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Previous stories about the death of Jessie Mary Valero
From The Oregonian of Friday, March 18, 2005 Woman, 48, found dead in Hillsboro apartment Jessie Mary Valero’s death is the first confirmed homicide of the year in Washington County By Holly Danks The body of a 48-year-old woman, the victim of a violent death, was found Thursday morning in her unlocked Hillsboro apartment. Hillsboro police are investigating the death as a homicide — the first confirmed in Washington County in 2005. Police declined to identify the victim, but relatives and friends said the woman was Jessie Mary Valero, who lived in the Park Side Apartments in the 800 block of Southeast 11th Avenue. “She died from apparent homicidal violence,” said Lt. Mark Bonnett, Hillsboro police spokesman. He declined to offer specifics, pendintraining, but when she missed work Wednesday, friends from the restaurant became alarmed, manager David Swearingin said. One asked Valero’s son to check on her. When she didn’t answer her front door about 9 a.m. Thursday, he went around to the back and found the sliding-glass door open, Aranda said. The man found Valero’s body under a sheet and pillow on the living room floor, she said. “We really would like to know what happened,” Aranda said. Bonnett said the apartment showed no signs of forced entry or a struggle. Police searched the area with a police dog and climbed onto the roofs of the three adjoining one-story apartments in Valero’s building, three apartments near Valero’s and the shopping center behind the complex. Nothing out of the ordinary was found. One asked Valero’s son to check on her. When she didn’t answer her front door about 9 a.m. Thursday, he went around to the back and found the sliding-glass door open, Aranda said. The man found Valero’s body under a sheet and pillow on the living room floor, she said. “We really would like to know what happened,” Aranda said. Bonnett said the apartment showed no signs of forced entry or a struggle. Police searched the area with a police dog and climbed onto the roofs of the three adjoining one-story apartments in Valero’s building, three apartments near Valero’s and the shopping center behind the complex. Nothing out of the ordinary was found. Neighbors said they didn’t hear anything unusual in the area Tuesday night or Wednesday. “There’s not a lot of traffic,” said Roberto Arellano Cruz, 30, a construction worker who lives in the Birchs Apartments, which share a turnaround and small playground with Park Side. Valero, whose husband died several years ago, lived alone but talked to family members Tuesday, Aranda said. Everything seemed fine, she said. Denzil Scheller, owner/manager of the Park Side Apartments, said Valero had lived there since August. “She was a real sweet woman. Pleasant. I liked her. I don’t think anybody there didn’t like her,” he said. Aranda said Valero got along well with everyone and was always ready to help. “She never said no to anybody,” Aranda said. “She is a very happy lady. She likes to dance.” Roberto Boascencia, manager of the Cooler Club, 1735 S.E. Tualatin Valley Highway, said Valero came in about three nights a week. “She’d come to hang out with the guys, get drinks and dance,” he said. Police were contacting Valero’s relatives, friends and co-workers for possible clues. “There’s not much to go on,” Bonnett said Thursday afternoon, shortly before the county medical examiner removed Valero’s body from the apartment. There were 10 homicides in Washington County last year, including two in Hillsboro. By this date in 2004, there had been three homicides in the county. Beaverton police are investigating the death of a woman found March 1 in a Murrayhill apartment’s pond as suspicious but have not said it was a homicide. From The Oregonian of Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2005 Officials offer only names of trio, charges in murder case Three men held in jail since July are arraigned in the stabbing death of a 48-year-old Hillsboro woman By Holly Danks HILLSBORO — Three men were arraigned Monday after a five-month investigation into the fatal stabbing of a 48-year-old woman in her Hillsboro apartment. Jorge Reyes Sanchez, 22, of Forest Grove and Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez, 32, of Hillsboro face the death penalty in the killing of Jessie Mary Valero, who lived in the 800 block of Southeast 11th Avenue. Each was charged with two counts of aggravated murder, three counts of murder, and one count each of first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. According to the indictment handed down Friday, the two killed Valero while trying to cover up their identities in the robbery and burglary, making it a capital crime. Jose Luis Lugardo Madero, 25, of Hillsboro was charged with two counts of murder, and one count each of first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. He was not charged with trying to cover up his identity. Police and prosecutors are being extremely tight-lipped regarding the case. No information other than charges and names was released, and police did not publicize the arrests before the arraignments. “It is a very complex case,” said Cmdr. Chris Skinner of the Hillsboro Police Department. “All I can say is that as a result of exhaustive investigation over many months, we made three arrests on these three individuals.” Cazares Mendez has been in the Washington County Jail since July 24 on warrants charging him with methamphetamine possession and stealing a car. Skinner said Reyes Sanchez and Lugardo Madero have been held since late July as material witnesses in the Valero stabbing. Nearly two dozen of Valero’s relatives and friends gathered at the jail court for Monday’s arraignment. They declined to comment. At Valero’s apartment complex, relatives and friends described her as a happy, sweet woman who got along with everyone and was always ready to help. She lived alone in the Park Side Apartments, behind Shute Park Plaza. Valero had just gotten a job at the then-new Little Caesars pizza restaurant a few blocks from her apartment. When she didn’t show up for opening day, employees asked her son to check on her. Police said Valero’s body was found on the living room floor, under a sheet and pillow. They found no signs of forced entry. The next hearing for the men will be Aug. 30, and their trial is set for Oct. 20. From The Oregonian of Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006 Three men are held without bail in death The men face murder charges in the stabbing of Jessie Mary Valero of Hillsboro By Holly Danks HILLSBORO — A Washington County judge ruled Tuesday that there was enough evidence to hold three men without bail on murder charges after hearing testimony linking them to a screwdriver that was used to stab a woman 29 times and jewelry that was stolen from her Hillsboro apartment. It was the first time prosecutors and police publicly outlined what they think happened to Jessie Mary Valero. The 48-year-old woman was found dead on the living room floor of her Park Side apartment on March 17. According to the capital murder case laid out by Rob Bletko, Washington County chief deputy district attorney, Jorge Reyes Sanchez, 22, of Forest Grove; Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez, 32, of Hillsboro; and Jose Luis Lugardo Madero, 25, of Hillsboro killed Valero while robbing her for items they could trade for methamphetamine. Cazares and Reyes are charged with killing Valero while trying to conceal their role in the robbery and burglary of her apartment. They could be put to death if convicted on charges of aggravated murder. Lugardo is charged with two counts of murder for causing Valero’s death during a robbery and burglary. Valero lived in the same apartment complex as Reyes, in the 800 block of Southeast 11th Avenue. Friends of the defendants said the three knew Valero and had been in her apartment before, according to police reports. Lugardo told police that he was waiting outside Valero’s door as a lookout but ran when he heard sounds of a struggle from inside. John Manning, Reyes’ court-appointed attorney, said Lugardo changed his story just a couple days ago and there was no evidence connecting Reyes to the crime scene. However, Maricela Herrera Nuno, 29, of Hillsboro testified during the release hearing that she knew Valero and, after the killing, saw Reyes wearing a pendant of the Virgin Mary on a gold chain that