Monday, December 25, 2017

Wheeler County, Oregon - Wheeler County Justice

OFF THE WIRE
agingrebel.com
Wheeler County, Oregon District Attorney Gretchen M. Ladd continues to portray herself as a heroine of victims rights. Ladd was the prosecutor who made a secret plea bargain with a woman named Lisa Niehaus.
Last Memorial Day Weekend, Niehaus “crossed into the oncoming lane of traffic…on Highway 19 at about Milepost 60, a location just east of Fossil” and ran headlong into a pack of about 40 Gypsy Jokers. Three men died.
A press release issued the morning after the incident hints at the carnage, “There were two fatalities on scene and numerous serious and traumatic injuries. This resulted in a medical response requiring ambulances from Spray, Fossil, Condon, and Arlington. Five different emergency air transports occurred from both on scene and from the Asher Community Health Clinic. Volunteer medical crews and fire departments responded, along with the Wheeler County Sheriff’s Office, Gilliam County Sheriff’s Office, and the Oregon State Police. Highway 19 was closed for almost nine hours as a local crane was called in to assist in clearing the wreckage. A number of the victims remain in critical care at regional area hospitals.”
Late last month, Niehaus negotiated a plea and sentencing agreement. She pled guilty to three counts of criminally negligent homicide, two counts of assault in the third degree and two counts of assault in the fourth degree, Another 12 counts were dismissed and she was sentenced 23 months in prison.

Victims

Victims of the horrific crash were never informed of the progress of the case. They were never informed of the sentencing until a month after the fact. Victims of the crash were never allowed to offer an impact statement.
In a letter to survivors of the “Lisa Niehaus Matter” earlier this week, Ladd told victims to “be aware that the 23 month sentence is an accomplishment in a case that has left members of the Department of Justice and the Oregon State Police divided as to whether a crime even happened. The alternative would be a careless driving ticket without any compensation for your losses. We believed a crime happened and prosecuted it accordingly.”
She told them they had been kept in the dark because: “Under most circumstances, the Oregon Constitution provides specific rights to crime victims. However, the law allows suspending some victim rights if a court finds that the incident involves elements of organized crime. The court ruled this incident was one of the exceptions to victim rights protections.” In other words, what the prosecutor seemed to mean was that they had not been allowed to speak at Niehaus’ sentencing because they were friends of the Gypsy Jokers and an anonymous judge, ignoring due process, had unilaterally decided the victims were too dangerous to be treated compassionately.

Screw Up

Wheeler County, with a population of 1,358 was clearly overwhelmed by the tragedy and the criminal investigation suffered. The police, preoccupied with the carnage, screwed up and the secrecy of Lisa Niehaus’ sentencing probably had more to do with that than the alleged dangerousness of the Gypsy Jokers.
The pack was on its ways to the 40th Annual Fossil Motorcycle Campout. Niehaus was returning from the same rally. She may or may not have been drinking. We will never know. At the time of the crash “she had a dog on her lap, a cellphone within reach and marijuana in the car,”
In a joint written statement published in the East Oregonian Ladd and Wheeler County Sheriff Chris Humphreys allege that “Lisa Niehaus was trapped in the car. First responders tried to render aid for victims. The responders expressed grave concern for the safety of Lisa Niehaus. Several statements by some riders indicated Lisa Niehaus’s safety was in question. First responders noted the scene was extremely volatile.”
Niehaus, was never administered a breathalyzer test. She told police on scene that she “did not know what happened” and that she had been blinded by the motorcycle headlights and did not realize that she was driving into the pack. Most of the motorcyclists had their headlights on low beam.

Released

Niehaus was released from custody then rearrested the next day. A judge authorized a blood draw and a urine test after her arrest but the results of those have never been released.
In their written statement Ladd and Humphreys say, “Niehaus was not in custody overnight, and without a drug recognition expert to confirm she was impaired when she crashed, a toxicology report alone is not sufficient to prove she was under the influence at the time.”
“Humphreys and Ladd reported several state agencies assisted in the case, and several considered the crash ‘merely an accident,’ the small paper reports. “Ladd’s office, then, became the sole advocate for the victims in this horrific crash, though others may not have done the same.’”
“The charging decision was a difficult one,” Ladd and Humphreys say, “Even the Oregon State Police and prosecutors at the Department of Justice are divided on whether this was a traffic ticket for careless driving or criminally negligent homicide. We believe now, as then, that this was a crime. Criminally negligent homicide requires prosecutors to prove in court facts constituting something more than careless. Case law is fact driven and a matter of degrees of negligence is not easily identified even among the experts.”
Never once in her written statement does Ladd say she is sorry.