Tag: oregon

Robert Langley Oregon Death Row

robert langley

Robert Langley was sentenced to death by the State of Oregon for two separate murders. According to court documents Robert Langley would murder Anne Louise Gray and bury her body. During the same year Robert Langley would murder Larry Richard Rockenbrant and bury his body on the grounds of the Oregon State Hospital. Robert Langley was sentenced to death.

Oregon Death Row Inmate List

Robert Langley 2021 Information

robert langley 2021
Offender Name:Langley, Robert Paul
Age:61dot clearDOB:12/1959dot clearLocation:Oregon State Penitentiary
Gender:Maledot clearRace:White Or European Origindot clearStatus:AIC
Height:5′ 10”dot clearHair:Greydot clearField Admission Date:06/20/1989
Weight:195 lbsdot clearEyes:Greendot clearEarliest Release Date:Death

Robert Langley More News

Langley was convicted of killing and burying Anne Louise Gray, 39, and Larry Richard Rockenbrant, 24, in separate incidents in 1988. Langley received two death sentences. Both sentences were overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court on legal technicalities. His last sentencing date was Feb. 2, 2006. Rockenbrant’s body was found underneath a cactus garden on the grounds of the Oregon State Hospital, where Langley lived while he took part in a program for mentally and emotionally disabled prison inmates. Langley’s therapist approved his request to plant the garden as a way to relax.

Robert Langley Other News

Robert Paul Langley Jr. will face a fourth death-penalty proceeding in connection with an aggravated murder he committed in Salem in 1987.

District Attorney Walt Beglau announced Tuesday that prosecutors will return to Marion County Circuit Court, where Langley three times has been sentenced to death in the case of Anne Gray.

The Oregon Supreme Court has reversed the sentence three times, most recently last week, and returned the case to circuit court.

“I intend to present evidence and seek the death penalty in Mr. Langley’s case,” Beglau said in an email to the Statesman Journal.

Gray was 39 when she was strangled Dec. 10, 1987. Her body was found buried in the backyard of Langley’s aunt in April 1988. That same month, on April 14, Larry Rockenbrant, 24, was killed. His body was buried in a cactus garden at Oregon State Hospital, where Langley lived while he took part in a program for mentally and emotionally disturbed prison inmates.

Langley was convicted of aggravated murder in separate trials in 1989 and sentenced to death. He is now 52.

The Supreme Court reversed both death sentences in 1992. It ruled that in Gray’s case, the jury was not allowed to hear mitigating evidence, and in Rockenbrant’s case, evidence from Gray’s murder was improperly admitted in the trial.

In 1994, Langley was sentenced to death for a second time in Gray’s murder, but sentenced to life in prison with a 30-year minimum in Rockenbrant’s murder.

The Supreme Court overturned that death sentence in 2000, ruling that the jury failed to consider the option of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Langley was sentenced to death for a third time in Gray’s murder in 2005. But the high court overturned that sentence last week, ruling that the trial judge erroneously compelled Langley to represent himself in court. That self-representation followed several reshufflings by Langley of his defense lawyers.

If Robert Langley is sentenced to death again, his case will go back to the Supreme Court on an automatic review, as all death sentences are.

Based on previous reviews of Langley’s second and third death sentences, the latest review is likely to reach the high court five or six years after the sentence is handed down in circuit court. That’s likely to put the latest review close to or beyond the tenure of current Gov. John Kitzhaber, who during his first term let stand Oregon’s most recent executions in 1996 and 1997.

Kitzhaber announced Nov. 22 he was imposing a moratorium on executions for the rest of his current term, which ends Jan. 12, 2015. If he were to win another four-year term in 2014 — he has not announced his intentions — that term would end Jan. 14, 2019.