she said was Valero’s favorite. Reyes traded the pendant to one of Herrera’s roommates for meth, said Herrera, who pleaded guilty in May to delivery of a controlled substance and is serving a 16-month prison sentence. Herrera also testified that she saw Reyes and Cazares, who often came to her Southeast 10th Avenue apartment to trade stolen items for meth, sharpening screwdrivers in her garage last March. She said they told her they used them to break into cars. A Hillsboro police dog found a screwdriver with a point sharpened like an ice pick when tracking behind Valero’s apartment the day she was found dead. Valero’s DNA matched DNA from the blood on the screwdriver, Bletko said. Herrera also testified that Reyes and Cazares came to her apartment looking for drugs before sunrise March 16, the day before Valero’s body was found. Cazares had blood on his hands, and Reyes had blood on his pants, she said. “I could see that they were, like, nervous, but I didn’t know if it was because they wanted more drugs or something else,” Herrera said. Ray Bassel, Cazares’ court-appointed defense attorney, called two neighbors who testified that they saw Valero outside her apartment the afternoon of March 16, hours after police said she died. But highlighting language differences and faulty memories in his cross-examinations, Bletko convinced Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Gardner that the witnesses could be mistaken. The case’s next hearing is set for April 12, when defense attorneys will argue against the death penalty.From The Oregonian of Friday, Jan. 12, 2007 Pendant used as clue in woman’s death Prosecutors say Jessie Mary Valero was killed during a robbery to get money for drugs By Holly Danks HILLSBORO — A family snapshot of Jessie Mary Valero cradling her newborn granddaughter is the focal point in an aggravated murder trial that began this week in Washington County Circuit Court. Besides putting an endearing face on the 48-year-old stabbing victim –and offering a view other than the gruesome crime scene and autopsy photos to come –the wall-size blow-up shows Valero wearing a religious pendant that is central to the prosecution case against Jorge Reyes Sanchez. Reyes is the first of three men to go to trial in Valero’s March 2005 killing. Reyes’ defense attorneys lost an objection to the photo’s use before the trial started. They want the jury to picture Valero, instead, as a prostitute who frequently took men home from a Hillsboro bar. One of them, a former boyfriend or stranger who left behind DNA on Valero’s pajamas, killed her in a sexual rage, court-appointed defense attorney John Manning suggested in his opening statement. Police said they questioned the former boyfriend and discounted him as the killer. Another semen deposit belongs to a suspect in a Marion County rape who has not been identified or arrested. “There is no forensic evidence that ties any of the defendants to the murder,” Manning said. Reyes, 23, of Forest Grove and Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez, 33, of Hillsboro each face the death penalty on a charge of aggravated murder and also are accused of felony murder, murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. Jose Luis Lugardo Madero, 26, of Hillsboro is charged with felony murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. “They entered her apartment to steal her jewelry; they encountered her,” said Rob Bletko, Washington County chief deputy district attorney, in his opening. “She knew the defendant (Reyes). They had no choice but to kill her.” On Thursday, Bletko questioned Margaret Gardner, who said she saw Reyes trade a Virgin Mary pendant for methamphetamine a day or two after Valero’s body was found under a pile of blankets and pillows on the living room floor of her Southeast 11th Avenue apartment. Gardner said she was sure it was the same pendant and distinctive gold chain in Valero’s photo. Gardner said her girlfriend, a meth dealer, gave it to her. About a week later, Gardner said, Reyes told the drug dealer the pendant belonged to a woman who had been murdered and he wanted it back. “It disappeared and was never seen again,” Bletko told the jury of eight women and four men. Valero’s son discovered her body about 9 a.m. March 17, 2005. Based on when people last talked to her, police estimate Valero was killed between 8 and 10 p.m. March 15, 2005, the night before she was to report to a new job at the Little Caesars pizza place on Southeast 10th Avenue. Bletko said Valero had been stabbed 29 times. Police searching the alley behind her apartment found a sharpened screwdriver that had Valero’s blood on it. They also found a red bicycle propped inside Valero’s front door. Witnesses are expected to testify that Reyes and Cazares sharpened screwdrivers to break into vehicles to steal what they could trade for meth. Both also were seen riding a red bike that Reyes bragged about stealing. Lugardo, the third defendant, testified Wednesday that he sometimes broke into cars, traded stolen stereos for drugs and smoked meth with the other defendants. But Lugardo said he didn’t want to break into a home, so he stayed outside when Reyes and Cazares went into Valero’s apartment. When they were taking too long, Lugardo said he went to the door. “I heard noise, noises inside the apartment,” Lugardo said, “and that’s when I ran.” Lugardo testified that Cazares threatened him about a week later. “He said that he killed the lady, that he was with (Reyes). He said that I shouldn’t say anything –that the same thing could happen to me.”From The Oregonian of Jan. 31, 2007Man guilty in meth murder Jorge Reyes Sanchez broke into the victim’s home to steal jewelry to use for drug money; 2 others are charged By Holly Danks HILLSBORO — Nearly two years after Jessie Mary Valero’s brutal murder, her family hopes Tuesday’s guilty verdicts are the beginning of the end. A jury of seven women and five men deliberated for a little more than five hours before unanimously finding Jorge Reyes Sanchez, 23, guilty of all charges: two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of felony murder and one count each of murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. “We feel the case still has a long way to go,” said Ray Valero, 31, one of the victim’s two sons. “We need the stress level of the family to go down.” The same jury will start hearing testimony Thursday to decide whether Reyes of Forest Grove should be put to death or be put in prison for life without parole or with parole possible after 30 years. According to Washington County prosecutors, Reyes and two friends killed Valero after breaking into her apartment to steal jewelry to trade for methamphetamine. Valero, the mother of three and grandmother of eight, was found dead March 17, 2005, in her Park Side apartment in the 800 block of Southeast 11th Avenue in Hillsboro. Police estimate she was killed between 8 and 10 p.m. two nights before the discovery. Valero had been stabbed 29 times, her pajama-clad body covered with blankets and pillows and left on her apartment’s living room floor. Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez, 33, of Hillsboro faces the same charges as Reyes and is scheduled for trial Feb. 27. Cazares also faces the death penalty if convicted. Jose Luis Lugardo Madero, 26, of Hillsboro is charged with felony murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. He does not face the death penalty in his May 8 trial. Court-appointed defense attorneys John Manning and William Brennan tried to show that the case against Reyes relied on unreliable, drug-addled criminals as witnesses. They also said no evidence at the scene — blood, semen, fingerprints or hair — matched Reyes or the other defendants. During his testimony against Reyes, Lugardo described himself as a car prowler, not a house burglar. Lugardo said he waited outside Valero’s apartment because he “did not know the lady who lived there.” When he heard the sounds of a struggle from inside, Lugardo said, he ran. A friend of Valero’s testified to seeing Reyes wearing the victim’s religious pendant at a Hillsboro bar within 48 hours of her murder. A drug dealer testified Reyes traded her the same Virgin Mary pendant and unique gold chain in exchange for meth. Others testified Reyes and Cazares sharpened screwdrivers and routinely carried them for breaking into cars. Police found a sharpened screwdriver in a puddle behind Valero’s apartment, her blood staining the