Portland’s district attorney tries to help a host of violent criminals during his final days in office after voters fired him for being too progressive.
Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt has petitioned a judge to reduce or drop charges against eight people, including some convicted of murder, assault and robbery. Oregon Live.
Under Senate Bill 819, which passed in 2021, prosecutors and convicts can jointly ask a judge to review a conviction or prison sentence.
Schmidt, 43, plans to use the legislation to help criminals including Frank F. Swopes Jr., who was convicted in 1993 of choking an elderly woman and sexually assaulting another retiree a week later.
Swopes was found guilty of murder, two counts of first-degree robbery, three counts of first-degree burglary, kidnapping, unauthorized use of a vehicle and eluding police after she killed Jean L. Stevenson, 75, during a robbery of her home in Portland.
Along with his co-conspirators, Swopes took her wedding ring and $8. Stevenson died after his co-defendant was pushed to the ground at Swopes’ orders to “keep her quiet,” according to evidence seen by Oregon Live.
Swopes said he never touched Stevenson. But a week later, he took part in another burglary, tying a 76-year-old woman to her bed frame for 90 minutes and sexually assaulting her while robbing her of her belongings, court records show.
Prosecutors said he “terrorized” the woman until she gave him her ATM code, tied her hands and feet, undressed her and then “urined or ejaculated on her.”
A Portland Democrat is taking steps to free a wave of violent criminals from prison during his final days in office. Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt (pictured) asks a judge to reduce or drop charges against eight people
Shane Ebberts (photo), who was convicted in 1996 of first-degree assault for beating a student with a hammer in a random attack, is on Schmidt’s pardon list
Aliza B. Kaplan, director of the Criminal Justice Reform Clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School and a law professor who helped write the bill allowing Schmidt’s petitions, advocated for Swope, who broke into homes to finance his cocaine habit.
She told Oregon Live that the criminal, now 62, has served 32 years of an “excessive” 35-year sentence, despite saying he “neither intended nor caused” the victim’s death.
Meanwhile, his co-defendant caused the death but got away with an early release from a 17-year prison sentence as part of a plea deal.
‘He spent his 32 years in prison very productively. He is an ideal candidate for SB 819, which provides an opportunity to convict him and finally let him go home to his family,” Kaplan said.
According to his petition, the victims in Swopes’ cases died while he was in prison.
Shane Ebberts, who was convicted of first-degree assault in 1996 for knocking down a community college student with a hammer during a random attack, is also on Schmidt’s pardon list.
Ebberts was 16 when the crime was committed and he became one of the first people prosecuted under Measure 11, which allows youth over the age of 15 charged with serious crimes to be tried in adult court, where penalties are harsher .
The youth was found guilty of assaulting David Clarke, 25, and Evan Gardner, 22, in a field at Mt. Hood Community College on May 5, 1995.
Ebberts hit Gardner in the head with a hammer, while his friend Brian Lawler swung a baseball bat at Clarke’s head. The victims were randomly attacked as they searched the field for a Frisbee golf course, prosecutors said.
Ebberts, now 46, has served his prison sentence, but a joint petition from Schmidt and his attorney asks a judge to allow him to withdraw his guilty pleas to assault and instead enter a new plea against a lesser charge of attempted second-degree assault. .
Ebberts was 16 at the time of the crime and he became one of the first people prosecuted under Measure 11, which allows youth over the age of 15 charged with serious crimes to be tried in adult court, where the penalties are harsher .
DA Schmidt, 43, plans to release criminals including Frank F. Swopes Jr., who was convicted in 1993 of choking an elderly woman and sexually assaulting another retiree
The petition acknowledges that the victims are opposed to the convictions being thrown out, but claims that the black mark on Ebberts’ name “no longer advances the interests of justice,” according to Oregon Live.
If this move is granted, Ebberts could later ask to have the crime expunged from his criminal record.
Chuck French, a retired Multnomah County prosecutor who handled Ebbert’s case, told Oregon Live he disagreed with Schmidt’s move. “This was a terribly traumatic experience for the victims,” French said.
One of the victims, Gardner, said he was outraged when he was told about his attacker’s petition on December 23. He said he remembers hearing the baseball bat crack against his friend’s skull before he was hit by Ebberts.
“As a group, they caused irreparable damage that will stay with us, our families and our extended families forever,” Gardner told Oregon Live. ‘It disturbed my sense of security.’
Other criminals Schmidt wants to help include Allen Wayne Howard, 57, who wants to reduce his 41-year sentence for the 2001 Roosters Pub robbery.
Howard, who has served 23 years of his sentence to date, allegedly fired a gun at the cement ground while threatening to shoot the nine people inside.
His request for review argues that a single robbery conviction today without injury could be punishable by up to 10 years in prison – less than a quarter of his sentence. According to Oregon Live, at least two of the victims are against his appeal.
Other joint petitioners seeking to have their convictions overturned include Tanya Stoudamire, 52, who was found guilty of child neglect in 2006 after allowing her children to live in a home where drugs were sold.
Incoming District Attorney Nathan Vasquez dethroned Schmidt after promising a tough-on-crime approach
Aaron D. Kent, 42, also wants his 2002 conviction for delivering a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school tossed out.
To add insult to injury, the joint petitions were only filed at the last minute, prompting critics to accuse Schmidt of trying to implement the changes unnoticed during the holidays and during his final days in office.
His replacement, Nathan Vasquez, who will take office on January 6, disapproved of the move.
“These seem like a last-minute giveaway,” he told Oregon Live. “They are extremely violent individuals who have committed terrible crimes, and they are getting some kind of peace.”
Schmidt’s office has said the petitions, which will be heard in court Monday, are in line with previous petitions he has supported over the past year.
“We have an established and comprehensive process, including input from our community advisory board,” he told Oregon Live via email.
“Each of these petitions has been dealt with in a thorough process over a number of months. This is the same work we did during my tenure.”
Vasquez was elected Portland’s new district attorney earlier this year after Schmidt’s soft-on-crime policies were blamed for the city’s destruction.