More on Evans’ letter later.

Evans alleges Nash assaulted him after being instructed to “take care of that child molester” by sheriff’s deputy Brian Flanagan (Evans has never been convicted of molesting a child). The sheriff’s department is investigating. I’ll be outside the hearing at the courthouse at 1021 SW 4th all morning, hoping to catch some jurors as they leave. The grand jury is supposed to convene at 10:20.

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Comments

So, the one part of that I don't get is the part where the victim said the deputy told the assaulant that the victim was a child molester. How did the victim know this? Or is that just a completely unsubstantiated accusation that Matt Davis thought made the story sound good?

Matt, be careful or soon you will be compared to John Canzano. Whoops, I just did it!

Posted by some guy | November 14, 2007 10:55 AM

Probably a waste of your time to go over there, mate. It would be illegal for them to talk to you.

ORS 132.420 Disclosure relative to indictment not subject to inspection.

No grand juror, reporter or other person except the district attorney or a peace officer in the exercise of duties in effecting an arrest shall disclose any fact concerning any indictment while it is not subject to public inspection.

Posted by JQS. | November 14, 2007 11:28 AM

Or is that just a completely unsubstantiated accusation that Matt Davis thought made the story sound good?

It's an unsubstantiated allegation that the deputy allegedly told Nash—presumably to incite an assault. That's the basis of the story, some guy, not a detail tossed in purely for embellishment.

Posted by Amy J. Ruiz | November 14, 2007 12:03 PM

Ah, but ORS 132.420 has no penalties. Sort of like ORS 133.235(3) which every police officer violates every time an arrest on a warrant is made.

Posted by LawGuy | November 14, 2007 12:52 PM

Keep your day job, Some Guy. Unless it's in journalism. Then quit.

Posted by Chucky | November 14, 2007 12:58 PM

"snikt"

Posted by logan | November 14, 2007 1:00 PM

Not quite, LawGuy. You seem to have overlooked this:

132.990 Premature inspection or disclosure of contents of indictment.

Violation of ORS 132.420 or the prohibitions of ORS 132.410 is punishable as contempt.

Posted by JQS. | November 14, 2007 2:12 PM

Bugger, Jake. All this "contempt" nonsense meant I couldn't talk to anyone. However...I did get to hear Evans talking with the DA. And I did get to hear what Nash is being charged with. And get a sense of which way the case is going...

Some guy: Why are you comparing me to John Canzano? What's similar about us? I'd certainly like his paycheck!

Posted by Matt Davis | November 14, 2007 3:06 PM

Sure, lots of things are punishable as contempt - like not showing up to jury duty - but never actually enforced. Besides, if a grand juror talked to our inquiring British friend I'm sure he'd keep the persons identity on the DL.

Posted by Lawguy | November 14, 2007 4:21 PM

Amy and Matt,

The post suggests Evans believes the reason the assault occurred was because Flanagan told Nash "take care of that child molester". My question is how does Evans know this? Did he overhear the conversation between Nash and Flanagan? Or did Nash tell him that Flanagan told him that? Or, did Nash tell some other law enforcement authority who documented the assertion. The source of the information and how that source obtained the information is important to me because that knowledge provides me with a basis to make a determination about whether the information is credible. So, did Evans overhear a conversation between Flanagan and Nash, did Nash tell Evans, or what?

Matt,

The reason I compared you to Canzano is he takes one person's story, adopts it and writes about it as though it were fact without considering the the other side of the story or the credibility issues his source has. Also, the aim of his stories is often to agitate people and draw attention to himself.

Posted by some guy | November 16, 2007 11:29 AM

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