handle. Witnesses also linked Reyes and Cazares to a stolen red bicycle that police found propped inside Valero’s front door. Defense attorney Manning portrayed Valero as a prostitute who routinely brought men home from bars. The ferocity of the murder suggested she was killed in a sexual rage, not a burglary, he said. Testimony from a defense pathologist supported Manning’s theory. Washington County prosecutors Rob Bletko and Dan Hesson acknowledged the witnesses were current or former drug users and dealers but said they had nothing to gain by testifying against Reyes. Valero’s daughter, Anita Valero Casarez, 25, said it was hard sitting through the trial, hearing the details of the murder and having her mother’s reputation called into question. The family wants Reyes to get the death penalty, Valero Casarez said. But, she added, “anything that happens still won’t bring her back.” From The Oreogonian of Friday, Feb. 2, 2007 In deciding death penalty, jurors hear of victim’s good Jorge Reyes Sanchez killed Jessie Mary Valero, a grandmother By Holly Danks HILLSBORO — When jurors heard testimony Thursday to help them decide whether Jorge Reyes Sanchez should be put to death for murder, they heard not what a bad man he is but what a good woman, mother and grandmother his victim was. After a nine-day trial, the same jurors on Tuesday found Reyes, 23, guilty of aggravated murder, felony murder, murder, robbery and burglary in the March 2005 death of Jessie Mary Valero. “It is easy sometimes to forget that there is a human being who goes along with the name,” Rob Bletko, Washington County chief deputy district attorney, told jurors. Valero, 48, was stabbed 29 times in the living room of her Park Side apartment, in the 800 block of Southeast 11th Avenue in Hillsboro. A medical examiner testified that any of several wounds to her neck, head and heart would have been enough to kill her. Bletko said the facts of the brutal crime — that Reyes and two others broke into Valero’s apartment to steal jewelry to trade for methamphetamine and stabbed her with a sharpened screwdriver to conceal their identities — are enough for jurors to find Reyes acted deliberately and is a continuing threat to society. Those are two concerns jurors must consider to sentence Reyes to death. Bletko called on Valero’s family to address the third question: Should Reyes receive the death penalty? Prosecutors usually emphasize a defendant’s criminal history and penchant for violence to bring on the death penalty, but Reyes has no record of serious criminal convictions. As Valero family members spoke, Reyes slumped onto the defense table, rubbing his eyes and head. Jurors looked away from him; several cried. Valero’s son, Ray Valero, 31, found her pajama-clad body under a pile of sheets and blankets on her living room floor early March 17, 2005, a day after she didn’t show up for a new job at Little Caesars. On the witness stand, he sobbed and struggled to explain the emotional toll. “I have problems sleeping at night,” Ray Valero said. “I can’t go a day without seeing her lying there.” Jose Valero Jr., 50, the victim’s brother, said Jessie Valero helped raise her seven siblings and held the family together. “She was like an angel,” he said. “After you got done talking with her, you’d feel better.” Anita Valero, the victim’s only daughter, said she has a hard time explaining to her three children where their grandmother went. “They ask every day for her, when is she coming back.” Court-appointed defense attorneys John Manning and William Brennan presented several of Reyes’ relatives to try to paint a sympathetic picture and mitigate against the death penalty. Two uncles testified that Reyes was respectful around them, gentle with children and never showed a temper. “I’m very sad about what Jorge is going through, especially for his mother,” said his uncle Abel Reyes. Under cross-examination, however, the uncles admitted they didn’t keep close contact with Reyes or know he had been living in a drug house, was a meth addict and had been jailed earlier for theft. The case is expected to go to jurors Tuesday. Two other co-defendants are scheduled for trial later this year. Four of the 31 men on Oregon’s death row are from Washington County. The last person sentenced to death in Washington County was Martin Allen Johnson in August 2001. Johnson, now 50, was convicted of drugging, raping and strangling 15-year-old Heather Fay Fraser and throwing her body from a Clatsop County bridge into the Columbia River in 1998.From The Oregonian of Friday, Feb. 9, 2007 Jury gives Reyes life sentence Jurors say they doubted his potential for violent crimes in the future By Holly Danks HILLSBORO –Stabbing Jessie Mary Valero 29 times with a sharpened screwdriver was enough to make her killing deliberate, but jurors decided it didn’t make her killer a continuing threat to society. A Washington County Circuit Court jury spared Jorge Reyes Sanchez, 23, the death penalty Thursday, instead sending him to prison for life. “We had no problem with the death penalty because of the severity of the crime,” said Laura Lyons, a juror who said she pounded her fist on a table 29 times to illustrate the point during deliberations. “What we couldn’t prove to ourselves was that it was probable that he would commit violent crimes in the future.” Jurors must unanimously answer yes to both questions –about deliberateness and future dangerousness — to impose a death sentence. Reyes doesn’t have a history of violent crimes, which Lyons said some jurors initially saw as reason to let him out of prison in 30 years “to start his life over.” However, after talking it out for eight hours over three days, Lyons said all 12 jurors voted for life with no parole because they couldn’t get past the brutality of Valero’s murder or Reyes’s lack of remorse. The same Washington County Circuit Court jury last week found Reyes guilty of aggravated murder, felony murder, murder, robbery and burglary after a nine-day trial. Valero, 48, was stabbed 29 times in the living room of her Park Side apartment, in the 800 block of Southeast 11th Avenue in Hillsboro. Her son, Ray Valero, 31, found her body March 17, 2005, under a pile of sheets and blankets after she missed her first day of work at Little Caesars. “I have no words,” Ray Valero said Thursday after the penalty was read. However, Jose Valero Jr., the victim’s younger brother, did not mince words: “He needs to be dead, just like my sister is dead.” Reyes, who did not testify during his trial, cried as he looked away from jurors when the sentence was read. On Tuesday, Reyes told jurors: “I can look all of you in the eyes and say I did not commit this crime, I did not attack that lady.” He said he grew up poor in Mexico, quit school to start working when he was 11, saw his father routinely beat his mother, and crossed into the United States illegally when he was about 16 after walking in the desert for a week. “Yes, he had a bad life, but so did a lot of jurors,” Lyons said. “We can’t allow our sympathy any part in deliberations.” Reyes’s attorneys suggested that while he might have been at the murder scene, there was no evidence he did the actual stabbing. They presented psychological testimony that Reyes was a quiet non-aggressive follower of lower than average intelligence. Two co-defendants, Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez, 33, and Jose Luis Lugardo Madero, 26, both of Hillsboro, are scheduled for trial later this year. Court-appointed defense attorney John Manning said he would continue looking for new evidence to get Reyes a new trial. Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Gardner did not allow Manning to present hearsay evidence that a woman told others she had killed Valero. Some of Reyes’s relatives told jurors that putting him to death would be the worst thing possible for their close-knit family. But Rob Bletko, chief deputy district attorney, pointed out that several family members did not have contact with Reyes for years and didn’t intervene when he was jobless and doing drugs. “There’s one thing that’s clearly more horrible” than having a relative put to death, Bletko told jurors. “And that was Ray Valero walking in and finding his mother stabbed to death on the floor.”From The Oregonian of Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007 Woman’s killer draws life term The crime’s brutality results in no chance of parole for Jorge Reyes Sanchez By Holly Danks HILLSBORO — Even after the dead woman’s family begged him to confess, Jorge Reyes Sanchez denied at his sentencing for aggravated murder that he was at the scene when Jessie Mary Valero was stabbed 29 times with a screwdriver. Despite his denials, the 23-year-old Forest Grove man was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole. Jurors spared Reyes the death penalty, saying he had no prior violent criminal history. But they decided he did not deserve a chance at parole after 30 years because of the brutality of the crime and his refusal to accept responsibility. “The only way to bring justice is to tell what he knows, what he saw,” Anita Valero, the victim’s daughter, said Tuesday. A co-defendant will go on trial for aggravated murder this month. A third co-defendant who says he waited outside Valero’s Hillsboro apartment during the attack testified against Reyes and is set for trial in May. “I was condemned by false witnesses, by rumors and lies,” Reyes responded to the family’s pleas. “I wasn’t in this place. I am innocent of everything.” At that, Rob Bletko, chief deputy district attorney, told Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Gardner that Reyes tried to make a last-ditch deal while the jury was deliberating. “He acknowledged that he was at the homicide scene, he acknowledged that he took the two co-defendants there; he knew her,” Bletko said. Valero, 48, was found dead March 17, 2005, her body lying on the living room floor of her apartment on Southeast 11th Avenue in Hillsboro. Laura Lyons, a seventh-grade teacher on the jury, said the panel unanimously convicted Reyes of aggravated murder on the first vote. “We put him at the crime scene; we proved to ourselves that he was there,” Lyons said. Prosecutors tied Reyes to the scene by introducing witnesses who said that he regularly rode a red bicycle found leaning against the inside of Valero’s front door and that he was seen wearing a religious pendant that belonged to Valero. Witnesses also testified that Reyes, who knew Valero well enough to dance with her at a local bar, traded the victim’s gold pendant for methamphetamine. Gardner criticized Reyes for being insensitive to the victim’s family. “I don’t think that you are fit, basically, to be in our society,” the judge said. “To be in our society, you have to accept responsibility for your acts.”From The Oregonian of Wednesday, March 14, 2007 Second trial opens in woman’s killing One man has been convicted in the 2005 slaying of a Hillsboro grandmother By Holly Danks HILLSBORO — The faces at the defense table and in the jury box are new, and attorneys argued fresh twists on the evidence as the second trial opened Tuesday in the 2005 killing of a Hillsboro grandmother. Jurors hearing the case against Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez, 33, of Hillsboro cannot be told that a friend of his has been found guilty of aggravated murder in the stabbing of Jessie Mary Valero during a robbery in her small Southeast 11th Avenue apartment. Jorge Reyes Sanchez, 23, of Forest Grove was sentenced last month to life in prison without parole after a jury rejected the death penalty. Afterward, jurors said evidence indicated Reyes was a shy non-aggressive follower who was at the murder scene and took jewelry belonging to Valero, 48. But they were unconvinced he stabbed her. Prosecutors will try to prove that Cazares did, with a sharpened yellow screwdriver that police found stained with Valero’s blood in a puddle behind her apartment. Cazares also faces the death penalty if found guilty of aggravated murder. Valero’s son found her dead under a pile of blankets and pillows on her living room floor the morning of March 17, 2005. Police think she was killed late March 15. Before he traded it for methamphetamine, Reyes was seen wearing a gold Virgin Mary pendant that Valero’s family and friends said belonged to her. Prosecutor Rob Bletko said Tuesday that he would tie Cazares to a different religious pendant taken from Valero. Defense attorneys said they will show jurors that no fingerprints or DNA belonging to Cazares was found in Valero’s apartment. However, Reyes was not spared even though no evidence tied his fingerprints or DNA to the scene. Ray Bassel, court-appointed defense attorney, said a pathologist will testify that the way Valero’s blood settled proves her body was moved after her death, bringing into question all the crime scene evidence. The defense attorney also said Cazares will take the witness stand to offer an alibi for the time of the murder. Reyes, who did not testify at his trial, previously told police he took Cazares and Jose Luis Lugardo Madero, a third co-defendant, to Valero’s apartment because he knew her and knew she had jewelry they could steal and trade for meth. Lugardo, 26, of Hillsboro told jurors in both trials that he waited outside Valero’s apartment when the other two went inside. While he admitted stealing stereos from cars, Lugardo said he wasn’t a burglar. During his testimony Tuesday, Lugardo said he saw a yellow screwdriver in Cazares’ back pocket as the men walked to Valero’s apartment. Lugardo said he ran when he heard a struggle inside. A few days later, he saw Cazares at a Hillsboro store. Lugardo testified that Cazares said “they had killed the lady” and warned Lugardo to remain silent or “the same thing could happen to me.” Bassel pounded at Lugardo’s criminal record for theft and forgery, while getting him to admit that he changed his story to police several times. Lugardo’s murder trial is scheduled for May 1.From The Oregonian of Friday, April 6, 2007 Jury weighs witnesses’ credibility Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez is charged with murder in Jessie Valero’s death By Holly Danks HILLSBORO — A jury today will continue deliberating the fate of a Hillsboro man who could be put to death if found guilty in the 2005 stabbing of a woman in her living room. Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez, 33, is charged with aggravated murder in the killing of Jessie Mary Valero. The 48-year-old grandmother died during a drug-related robbery in her home in the 800 block of Southeast 11th Avenue in Hillsboro. A co-defendant, Jorge Reyes Sanchez, 23, of Forest Grove, was sentenced to life in prison in February for the same crime. Jurors barely started deliberations Thursday before breaking for the day. The trial opened March 13 and featured less than two weeks of testimony. Because police did not find DNA, fingerprints or other forensic evidence in the victim’s apartment that placed any of the defendants there, the case will come down to whether the jury believes Cazares or those who testified against him. Rob Bletko, Washington County chief deputy district attorney, admitted that the witnesses are not upstanding community members. During testimony in the Valero murder, many contradicted themselves and each other and said they had forgotten details. However, Bletko said, “it was obvious the defendant was coached, and our witnesses were not.” As the first defense witness, Cazares testified last week that he was never in Valero’s apartment, didn’t know her and wasn’t with Reyes or Jose Luis Lugardo Madero, a third co-defendant, late March 15 or early March 16, 2005, when police think Valero was killed. Lugardo, however, testified to waiting outside Valero’s apartment while Cazares and Reyes went around back to break in and steal jewelry to trade for methamphetamine. Lugardo admitted that he and the others routinely burglarized cars but said he drew the line at breaking into a residence. Lugardo said he ran when he heard the sounds of a struggle inside Valero’s home. Cazares told him a few days later that “they had killed the lady” and warned that if he said anything “the same thing could happen” to him, Lugardo testified. Omar Ortiz, who Cazares said he was with the night of the woman’s death, testified he hadn’t seen the defendant at all in March 2005. A drug dealer also testified that Cazares and Reyes came to her apartment with blood on their hands and clothes before sunup March 16, 2005.From The Oregonian of Wednesday, April 11, 2007 Death penalty on line in hearing Testimony will help a jury decide punishment for a killer of a Hillsboro woman By Holly Danks HILLSBORO — Jurors who convicted a second meth addict of aggravated murder for stabbing a Hillsboro grandmother to death during a 2005 robbery will begin hearing testimony today to decide if Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez deserves to live or die. Jurors unanimously found Cazares, 33, of Hillsboro guilty Tuesday on all seven counts of aggravated murder, murder, robbery and burglary in the death of Jessie Mary Valero. The eight women and four men deliberated for about 10 hours over three days. Valero, a 48-year-old mother of three and grandmother of eight, was stabbed 29 times with a sharpened screwdriver. Her son, Ray Valero, found her body March 17, 2005, in the living room of her apartment in the 800 block of Southeast 11th Avenue. The verdicts “lift another weight off our chest, but there’s more to go,” said Ray Valero, speaking for the victim’s relatives after Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Gardner told jurors to return today for the trial’s penalty phase. If court-appointed defense attorneys Ray Bassel and Barbara Garland convince jurors that there is reason Cazares should not be put to death, they must choose between life in prison without parole or life in prison with parole possible after 30 years. A separate jury found Jorge Reyes Sanchez guilty of the same charges in January and determined he should spend the rest of his life in prison without parole. They heard testimony that Reyes, 23, was a shy follower who didn’t have a history of violent crimes. For a death sentence, jurors must unanimously agree that a defendant would probably commit future violent crimes. Cazares testified during his trial that he did not know Valero, had never seen her before or been in her apartment. He explained that he was with a friend at the Plaid Pantry less than a block from Valero’s home about the time of her death buying cookies before using methamphetamine. However, Omar Ortiz, the defendant’s alibi witness, testified he did not see Cazares in March 2005. Chief Deputy District Attorney Rob Bletko said both Reyes and Sanchez were seen with jewelry missing from Valero’s apartment. Jose Luis Lugardo Madero, 27, a third co-defendant in the murder, testified at both murder trials and is scheduled for his own next month. Lugardo said he was waiting outside when Cazares and Reyes went around the back of Valero’s apartment to break in so they could steal something to trade for meth.From The Oregonian of Wednesday, April 18, 2007 Meth user sentenced to life in prison The family of a murdered Hillsboro grandmother says life is more than the victim got By Holly Danks HILLSBORO — Life in prison isn’t a severe enough punishment for the men who killed Jessie Mary Valero, says the family of the murdered Hillsboro grandmother. Jurors on Tuesday spared Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez, 29, the death penalty in Valero’s 2005 stabbing but decided he should never be paroled from prison. They deliberated for about four hours over two days. Cazares, whose defense focused on his untrustworthy drug-world friends and his addiction to methamphetamine, smiled while awaiting the sentence and showed no emotion when it was announced. “No matter what sentence he gets, no matter how much time he stays alive in prison, it’s still longer than my mother — she’s dead,” Ray Valero, the victim’s son, said after the jury announced the punishment. Ray Valero found his 48-year-old mother dead on the living room floor in her small Park Side Apartment, in the 800 block of Southeast 11th Avenue, early on March 17, 2005. Investigators said she had been stabbed 29 times with at least one sharpened screwdriver, both from the front and the back. Cazares and two co-defendants were arrested months later. Jorge Reyes Sanchez, 23, was found guilty in February of the same charges as Cazares: aggravated murder, murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. He also was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Jose Luis Lugardo Madero, 27, is scheduled for trial May 22 on murder charges. He testified at the two trials that he, Reyes and Cazares routinely broke into cars to steal property to trade for meth. Lugardo said that the three went to Valero’s apartment but that he stayed outside when Reyes and Cazares went around back to break in. Lugardo testified that he ran when he heard the sounds of a struggle inside. In other key testimony, Lugardo said Cazares threatened him a few days later, saying he had “killed the lady” and the same thing would happen to him if he told anyone. Friends of Cazares and Reyes also tied them to Valero through her stolen jewelry. Reyes later traded a gold Virgin Mary pendant for meth, his drug supplier testified. In a photo of Valero holding one of her eight grandchildren, she is shown wearing the religious pendant. But jurors in each trial decided the defendants would not be continuing threats to society. To find in favor of the death penalty, all 12 jurors would have to answer that the defendant would probably commit violent crimes in the future. Dan Hesson, Washington County deputy district attorney, tried to convince jurors in his closing argument that Cazares was a danger in the general prison population because so much meth is available at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Barbara Garland, one of Cazares’ court-appointed attorneys, acknowledged that he was “a perfect poster child to discourage people from using drugs.” But she argued that he should be given the chance to turn his life around and have hope of getting out of prison after 30 years, an option the jury rejected. Cazares testified that he had never seen Valero or been to her apartment. Before jurors began deliberating Friday on the penalty, Cazares said he got down on his knees and prayed every night to “ask for forgiveness if at any time in my drug addiction I cause pain or harm to another person.” He said he recognized that “at one point I was selfish” because he let drugs have “a great impact on my life.” Hesson told jurors that Cazares fell far short of taking responsibility for the murder. Sentencing will be May 7.From The Oregonian of Tuesday, May 8, 2007 Judge slams cell door on murderer Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez gets life in prison without parole in the death of Jessie Mary Valero By Amy Hsuan HILLSBORO — At least Jose Guadalupe Cazares Mendez will get to see his family, even if it’s from behind prison bars, say his murder victim’s relatives. But Jessie Mary Valero’s family will never again see, touch or hug the 48-year-old grandmother who was stabbed to death by Cazares and a friend in 2005 to fuel their need for methamphetamine. On Monday, Cazares stoically faced his sentence before Judge Mark Gardner, bringing to close the second of three trials in the Hillsboro woman’s brutal murder. Cazares, found guilty of aggravated murder, murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the crimes he committed with Jorge Reyes Sanchez. In February, Reyes was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Separate juries bypassed execution when they decided both men’s sentences. The two men were accused of stabbing Valero 29 times with a sharpened screwdriver while robbing her Park Side apartment. Jose Luis Lugardo Madero, who still faces a murder trial in Valero’s death, testified that he, Cazares and Reyes routinely broke into cars to steal items to trade for meth. Lugardo said he waited outside Valero’s apartment while the two men broke into the building. When he heard the sounds of a struggle inside, Lugardo said he ran. At Monday’s sentencing, family members of Valero spoke of a woman who was deeply committed to her close-knit family. Valero was a mother of three and grandmother of eight. “He’ll have his life day and night sitting in his cell,” said Valero’s daughter Anita Valero. “But my mother won’t be around for my daughter’s 15th birthday. While he’s in jail, he’ll be able to see and get visits from his family. But I won’t see my mother ever again.” Valero’s body was discovered March 17, 2005, by her son Ray Valero under blankets and pillows in her apartment in the 800 block of Southeast 11th Avenue. “Our family has suffered a great loss,” Ray Valero said. “It’s going to take us a long time to heal.” Gardner said that the most important thing for Cazares to do was to accept responsibility for his actions. “Until you come to grips with what you did, there will be no peace for you,” the judge said. “You’ve done a terrible thing.” Cazares declined to respond or make a statement when offered the chance Monday. Lugardo, the third defendant, is scheduled for trial May 22.

Who will the Blazers pick?