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David Simonsen Oregon Death Row

David Simonsen

David Simonsen and Jeffrey Williams were sentenced to death by the State of Kentucky for a sexual assault and murder. According to court documents David Simonsen and Jeffrey Williams would pick up up the two German tourists who were sexually assaulted and murdered. Both David Simonsen and Jeffrey Williams would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Oregon Death Row Inmate List

David Simonsen 2021 Information

David Simonsen 2021
Offender Name:Simonsen, David Lynn
Age:53dot clearDOB:01/1968dot clearLocation:Oregon State Penitentiary
Gender:Maledot clearRace:White Or European Origindot clearStatus:AIC
Height:6′ 06”dot clearHair:Browndot clearField Admission Date:02/27/1989
Weight:195 lbsdot clearEyes:Browndot clearEarliest Release Date:Death

Jeffrey Williams Death

jeffrey ray williams

Jeffrey Ray Williams died in custody in 2019. No cause of death was released however it is believed it was from natural causes

David Simonsen More News

Williams and David Lynn Simonsen were convicted and sentenced to death for the 1988 sexual assault and shotgun slayings of Unna Tuxen, 24, and Kathrin Reith, 22, German tourists who were hitchhiking up the West Coast near the Oregon-California border.

David Simonsen Other News

On September 3, 1988, the bodies of two women were found in a remote area near Coquille.   Both women, who had been dead for two or three days, were nude from the waist down.   They had been tied together at the wrists and shot in the head from close range with a shotgun.   Police found a great deal of physical evidence at the scene, including tire tracks from a small automobile.

Investigators eventually determined that the victims were from West Germany.   A week after the bodies were discovered, two witnesses separately came forward to report that defendant had said that he and a man named Jeff Williams had been involved in shooting two women with a sawed-off shotgun.   On September 11, 1988, police arrested defendant.   After being advised of his rights, defendant gave two statements confessing that he and Williams had abducted, raped, and murdered the women.   As a result of defendant’s confessions, investigators eventually recovered significant evidence implicating defendant, including the suspect automobile and the murder weapon.

After being charged with two counts of aggravated murder, defendant pleaded guilty.   The trial court conducted a penalty-phase proceeding.   The jury answered the penalty-phase questions put to it in the affirmative, and the trial court sentenced defendant to death.

On October 4, 1990, on automatic review, this court affirmed defendant’s convictions, but vacated the sentence of death, because the jury was not presented with the “fourth question” under ORS 163.150 (1989).  State v. Simonsen, 310 Or. 412, 798 P.2d 241 (1990) (Simonsen I);  see generally State v. Wagner, 309 Or. 5, 14-20, 786 P.2d 93 (1990) (setting out reasons that “fourth question” must be given).

On remand, defendant again was sentenced to death.   However, on automatic review of that sentence, this court held that the state had obtained evidence against defendant in violation of his right against self-incrimination under Article I, section 12, of the Oregon Constitution.  State v. Simonsen, 319 Or. 510, 514, 878 P.2d 409 (1994) (Simonsen II).   Accordingly, this court again vacated the sentence and remanded the case for a third penalty-phase proceeding.  Id. at 519, 878 P.2d 409.   At the close of that proceeding, the jury again answered the penalty-phase questions in the affirmative and the trial court sentenced defendant to death.   This automatic review followed.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/or-supreme-court/1415715.html

Marco Montez Oregon Death Row

Marco Montez

Marco Montez was sentenced to death by the State of Oregon for the sexual assault and murder of a woman. According to court documents Marco Montez and Timothy Aikens  sexually assaulted and murdered the victim  Candace Straub in a Portland motel room in 1987. The woman was strangled using bed sheets before being set on fire. Timothy Aikens was sentenced to life, Marco Montez was sentenced to death

Oregon Death Row Inmate List

Marco Montez 2021 Information

Marco Montez 2021
Offender Name:Montez, Marco A
Age:58dot clearDOB:04/1962dot clearLocation:Two Rivers Correctional Institution
Gender:Maledot clearRace:Hispanic Or Latin Americandot clearStatus:AIC
Height:5′ 08”dot clearHair:Blackdot clearField Admission Date:11/19/1986
Weight:245 lbsdot clearEyes:Browndot clearEarliest Release Date:Death

Marco Montez More News

Montez and Timothy Aikens beat, raped and sodomized Candace Straub in a Portland motel room in 1987. They then strangled her with a bed sheet and set her body on fire. Montez was later arrested in Idaho. Aikens is serving a life sentence.

