This week has been a lot of self-recovery and time in bed (still not sure what I got hit with. Not sick, just -incredibly- tired). But some things have been happening in recent days and here’s you’re catch up. In the Montgomery v. Portland case, where Mr. Montgomery alleges he was tackled multiple times by police while following dispersal orders, the case has progressed to the point where Judge Lopez will be hearing pre-trial matters. Another recent case, Christiansen v. Portland, has been served on the city
In other civil cases, Corey Wyatt has responded in the Swinney, Wyatt and Willis case from federal detention, vociferously denying any of his involvement and announcing his intention to countersue for defamation and emotional damages. Mr Wyatt has his own criminal cases ongoing both in state and federal courts for unrelated incidents.
Our third civil case with recent changes is the ACLU suing on behalf of an unnamed protester for police illegally recording protests when there was no evidence of criminal activity. Judge Lopez has been assigned to the case, making this the third such protest related suit that has been randomly assigned to them at this time.
In criminal cases, as was reported by us previously, Marquise Love recently pled guilty to assault and riot, and was sentenced to 20 months in jail and three years post-jail supervision. To my knowledge, this is the first felony conviction to come from any of these protests, but that is solely because any other still pending cases have been pled not guilty.
In Salem, the Wolfskill case appears to have a not guilty plea entered, and Judge Wren has been assigned as the trial judge for that case.
Moving along to campaign reform cases, the writ of mandamus from late October’s State ex rel case (more information available here) has been returned. Much of what was said in court was restated, that the rule was unenforceable and as such there was no violation. At this point, that gives the parties 30 days to file an appeal of the decision to the county, and we’ll be watching to see if they do so. The response from the city is available to read here.
And finally, the last case that we’ve been actively tracking right now is moving surprisingly quickly. The city, suing lawyer Alan Kessler over a disagreement where the city attorney has sided with Mr. Kessler’s view of proper redactions of a records request, has already had Judge Russell appointed as the trial judge. .