Golfer hits her 11th hole-in-one in a year

Beaverton’s transportation priorities list
Beaverton is proposing new fees to pay for small transportation projects. These are the priorities, according to Beaverton city staff, for safety and capacity improvements in the first five years. FIRST YEAR* Adding a westbound lane on Allen Boulevard at Scholls Ferry Road. Estimated cost is $600,000. * Adding a right turn lane for westbound traffic on Allen Boulevard at Murray Boulevard. Cost: $1.7 million. * Building a sidewalk on Southwest Vermont Street between Oleson Road and Montclair Elementary School. Cost: $100,000. * Building a sidewalk on West Slope Drive between Canyon Lane and West Sylvan Middle School. Cost: $200,000. * Setting aside $1 million toward three future projects: upgrading traffic signals; purchasing right-of-way at the Southwest Farmington Road and Murray Boulevard intersection; and adding lanes on Southwest Hocken Avenue between Canyon and Farmington roads. Total: $3.6 million. SECOND YEAR * Safer bike route on Southwest Fifth Street railroad crossing. Cost: $300,000. * Southwest Walker Road at Cedar Hills Boulevard, adding dual left turn lanes from westbound Walker. Cost: $900,000. * Southwest Millikan Way at Murray Boulevard, adding a right turn lane for westbound traffic. Cost: $550,000. * Southwest 141st Avenue between Farmington Road and Allen Boulevard, adding sidewalk. Cost: $300,000. * Southwest Menlo Avenue between Farmington Road and Sixth Street, adding sidewalk. Cost: $200,000. * Southwest Menlo Avenue between Sixth Street and Allen Boulevard, adding sidewalk. Cost: $450,000. * Setting aside money for traffic signals, Farmington and Murray right-of-way and Hocken between Canyon and Farmington. Cost is $1 million. Total: $3.7 million THIRD YEAR * Southwest 155th Avenue between Beard and Weir roads, adding sidewalk and other improvements. Cost: $2 million. * Southwest Allen Boulevard at Hall Boulevard, adding a right turn lane for eastbound traffic. Cost: $850,000. * Setting aside money for traffic signals, Farmington and Murray right-of-way and Hocken between Canyon and Farmington. Cost: $1 million. Total: $3.9 million FOURTH YEAR * Southwest Davies Road between Sorrento Road and 135th Avenue, adding a sidewalk. Cost: $200,000. * Southwest 87th Avenue between Birchwood and Canyon roads, adding a sidewalk. Cost: $250,000. * Southwest Birchwood Road between 87th and Laurelwood avenues, adding a sidewalk. Cost: $150,000. * Southwest Laurelwood Avenue between Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and Birchwood Road, adding a sidewalk. Cost: $300,000. * Southwest Denney Road at Hall Boulevard, adding a right turn lane for westbound traffic. Cost: $800,000. * Southwest Lombard Avenue at Farmington Road, adding a right turn lane for northbound traffic. Cost: $650,000. * Setting aside money for traffic signals, Farmington and Murray right-of-way and Hocken between Canyon and Farmington. Cost: $1 million. Total: $3.4 million FIFTH YEAR * Southwest Cedar Hills Boulevard at Farmington Road, adding a right turn lane for southbound traffic. Cost: $800,000. * Southwest 155th Avenue between Davis Road and Beverly Beach Court, adding a sidewalk. Cost: $1.5 million. * Southwest Canby Street between Oleson Road and city limit, adding a sidewalk. Cost: $150,000. * Setting aside money for traffic signals, Farmington and Murray right-of-way and Hocken between Canyon and Farmington. Cost: $1 million. Total: $3.5 million

Danish cyclist admits doping in 1996 Tour de France
Winner Bjarne Riis said he used substances from 1993 to 1998, including during his Tour victory. Riis said he no longer considers himself a worthy winner of the Tour, and indicated he would be willing to give back the title.

Previous stories about a Beaverton hammer attack
From The Oregonian of Sunday, May 13, 2007 Shopper’s head hit by hammer; man arrested By Stephen Beaven A 56-year-old Portland woman suffered a fractured skull Saturday afternoon when she was struck in the head with a hammer while shopping at a Fred Meyer store, police said. Sharon Weil was in serious condition Saturday night at OHSU Hospital, a spokeswoman said. Officers arrested Eric I. Osterholme, 65, shortly after the incident as he stood by a checkout line at the store, according to Beaverton police Sgt. Paul Wandell. Osterholme, who faces allegations of attempted murder and assault, apparently did not know Weil. There was “no connection that we can show yet,” Wandell said. “This was a random attack.” Weil was in an aisle at the store on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway when she was hit about 12:20 p.m. From The Oregonian of Monday, May 14, 2007 Woman was just shopping for brunch Sharon Weil, 56, recovers after she was hit in the head with a hammer in Fred Meyer on Saturday By Amy Martinez Starke The victim of an apparently random hammer attack at a Fred Meyer store in Beaverton was shopping for brown sugar and other ingredients to make “a fabulous strawberry French toast brunch” for her mother for Mother’s Day, according to her sister, Dana Hunt. Sharon Weil, 56, of Cedar Mill was in serious condition Sunday at OHSU Hospital with a skull fracture. She was attacked about 12:20 p.m. Saturday from behind while bending over on Aisle 10. The attacker then walked to a checkout stand, where he was arrested. “She thought she had been shot,” Weil’s mother, Elaine Savinar said Sunday. Weil is talking and “we’re hopeful for a full recovery,” Savinar said. The suspect, Eric I. Osterholme of Beaverton, is in jail on attempted murder and assault charges. Osterholme was arrested in 2002 in Beaverton on charges of harassment, said Sgt. Paul Wandell of the Beaverton Police Department. Osterholme is being held on $250,000 bail. Weil, who is single, is a partner in the property management firm Weil Enterprises and is active in community service organizations, including the Jewish Federation. She formerly co-owned The Lion and the Rose Bed & Breakfast in Northeast Portland and is a graduate of Sunset High School in Beaverton and the University of Washington. After the attack, her sister said, Weil was most concerned about the ingredients for the Mother’s Day brunch she had planned. “She is known for her wonderful cooking,” Hunt said. “But we’re going to save that for another day.” From The Oregonian of Tuesday, May 15, 2007 Suspect fails to cooperate with judge By Jill Rehkopf Smith HILLSBORO — A Beaverton man accused of striking a Fred Meyer shopper in the head with a hammer refused to cooperate at his arraignment Monday. Beaverton police say Eric Osterholme hit Sharon Weil, 56, in the head with a hammer as she shopped for groceries in the store at Beaverton Town Square. Weil, a Cedar Mill resident, was in fair condition Monday at OHSU Hospital. During the arraignment, Osterholme became belligerent with Washington County Judge Timothy P. Alexander. “I am being force-fed meals that will cause a heart attack. I am pre-diabetic,” said Osterholme, 65, of the Washington County Jail food after Alexander asked him whether he had seen the charges against him. Charges include attempted murder, first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon, all felonies. “You didn’t answer the question,” Alexander said. “I’m not going to answer the question,” Osterholme responded. “Just listen then,” Alexander said. “I’m not going to listen,” Osterholme said. Alexander scheduled Osterholme’s next court appearance for May 21. Rob Bletko, chief deputy district attorney, said he will bring the case before a grand jury that morning, so the court appearance will probably be in the afternoon. Osterholme will be arraigned on the charges in the indictment from the grand jury, Bletko said. According to Beaverton police Sgt. Paul Wandell, Osterholme was previously arrested in May 2002, when he struck a 6-year-old boy in the throat after the boy approached him to say hello. Osterholme was convicted of harassment and fined $309, Wandell said. Osterholme remains in the Washington County Jail with bail set at $250,000. A public defender will be appointed to represent him.