Marco Montez Other News

On June 20, 1987, Candice Straub, accompanied by two men, rented a room at the Continental Motel in Portland. The next day, firefighters responding to a fire at the motel discovered Straub’s nude and bound body on a bed in one of the motel’s rooms. Her body had been doused with flammable liquid and set afire. It was determined later that she had been strangled to death.

A few weeks later, defendant Marco Montez told Annie Edmo, a woman with whom he had been living in Pocatello, Idaho, that he had helped get rid of the body of a woman in Portland after Tim Aikens, the co-defendant in this case, had strangled her. Edmo reported that statement to the Pocatello police. Defendant was arrested in Pocatello on July 12 on unrelated Idaho charges. The Pocatello police notified the Portland police of his arrest and of Edmo’s report.

Portland Detective Goodale flew to Pocatello to interview defendant. On July 15, after introducing himself to defendant, Goodale handed defendant a constitutional rights (Miranda) advice form, which defendant read. Goodale then read the form to defendant, stopping after each of the four individual Miranda rights, to ask defendant if he understood. Defendant responded that he did, and he initialed the form beside each right as Goodale read it to him. Defendant stated that he understood his rights and that he would speak to Goodale. He signed the advice of rights form. Defendant does not dispute that he was advised of, understood, and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights before talking to Goodale for the first time on July 15.

In response to Goodale’s questions, defendant at first denied any involvement in Straub’s murder. He stated that he had met Aikens in Portland and that they had worked together for a day at a cannery. Aikens had met Straub at the cannery, and she had accompanied Aikens and defendant to a drop-in center in Portland when they returned from work. After sleeping for a few hours, the three went to breakfast and to a second hand store before separating. Aikens and Straub went to the Continental Motel; and defendant went to a park, where he remained until Aikens contacted him later. At that time, Aikens told defendant that he had left Straub at the motel and that he wanted to show defendant something there. Defendant, however, declined to go to the motel. Aikens then said *1357 that he had a “problem,” after which defendant and Aikens then made plans to leave town.

Goodale asked if Aikens had explained the nature of his “problem.” Defendant replied, “I think I need a lawyer to talk about the rest of it so I don’t get linked up.” Goodale asked defendant if “he was telling us that he wanted an attorney and did not want to talk with us anymore.” Defendant’s reply was no. Goodale again advised defendant that he had the right to have a lawyer and to have his lawyer present at any time during the questioning. He asked defendant “if that’s what he wanted?” Defendant replied that “that was not what he wanted.” Goodale asked defendant if he was “still willing to talk with us?” According to Goodale, defendant replied, “I will talk to you without one.”

In response to further questions by Goodale, defendant admitted that he had gone to the motel, where Aikens had showed him Straub’s dead body in the bathtub. Aikens told defendant that Straub had refused to have sex with him, that he had hit her, and that she had fallen and hit her head. Defendant stated that he had then left the motel. Defendant stated that Aikens had later admitted setting the motel room afire. Defendant at first denied involvement in the fire, but he later admitted that he had helped Aikens move Straub’s body from the bathtub to a bed and had participated in setting the motel room afire. Defendant admitted that it had been his plan to burn the room, but he still denied killing Straub or having sexual relations with her.

Defendant voluntarily submitted to polygraph tests on July 16 and 17. When the polygrapher told defendant that the tests indicated deception, defendant told the polygrapher that he did not want to talk to him anymore, and the polygrapher turned defendant back over to Goodale.

