With Clatsop County District Attorney, Josh Marquis and Astoria City Attorney, Blair Henningsgaard scheduled to be in attendance, proposed HB3025 will be heard March 31, 2011 in the House Judiciary Committee in Salem and has already won endorsement from the Governor’s Advisory Committee on DUII’s at a previous meeting February 11, 2011.
This culminates a year’s worth of sparring between the Clatsop County District Attorney’s Office and the Astoria City Council over its Municipal Court and that court’s disposition of DUII cases and the issue seems far from being resolved at all but, here’s a rough and by no means, specific chronology of what has taken place to date:
* April, 2010: Astoria District Attorney presents his proposal to Astoria City Council declaring his desire to assume all DUII cases from Astoria Municipal Court.
* July, 2010: County D.A. comes back to Astoria City Council for further discussion on the issue and not well received by, then,. Councilor and candidate for new Astoria City Attorney, Blair Henningsgaard inferring a “personal vendetta” on the part of D.A. Marquis and Commissioner Russ Warr wanting statistics.
* At a Work Session in October, 2010, D.A. Marquis is back again with the results of a two month study by his office with everybody weighing-in on the results with no clear resolution on the issue but much scrutiny, on the part of the Council, to dissect Marquis’s report and defer any final outcomes till Mayor Van Dusen and Council and other parties review individual elements of the report.
* January, 2011: District Attorney Marquis publishes an Op-Ed in the Daily Astorian with his explanation as to why he is pursuing those DUII cases with the Astoria City Council their own letter to “The Citizens of Astoria” , collectively signed by all members and hand delivered to D.A. Marquis and a local radio personality in the dark of night to their doorstep and then, 4-5 days later meets to approve “The Letter”? Read The Op-Ed And Letter Here
* February, 2011: Oregon Rep. Deborah Boone drafts and introduces HB 3025 which will be heard March 31, 2011 in the House Judiciary Committee in Salem. Read “The Bill” Language Here
And so, here we are today and I’m looking at a headline in Thursday’s Daily Astorian that reads; ”Astoria DUII Battle Re-Ignites”?
Re-ignites?
I’d say that fire is still burning as strong as ever now with Astoria Police Chief Curzon weighing-in with his own statement on the issue and comes across, in my view, as somewhat generic and diluted and lends nothing whatsoever towards any resolution from his position and perspective.
Still, no clear resolution and still, many unanswered and unsettled questions remain and the true question I see arising ultimately is; Does this issue need to go before the people of Astoria to settle?
Should we hold open hearings, with testimony from all involved without fear from any reprisal or retaliation for that testimony?
I say “Yes” we should and the sooner the better and as amicably as possible.
9 comments:
you didnt write that, mcgee, whoever did shares your love of marquis.it's bad journalism, in fact, it isnt journalism
"Anonymous said...
you didnt write that, mcgee, whoever did shares your love of marquis.it's bad journalism, in fact, it isnt journalism
11:14 AM"
Ahhhh! But I did "Anonym" and considering the source, you flatter me....Thanks!!!
Journalism
— n
1. the profession or practice of reporting about, photographing, or editing news stories for one of the mass media
2. newspapers and magazines collectively; the press
3. the material published in a newspaper, magazine, etc:
4. news reports presented factually without analysis
the headline is misleading...very few DUI cases make it to trial....90% of them are pled out. That isnt trial
You didnt write the article. someone else did--its not even an article, it's more an editorial and it's crap
"Anonymous said...
the headline is misleading...very few DUI cases make it to trial....90% of them are pled out. That isnt trial
You didnt write the article. someone else did--its not even an article, it's more an editorial and it's crap
2:03 PM"
And you're here reading it anyway.
Awwwww! That's so kind of you.
Come back again waon't you?
If the citizens of Astoria have to vote on something as administrative as where should misdemeanors be adjudicated, they might as well vote on everything and we can have a complete democracy without need for any governing board.
The voters elected Marquis as their DA in May of 2010 well after this issue became public with lowest undervote of any DA in the state despite an under the windshield wiper campaign by anonyms.
He asked the city to put the issue of where DUIIs should be prosecuted on the ballot in November. It would have cost NOTHING according to the County Elections Department.
The City refused.
What are they so afraid of?
And DUIIs do go to trial in Circuit Court but they almost never see the light of day in Municipal Court.
In fact, we don't really know what happens to DUII's, or most other cases, in Circuit Court. The media simply does not provide individual case coverage and has reported no research done into the matter. We know what Municipal Court does because there have been three studies, including the one done by the DA. However, there have been no studies of prosecutios in Circuit Court.
For all we know, the prosecutor DUII's are dumped with frequency, child abuse cases are pled out and druggies are let free. Maybe Astorians should get some facts before they give the DA the right to cherry pick cases or essentially eliminate municipal court.
Go to court
Read the paper
Talk to someone who was a juror(they actually have trials in Circuit Court)
The DA actually tries cases, as do his deputies.
The stats ARE available because it is a court of record....trials, filings, everything.
Going to court and reading the paper do not provide anything resembling a study. Just in case you have never seen a study, one is created when a competent person takes data from a certain period of time that is statistically likely to depict the norm for the organization being studies. That data is then compared to show what the study was designed to determine. Jurors, paper readers and visitors do not get enough information to determine what happens over time and, in fact, they never get to see what is involved in prosecutorial decisions making prior to court. And, sure SOME of the information that could be used to do a study is available to the public, and some is protected from public view. But, no one has ever used even what is available to do a study of Marquis' office. I realize you are an apogitist for Marquis and Bergin and it is good they have a friend like you that will defend them in the face of everything. However, unless you work for the DA, and most likely even then, you do not know what happens to cases forwarded to the DA by the police. If Astoria is going to make a change in the way it does the business of its court, it should know in advance what generally happens to cases in the DA's Office. That is just good business and we do not have an answer.
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