Previous stories about the death of Songseumsack Tanovan
From The Oregonian of Thursday, May 17, 2007 Police shoot, kill armed man Officers say a man with a rifle threatened Hillsboro paramedics answering a medical call and fired a gun at police By Holly Danks and Melissa Navas HILLSBORO — Investigators are trying to sort out why a 53-year-old man shot at paramedics and then police before Washington County officers fatally wounded him Wednesday afternoon in a quiet suburban neighborhood. Authorities declined to release the name of the dead man, but neighbors on Hillsboro’s Southeast Wrenfield Street and Oregon records identified him as Songseumsack Tanovan, owner of Song’s Auto Service Inc., an Aloha repair shop. “He was a pretty nice guy,” said Michael Zervas, 36, a neighbor who videotaped Tanovan shooting at police and police returning fire. “We never had any problems with him.” Lt. Michael Rouches, Hillsboro Police Department spokesman, said the man was fatally shot when he came to his doorway with a rifle and a pistol and fired as officers from the Washington County Tactical Negotiations Team were taking up positions. “Unless they were faced with a deadly threat, they would not have fired,” Rouches said. The man died Wednesday evening at Emanuel Hospital & Health Center in Portland, where he was taken by Life Flight. Investigators from the county’s Major Crimes Team are trying to determine how many shots were fired and by which officers. The Washington County district attorney’s office will decide if the shooting was justified. Rouches said the incident began at 2 p.m. when Hillsboro firefighters were dispatched to a 9-1-1 call from the son of a man who was complaining of arm pain. When four paramedics arrived at the home in the 6600 block of Southeast Wrenfield Street, the man was alone and disoriented. As they spoke to the man to assess his situation, he grabbed a rifle. The firefighters ran and called police. Zervas said he heard several gunshots and then a firefighter banged on a neighbor’s door, yelling, “He’s got a gun. He’s got a gun. Let me in.” Zervas said he and a neighbor went to check out the commotion and saw Tanovan with a pistol and rifle. “He fired up into the air and that’s when we took off running,” Zervas said. “He was yelling, ‘Leave me alone, leave me alone.’ ” Rouches said the man opened fire when a Hillsboro police officer arrived and parked about a half-block away. Shots struck the driver’s side mirror of a neighbor’s car parked in the street before ricocheting into the police car. Bullets pierced the patrol car’s left-front tire, hood and windshield as the officer crouched behind the door. Hillsboro police and Washington County sheriff’s deputies evacuated two nearby houses and requested people in a four-block area to remain in their homes. Hillsboro School District leaders locked the doors at Imlay Elementary School near the scene. Farther away, administrators at R.A. Brown Middle School, Ladd Acres Elementary School and Century High School also went into lockdown. About 3 p.m., the man came to his doorway and shot into the air before shooting at special weapons team members who were setting up inside and on top of an armored van, Zervas said. Police returned a hail of bullets. “I knew they had hit him,” Zervas said. Thovane Solivan, who lived a few houses away, said Tanovan liked hunting and was friendly. “I’m surprised,” Solivan said. “I never thought this would happen in this area. It’s a good area.” Police had been called to Tanovan’s home as recently as Saturday when his son reported that his father was upset and “acting strangely.” Rouches said the man was angry at his wife, wanted to go to California and left home. The son reported him missing, though he later returned without incident. Lacey Wilkinson, who lives a block from the shooting, was at home Wednesday with her two children when gunfire erupted. “My heart was pounding,” Wilkinson, 24, said. “My thoughts were all over the place of trying to protect the children, making sure everything was locked, trying to make sure we were in a safe area and also wondering what was happening.”From The Oregonian of Saturday, May 19, 2007 Shooting inquiry considers illness The man killed by police may have suffered a stroke or other problem By Holly Danks HILLSBORO — A man who fired more than 20 shots at police and across his neighborhood may have had a medical problem that ultimately led to his death this week, investigators said Friday. Police fatally shot Songseumsack Tanovan, 53, Wednesday afternoon as he stood at the door of his Southeast Wrenfield Street home and fired at them. Results of an autopsy performed Friday were not available, but police said they hoped it would shed some light on why Tanovan, described by neighbors as a friendly nonviolent man, acted so out of character. “There is some speculation as to whether or not this guy had some episode that lent to his bizarre behavior and compulsive behavior,” said Cmdr. Chris Skinner, Hillsboro Police Department spokesman. Investigators are continuing to talk to witnesses and officers who fired at Tanovan. The names of the officers who shot him were not released. There were a couple of dozen officers from various agencies, including the Washington County Tactical Negotiations Team, on the scene when Tanovan was shot about 3 p.m. Wednesday. They swarmed the area after Tanovan shot at firefighters responding to his son’s 9-1-1 call and a few minutes later peppered a police car with bullets. Joe Tanovan, 24, called for help at 2:02 p.m. Wednesday because he thought his father may have had a stroke. He told the emergency dispatcher that his father couldn’t talk, had been walking strangely for days and was lying on the floor and experiencing numbness in his arm. The son said Tanovan drank every bottle of alcohol in the house that day but “there really was no sense of urgency in his voice,” Skinner said of the son’s tenor. “He couldn’t articulate what’s different about him, but he knew something was strange.” During the six-minute call, Tanovan locked his son out of the house. He opened the door when paramedics from the Hillsboro Fire Department arrived and shot at them with a rifle. When a police car arrived as backup, he shot into the hood, windshield and left-front tire. During the next hour, Tanovan fired randomly into the air from his front porch and backyard, forcing neighbors to take cover. Hostage negotiators were setting up to contact Tanovan when he came out and fired at officers. “We may never know exactly what it was that pushed him to this point,” Hillsboro police Lt. Michael Rouches said.