Goodale resumed his questioning of defendant. Defendant related more incriminating details about Straub’s death, although he still insisted that Aikens alone had killed her. Defendant then returned to his cell, but shortly thereafter he asked a jailer to tell Goodale to return and “to bring his tape recorder.”

When Goodale arrived, he again advised defendant of his Miranda rights. Defendant then admitted that he had participated in Straub’s murder. He stated that he and Aikens had beaten, raped, and sodomized Straub and that when she had resisted, Aikens pushed his fist into her anus causing her to bleed profusely. They then tied Straub’s arms and legs behind her back and gagged her and put her in the bathtub. Defendant stated that he and Aikens became concerned that Straub might report them to the police, and they decided to kill her. After looping a towel around Straub’s neck, each man pulled one end until she was dead. They then placed her body on the bed, doused it with lighter fluid, set it afire, and left. Defendant admitted that they burned the motel room to destroy any evidence that could link them to the crime.

Defendant then asked if Goodale knew what would happen to defendant in Oregon. Goodale explained the Oregon homicide laws. Defendant then said that he was willing to plead guilty to murder but hoped that he would not be sentenced to death.

On August 28, Goodale again spoke with defendant, who stated that Straub had been conscious when he and Aikens carried her into the motel bathroom and placed her in the bathtub. He also admitted that he rather than Aikens had placed his fist in Straub’s anus.

https://law.justia.com/cases/oregon/supreme-court/1990/309-or-564.html

Michael McDonnell Oregon Death Row

michael mcdonnell

Michael McDonnell was sentenced to death by the State of Oregon for a murder committed during a prison escape. According to court documents Michael McDonnell would escape from the Oregon State Penitentiary farm on November 21, 1984. A month later Michael McDonnell would murder the victim, Joey Keever, who was found dead on the side of the road, the woman had been stabbed over forty times. Michael McDonnell would be arrested, convicted an sentenced to death.

Oregon Death Row Inmate List

Michael McDonnell 2021 Information

michael mcdonnell
Offender Name:Mcdonnell, Michael M
Age:69dot clearDOB:10/1951dot clearLocation:Oregon State Penitentiary
Gender:Maledot clearRace:White Or European Origindot clearStatus:AIC
Height:6′ 00”dot clearHair:Browndot clearField Admission Date:03/01/2002
Weight:235 lbsdot clearEyes:Hazeldot clearEarliest Release Date:Death

Michael McDonnell More News

Michael McDonnell was serving a 10-year sentence for perjury and theft when he walked away from the Oregon State Penitentiary farm on November 21, 1984. While an escapee McDonnell encountered and stabbed Joey B Keever, 22, of Roseburg 42 times in her pickup truck near Yoncalla on December 22, 1984. Keever’s throat was cut and she was dumped near U.S. 99.

Michael McDonnell Other News

Defendant previously had been committed to the Oregon State Penitentiary and was received there on May 16, 1984. He was assigned to the Farm Annex on November 9 and escaped from custody on November 21. He was still an escapee on the day he killed Keever.

In 1986, the trial court set aside the indictment against defendant, concluding that ORS 163.095(2)(f) violated Article I, sections 16 and 20, of the Oregon Constitution, and the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, because it imposed an unconstitutional sentence. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case for trial, concluding that “[t]he fact that a sentencing statute authorizes imposition of an arguably unconstitutional sentence does not mean that the statute defining the crime violates any of the * * * constitutional provisions [cited by the trial court].” State v. McDonnell, 84 Or.App. 278, 281, 733 P.2d 935, rev. den. 303 Or. 455, 737 P.2d 1249 (1987).

At his trial in 1988, defendant stipulated that he caused Keever’s death by cutting her with a knife. His defense was that he did so while in a drug-induced psychosis and that, while he was in that condition, he was unable to form the intent necessary to commit the crime of aggravated murder and that, therefore, he was guilty only of the crime of manslaughter.

