Far-left Portland DA Mike Schmidt asks judge to reduce sentences for convicted murderers days before leaving office

Just days before leaving office, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt asked the Court to pardon or commute sentences for several violent felons accused of heinous crimes, including murder, robberies, and violent assaults. However, a judge delayed the hearings until after Schmidt exited office due to public outcry, delivering a last-minute blow on Monday to the controversial prosecutor who was historically ousted the last election cycle due to his revolving door, soft-on-crime policies.

Among those critical of Schmidt's last-ditch effort to put criminals over victims was incoming District Attorney-elect Nathan Vasquez, who said the timing of the move was wildly inappropriate.

"What we're seeing in these petitions is that these are very violent crimes," Vasquez told KATU. "It kind of has all the trappings of being a very much last-minute giveaway."

Schmidt asked that the Court evaluate eight cases under a state statute passed in 2021 that allows a convicted criminal and a district attorney to petition a judge to review the convicted's case. The statute, Senate Bill 819, grants a judge the ability to downgrade a felony to a misdemeanor, overturn an entire conviction, and shorten a jail sentence.

However, the law states that victims must be notified by the DA's Office 30 days in advance. Vasquez, who currently works as a prosecutor in Schmidt's office, said: "I don't believe that's occurred." The cases were set to be heard on Monday until Multnomah County Judge Melvin Oden-Orr delayed most of the resentencing hearings following Vasquez's objections. The cases will now be revisited on February 13.

Criminal cases DA Mike Schmidt requested the Court to pardon or commute

Schmidt asked the court to revisit a 1993 murder and robbery case. Frank Swopes Jr., 62, was convicted by a jury of murder, two counts of first-degree robbery, three counts of first-degree burglary, kidnapping, and eluding police in connection to two separate incidents. In the first case, Schmidt was charged with the murder of a 75-year-old grandma. He and a co-defendant robbed the elderly woman at her home in Northeast Portland, stealing her wedding ring and 8 dollars. The woman died after Swopes instructed his co-defendant to "keep her quiet," to which the victim was shoved to the ground and perished, according to court documents obtained by the Oregonian.

One week later, Swopes carried out another robbery. This time, he targeted a 76-year-old woman, stripping her clothes off, tying her to a bed frame, and sexually assaulting her before leaving the scene. Swopes demanded the woman give him her ATM code and ransacked her home for at least 90 minutes while she was tied up, as per court documents.

Swopes was sentenced to 35 years and 10 months in prison. Court records show he committed the robberies to finance a drug addiction. He was 30 years old at the time.

Former Deputy District Attorney Jim McIntyre, who prosecuted that case, was horrified by Schmidt asking the judge to reduce probation for Swopes. "This one count that they want to reduce the probation for sexually assaulting an elderly woman is just unconscionable," McIntyre told KATU. "The fact that he only has less than 48 hours to remain in office. He's doing this on the way out, I think is also unconscionable."

He added, "[The victim] was so terrified she actually soiled herself in the process. The sentence that he received at the time, a lot of people would have believed was too light. And he's going to have three more years to serve, and that's exactly what he should serve."

Schmidt also asked the Court to revisit a 1996 case that convicted Shane Ebberts, 46, of first-degree assault and second-degree assault. Ebberts, who was 16 years old at the time, was convicted of bludgeoning Evan Gardner, a student at Mt. Hood Community College, with a mallet handle. While Ebberts struck Gardner in the head, his co-defendant struck Gardner's friend, David Clarke, on the skull with a baseball bat. Ebberts was tried as an adult and received a 7.5-year prison sentence, according to court documents.

The Oregonian reported that Gardner was informed by DA Schmidt's Office about the petition on Dec. 23. Schmidt asked the judge to reduce Ebberts' first-degree assault charge to attempted second-degree assault. Gardner said he strongly objects to the petition.

"Attempted by [expletive]!" Gardner told the publication, explaining that the sound of his friend's skull cracking still haunts him to this day. "As a group, they inflicted irreparable harm that will stay with both of us and our families and our extended families forever," said Gardner. "It shattered my feeling of safety."

Schmidt has also filed to reduce the sentence of Allen Wayne Howard, 57, who was sentenced to 41 years in prison in 2002. Howard and a co-defendant carried out an armed robbery at Roosters Pub in September 2001. He ordered nine people inside the establishment to get down on the floor and threatened to shoot them. Howard fired at least one gunshot at the floor while demanding the victims to empty their pockets. The cash register was also raided, court documents show. Howard, who was high on methamphetamine at the time, was convicted of nine counts of first-degree robbery, nine counts of second-degree robbery, nine counts of unlawful use of a weapon, and unlawful possession of a firearm. He has served 23 years of his 41-year prison term, and both Schmidt and Howard told the Court that his sentence was "excessive."

Another case involves a mother convicted in 2006 of two counts of child neglect. Court filings show that Tanya Stoudamire, 52, pleaded guilty to allowing drugs to be sold on her property where her children resided. She and Schmidt asked the judge to erase her convictions, the Oregonian reported. Dashia Fontleroy, 42, also requested a pardon for her 2002 child neglect conviction.

The rest of the cases, all of which requested pardons, include Aaron D. Kent, 42, who was convicted in 2002 of delivering a controlled substance near a school; Jonathan Alexander Craig, 37, who was convicted of delivering heroin in 2017; and Nicholas Thornton, 42, who was convicted in 2011 of first-degree burglary.

District Attorney Mike Schmidt's Office defended the requests for commutations and pardons. After Judge Oden-Orr pushed the hearings back, Schmidt wrote in a press release issued on Monday: "I hope that at that time the court will thoughtfully consider and grant the petitions."