Previous stories about Beaverton’s proposed nuisance house ordinance
From The Oregonian of Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007Dilapidated house: Neighbors seeing red City eyes a wide-ranging maintenance code that other cities have By David R. Anderson BEAVERTON — Neighbors of 9020 S.W. Rebecca Lane describe the home as every neighborhood’s nightmare — a gutted house with plywood-covered windows, no running water and a mysterious owner who burns God-knows-what in the fireplace. City officials say they can do something about the overgrown weeds, abandoned vehicles and garbage piled outside. But there is little they can do to regulate what property owners do inside their homes. Beaverton has nothing like the wide-ranging maintenance codes — requiring hot and cold running water, among other things — that other cities, including Tigard, Gresham and Portland, have. But the house on Rebecca Lane has Beaverton officials considering a similar ordinance. The house was a problem even before the fire, said Nathan Jones, who lives across the street. He began complaining to the city in spring 2005 about overgrown weeds. But things became much worse on Aug. 31, 2005, when the house caught fire. Clothing was left too close to the water heater, which was missing the protective plate covering the pilot light, said Karen Eubanks, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue spokeswoman. Fire officials determined the cause of the blaze was accidental. But insurance apparently didn’t pay for the damage and it has never been repaired. A blue tarp still covers the hole firefighters cut in the roof. About a year ago, when the house was abandoned, Jones said he went inside and saw moldy drywall and mushy subflooring. It was accompanied by a horrible smell. The home’s owner, Lance A. Christensen, apparently moved back into the house a week before Thanksgiving. But he has made no obvious repairs. Christensen could not be reached for comment and did not respond to a note left at the house. Jones and fellow neighbor Sandy Dow said they are worried about their property values and the safety of neighborhood children. Jones has a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son. “We just don’t go in the front yard now,” he said. “I am horribly uneasy.” Jones said city officials have taken a “very relaxed, lackadaisical” approach to the problem. City councilors adopted an ordinance in April to address vacant buildings, using the Rebecca Lane house as one example for the need. But neighbors said nothing apparently changed after that ordinance passed. For example, it requires that plywood over windows be painted the same color as the house. That never happened. And when Christensen moved back in, the house was no longer considered vacant. “I think the city is failing him,” Jones said. “What’s most aggravating is that no one cares.” But city officials say they have done what they could. Code enforcement officers have amassed an inch-thick file documenting their efforts over the past 16 months. Work includes towing two vehicles, cleaning rubbish from the yard, cutting weeds and securing the plywood over the windows, said George Fetzer, the city’s code services manager. The case has been particularly difficult, Fetzer said, because ownership has been confused after a mortgage foreclosure. That limited the city’s ability to enforce vacant building standards, he said. Mayor Rob Drake said he understands and shares neighbors’ frustration. He consulted the city attorney to see what could be done. “I just can’t believe someone can use their home without proper sewer hookup,” he said. There is no law requiring a residence to have water service, said Kent Burtner, a Washington County’s Department of Health & Human Services spokesman. City officials are reviewing a draft maintenance code. But Drake is cautious about adopting a sweeping ordinance. Cases of badly neglected homes are rare, Drake said. Though in recent years, he said, the city might have used such an ordinance to force improvements to rundown apartments in the Central Beaverton neighborhood. The city of Tigard adopted a maintenance ordinance in 1999, said Hap Watkins, Tigard’s inspections supervisor. The new code has been a success, Watkins said. For example, if a windstorm blows off shingles, the city will contact the owner if the tarp stays up too long, Watkins said. The city has also used the ordinance in cases of excessive mildew on a building, fallen gutters and rental units with stoves that don’t work. Jones said Beaverton leaders should do something. “I just need them to make him fix the house,” Jones said. From The Oregonian of Friday, May 4, 2007Beaverton ponders homes standards A proposal sets minimums for all properties and establishes fines By David R. Anderson BEAVERTON — A proposed ordinance that would set minimum standards for home maintenance — requiring a watertight roof, plumb chimney and at least one window that opens, for example — will be considered by the City Council on Monday night. The ordinance was inspired by a house on Southwest Rebecca Lane that was gutted by fire. It had no running water or electricity. A blue tarp covered a hole in the roof, and unpainted plywood was nailed over the windows. But because the owner was living in the house, the city couldn’t enforce its ordinance for abandoned houses. The owner has since sold the house to a developer who is remodeling it. “It will end up being the nicest house in the neighborhood,” said Nathan Jones, who lives across the street and has been complaining to the city for two years. “But the city didn’t do a thing about it. It resolved itself.” The city has a nuisance ordinance that addresses abandoned vehicles, overgrown vegetation and garbage in the yard. But it doesn’t have standards addressing homes that are overcrowded or falling into disrepair. The 17-page ordinance establishes minimum requirements for things such as foundations, exterior walls, handrails, doors and bathrooms. For example, a home must have a water heater that is capable of heating enough water to provide at least 10 minutes of 120-degree Fahrenheit water at each hot water outlet. It also sets standards for overcrowding, requiring at least 330 square feet of kitchen, dining room and living room for a home with six or more residents. The ordinance also proposes penalties that range from civil infractions that carry a fine of $50 a day to misdemeanors that can be punished with a $6,250 fine and 30 days in jail. “I think it will help citizens in the future,” Jones said. “We were an extreme case, according to the mayor. But it can happen anywhere.”

Forum Talk
UO Ducks Hoops - How does this years team compare to the 2003 team that went to the finals? - http://www.oregonlive.com/forums/ducksbball/index.ssf?artid=33458And what’s your best memory from this past season - http://www.oregonlive.com/forums/ducksbball/index.ssf?artid=33517Oregon Legislature - Ban junk foods, or just tax them? Add your thoughts here - http://www.oregonlive.com/forums/legislature/index.ssf?artid=1160Portland - Add your comments on the latest police incident - http://www.oregonlive.com/forums/portland/index.ssf?artid=59752

Previous story about Timothy Dunn
From The Oregonian of Friday, April 27, 2007 Attorney found guilty in DUII case Timothy P. Dunn is also being investigated on misconduct allegationsBy Holly DanksHILLSBORO — A well-known Washington County defense attorney who has worked on several high-profile murder cases was found guilty Thursday of driving under the influence of intoxicants.Timothy P. Dunn, 54, will be sentenced Monday to mandatory jail, probation and a driver’s license suspension on his second driving impaired conviction in four years. What will happen to his license to practice law is unclear. Criminal convictions notwithstanding, the Oregon State Bar for years has been investigating Dunn on allegations of misconduct involving mishandling of client fees and neglecting legal matters. He currently is awaiting an Oregon Supreme Court ruling on whether he should be suspended from practicing law. Dunn said Thursday that he will appeal his conviction. He asked visiting Circuit Judge Karla J. Knieps to suspend his sentencing pending appeal, but prosecutor Deena Ryerson argued that Dunn needed immediate treatment to keep him from harming other motorists. “I would be remiss if I didn’t ask for the protection of the public,” said Ryerson, as an assistant state’s attorney. Without a jury in a two-day proceeding, Knieps found that Dunn was under the influence of the anti-depressant Librium when a Beaverton police officer arrested him July 1, 2006, on Southwest Farmington Road. Dunn admitted taking two of the pills and then going to Saturday Mass. Dunn, who acted as his own attorney, testified he took Librium because the drug made him not want to drink. He said he has been sober for more than two years.However, he said he has suffered from depression and anxiety for many years. Officer Alan Julifs testified that he stopped Dunn after observing a red Acura cross the yellow centerline several times along Farmington. Julifs said Dunn’s eyes were bloodshot, his speech was slow, his walk shuffling and lethargic, and his face sunken and pale. Julifs said that Dunn failed a field sobriety test and that he found a bag containing a bottle of Librium under the driver’s seat. At the Beaverton police station, Dunn took a Breathalyzer test that showed no alcohol in his system, but a urine test showed the presence of Librium and six other drugs. Dunn’s doctor told an investigator for the Oregon State Bar that he prescribed two of the seven drugs, but Ryerson could not use that evidence because Dunn refused to allow police to perform a drug evaluation. Dunn said he would appeal Thursday’s conviction on the grounds that his doctor violated patient-physician privilege, that the officer should not have opened the bag under the car seat and that the urine test was not quantitative or scientific. Dunn was the court-appointed defense attorney for Karen Huster, who was convicted in 2002 of shooting her 9-year-old daughter, dismembering her body and disposing of the pieces. He also defended Ali Mohamad Mattar, who pleaded guilty the same year to raping and strangling a Tigard woman and cutting off her head and hands. Dunn has not been given court-appointed cases in Washington County since earlier this year. Stacy J. Hankin, assistant disciplinary counsel for the Oregon State Bar, said in the March hearing that Dunn “poses a danger to the public, the court system and the legal profession.”

Forum news
Oregon - Thoughts on repealing Measure 11? What about measure 17? - http://www.oregonlive.com/forums/oregon/index.ssf?artid=178572Oregonians spend more on the prison system then they do to educate. Share your thoughts - http://www.oregonlive.com/forums/oregon/index.ssf?artid=178501Portland - Opinions on the Schumacher lawsuit - http://www.oregonlive.com/forums/portland/index.ssf?artid=61604

A one-on-one with Greg Oden

Rockets hire Adelman to replace Van Gundy
The Houston Rockets have hired Rick Adelman to replace Jeff Van Gundy, hoping the veteran NBA coach can break the team’s recent history of postseason flops.

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