Martin and Jennifer Thompson testified for the state that on December 22, 1984, they were driving to a livestock auction. They stopped to observe a pickup at the railroad tracks on Boswell Springs Road near Drain. They thought that the pickup had been in an accident because it was parked against the tracks. Martin Thompson left his car to investigate and saw defendant with a knife in his hand and blood on himself. Defendant told Thompson “to get the hell out of there.” As Thompson returned to his car to get a gun, defendant threw Keever out of the pickup, *944 slashed at her with the knife, and drove off at high speed.

Keever got up and ran toward the Thompsons. Her throat had been cut. The Thompsons placed Keever in their car and drove her to the Drain fire station, where a volunteer ambulance crew commenced life-saving measures. Keever was dead on arrival at the Douglas Community Hospital.

The cause of death was loss of blood, primarily due to the severing of Keever’s neck vessels. Dr. Roos, who performed the autopsy, found 40 knife wounds on Keever’s body, including multiple wounds to the chin, neck, hands, chest, and abdomen. Keever had eight stab wounds on her right hand and 13 on her left. Roos characterized them as “defense” wounds, which he described as occurring “where someone is grabbing for something and then it’s pulled away and then it just slices through, here, there, everywhere.” On the day after Keever’s death, Deputy Sheriff Cannaday arrested defendant. At the time, defendant had scratches on his face and some cuts on the back of his right index and middle fingers. A criminalist testified for the state that he would not consider these cuts to be “defensive wounds,” because the wounds were on the backs of defendant’s fingers. Samples of head hair, fingernails, and blood were taken from defendant. His hair matched strands of head hair found intertwined in the fingers of each of Keever’s hands. Blood found on the back of defendant’s pants matched Keever’s blood.

After a jury trial, defendant was found guilty of aggravated murder. In a separate sentencing hearing, the jury answered in the affirmative the three questions then posed by former ORS 163.150(1)(b). See post, at 958. The trial court then entered an “order” sentencing defendant to death. ORS 163.150(5). Later, pursuant to leave granted by this court, State v. McDonnell, 306 Or. 579, 761 P.2d 921 (1988), the trial court entered a judgment of conviction and sentence of death.

https://law.justia.com/cases/oregon/supreme-court/1992/313-or-478.html

Randy Guzek Oregon Death Row

randy guzek

Randy Guzek was sentenced to death by the State of Oregon for a double murder. According to court documents Randy Guzek with two accomplices would rob the victims before killing the two victims, Rod and Lois Houser, of Terrebonne. Randy Guzek two accomplices would testify against him at trial in exchange for a lighter sentence. Randy Guzek would be sentenced to death

Oregon Death Row Inmate List

Randy Guzek 2021 Information

randy guzek
Offender Name:Guzek, Randy Lee
Age:51dot clearDOB:05/1969dot clearLocation:Oregon State Penitentiary
Gender:Maledot clearRace:White Or European Origindot clearStatus:AIC
Height:5′ 10”dot clearHair:Blonddot clearField Admission Date:07/25/1991
Weight:195 lbsdot clearEyes:Bluedot clearEarliest Release Date:Death

Randy Guzek More News

Guzek was convicted of killing Rod and Lois Houser, of Terrebonne. Guzek, who was 18, shot Lois Houser three times with a handgun, chased her up a staircase and shot her for the last time as she huddled inside a closet. He then ripped the rings off her fingers. Rod Houser was shot 20 times by Mark Wilson, who is serving a life sentence for the killing. Donald Cathey also is serving a life sentence for participating in the crime, although he did not kill anyone. Guzek has been sentenced to death four times.

Randy Guzek Other News

After only a few hours of deliberation, a Bend jury imposed the death penalty for a fourth time Thursday afternoon against convicted double-murderer Randy Lee Guzek for his role in the brutal murders of a Terrebonne couple, after three earlier decisions were overturned on appeal over the past 23 years.

People were called back to the courtroom around 2 p.m., 5 1/2 hours after the jury got the case, following closing arguments and final jury instructions from a visiting Lane County judge.

The jury decided Guzek deserves to die by lethal injection, rather than be given life in prison with the possibility of parole when he’s 78.

Guzek was convicted of two counts of aggravated murder in 1988 for killing Rod and Lois Houser at their home in Terrebonne.

The 41-year-old Guzek was 18 when he and two other men shot and stabbed the Housers, then ransacked their house.

His death sentence has been overturned three times since his conviction, on legal issues. A new Deschutes County Circuit Court jury has spent the past three weeks hearing prosecution testimony detailing the brutal crimes, and most recently from the defense, trying to paint a portrait of a troubled youth with an abusive father.

Special prosecutor Josh Marqis told the jury in his closing statement Thursday, “We can hope that at least Rod Houser was surprised when he was shot 20-plus times. But Lois Houser knew she was going to die when she ran upstairs, running from that man there” – he said, pointing to Guzek – “although there was no escape.”

Eleven Houser family members or supporters were in the front row as the fourth trial in nearly a quarter-century came to an end.

The jury was not swayed to spare Guzek’s life by the tearful convict’s apology for his crimes in court Wednesday, as he told the jury he now blames himself, not an abusive father or drugs, for what happened.

“For the fourth time in 23 years, we’ve all had to relive the irresponsible and shameless behavior of my past,” Guzek said. “I’m truly sorry to all of you for that.”

Guzek said he knew that whatever he said, “my words likely will be perceived as self-serving. The alternative to that, however, would be to say nothing at all, and I don’t think that would be fair either.”

“I remain overwhelmed with guilt (and) shame,” Guzek said. “I am truly sorry for all of the unnecessary pain I have caused. I’m truly sorry for not living my life, and conducting myself, in a manner so that my friends and family could defend me, but never have to.”

“I’m asking for forgiveness,” he said. “I’m asking for peace. And I’m asking the healing process steadfastly work its magic within all of us. It is for these things I ask, and it is for these things I pray.”

“I blame me for my failures; I am responsible for all of them,” he said.

Guzek was 18 when he and two accomplices robbed the Housers, a couple he was familiar with because he briefly dated their niece. Guzek, under the influence of methamphetamine, ordered one of the accomplices to kill Rod Houser, who months earlier had told Guzek to stay away from the girl.

Lois Houser was chased up the staircase and shot three times by Guzek, who then stole the wedding ring off her hand.

Guzek was convicted the following year and sent to death row. The accomplices were spared a potential death sentence by agreeing to testify against Guzek, the alleged ringleader.

Guzek’s conviction has stood for 22 years, but the sentence produced a legal saga with three sequels, not including an appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court. It has reportedly cost the state more than $2 million.

Marquis said in closing arguments Wednesday that the easy choice would be to stop the appeals and simply keep Guzek behind bars until he’s an old man. But that, he said, wouldn’t be just.

Marquis, noting Guzek’s criminal activity before the murders, said Guzek would be a strong candidate to reoffend, even at 78, and has not shown remorse for his actions.

“Mercy, in order to be bestowed, has to be earned, and Mr. Guzek has not earned it,” Marquis said.

Defense attorney Rich Wolf told jurors that it was a “tragedy” for the Housers that the case dragged on for more than 20 years, but it has allowed them to have information jurors did not have in 1988, 1991 and 1997, such as Guzek’s history of being a model inmate.

As for Guzek’s upbringing, Wolf challenged jurors to find a “more reprehensible, more heinous” father.

“To suggest his father was not a factor is quite disingenuous,” he said.

Though relatives of the Housers want Guzek to join the other 33 inmates on Oregon’s death row, Wolf told jurors the family has had to revisit the ordeal in four jury trials, and a death sentence would only renew the appeals process.

“Let the punishment begin today,” he said.

In his rebuttal, Marquis told jurors that the “Houser family speaks for the Houser family.”

“Let’s not talk about closure,” he fumed. “There is no closure.”