Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of Feb 2022. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil. This section is not intended for posting links to news articles without additional relevant comment.
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Here’s a bill worth our time!
Out of Oregon .
https://www.statesmanjournal.com/
Worth reading!
I was wrongfully accused, then pardoned. But I’m still living a nightmare
Earl Bain
Fri, February 25, 2022, 2:00 PM
For more than six years of my life, I was wrongfully incarcerated in an Oregon prison. I was convicted in Malheur County of a crime I did not commit and falsely labeled as having abused my own child.
I was living a nightmare, but I couldn’t wake up.
In August 2020, Gov. Kate Brown granted me a pardon on the grounds of my innocence, the first time she has issued a pardon on that basis. I no longer carry the labels of “felon” or “sex offender,” but the problems stemming from my wrongful conviction are far from over.
Due to my conviction, I lost the good career I had in the military and can’t go back to it. I am a combat veteran who served my country in Afghanistan, but that didn’t count for anything when the state took everything from me and sent me to prison.
Since returning to the community, I have spent thousands of dollars on sex offender fees, supervision fees and polygraph tests that my parole officer repeatedly forced me to take, assuming I was lying when I said I was innocent.
The greatest loss, though, was time with my daughters while they were growing up. During my time in prison, I was not allowed to see or talk to them at any time. I wasn’t even allowed to send them a letter.
Trying to overcome all of this has been a tremendous struggle for me and my family. The stigma of my wrongful conviction is such that every time I meet someone new, I have had to worry about what they are thinking about me. I have had to try to find words to explain that I’m not who my conviction said I was.
I’m free now, and my innocence has been recognized.
But I’m still trying to rebuild my life. I had to start over when I got out of prison and the challenges I face have not come to an end just because I no longer have the wrongful conviction on my record.
People like me are just asking for a fair shot. We lost everything and it was the criminal justice system that took it from us. It’s time for Oregon to recognize exonerees and address the harm that has been done to us. I am an innocent man but those are just words.
How can the state be allowed to take everything away from me and shrug its shoulders after I am exonerated?
Fortunately, there’s an opportunity for Oregon to do the right thing. A bill being considered by legislators, Senate Bill 1584 by Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, and many other bipartisan sponsors, would provide a fixed amount of $65,000 in compensation per year of wrongful incarceration to exonerees who meet certain criteria, as well as $25,000 for years spent on parole, post-prison supervision or the sex offender registry.
Our neighbors in Idaho passed similar legislation last year, and Gov. Brad Little last year signed that bill into law. If Idaho can do it, so should Oregon.
Seeing Senate Bill 1584 become law would mean more than just financial compensation that would allow me to get back on my feet and give me a chance to support my family the way I should have been doing all those years I was locked up.
This bill represents the state of Oregon admitting it sometimes gets it wrong. And for wrongfully convicted people like me, that means more than words can say.
Earl Bain was convicted in 2009 in Malheur County for a crime he did not commit. He spent six years in prison. After the complaining witness in his case recanted her story, with the help of the Oregon Innocence Project he was pardoned on the grounds of innocence by Gov. Kate Brown in August 2020. You may reach him at fredrickbain78@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon bill can help wrongly accused to rebuild their lives
🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
Aaaargh!!! I gotta vent!! 😡
The f#@king Registries are disgusting, vile, abhorrent, and repugnantly evil!!! I do a regular search of Google News for stories relating to “SORNA” , “sex offenders”, or “Megan’s Law”. If you do the same, you will see why I am so irate. So many individuals being arrested, jailed, and incarcerated for MANY years – all due to FTRs and similar registration violations! No one else has to abide by and tolerate this SH#T!! Not drug dealers, DUI drivers, bank robbers, DV offenders, weapons or assault violators! No, just Registrants – who have a MUCH lower re-offense rate than all those others! The registry is absolutely punishment because it’s designed to make each one of us continue to pay and pay and pay for our already paid-for and settled debts to society.
😡😡😡😡😡😡😡
Excuse me Sir. I’m sure we all have gripes about the registry but this terrorism or a hit list is a bit much if anyone is understanding you right. Guess its like fighting a kite. If the wind is blowing right and the tail is on tight than its all good to sail. Seems many can fall deeper and deeper in this sex registry ordeal if one makes it their mission of oppressing. While it seems no one’s flying a kite for truth and understanding. its as if justice with this registry issue is going into a tail spin and a bit off its mark.
One either learns how to fly a kite or fight the battle of the wind. Who is hitting on your hit list or would Siberia be a nice place to fly a kite. Will Allen and many we are fighting for justice or is terror in the heart of the deceiver? Wow deceiving justice never thought of it that way. Guess its just how the wind blows. Anger or venting management is either a slowdown or a showdown.
Are tier 3’s with a 34 year old conviction required to post quarterly now with the new tier scheme in Calif.
Dram I don’t know how it is out in California with this sex law but from many of you all posting it seems many states are worse than others. Hey one can either ask their PO or whoever is overseeing you about these issues. Don’t be afraid to speak up. Either the questions’ in line with the status issue at hand or someone is trying to ignore the issue. Its like me saying to my old PO a few years ago am I different than the others you visit and he told me I’m not allowed to talk about that. Seems states want to out-due the other states for some favoritism or something like that.
Dram there are no instructions that go along with this registry issue. Its like true justice is in the hot seat and lopped sided in much of this sex registry topic. If your time is served than that should be it. This extension stuff is more of an abuse in and of itself and even the labeling. One wonders who’s the prisoner in this vain justice system one has today. I’m sure many would love answers out in California or other area’s of the state.
Dram while I said no instructions there are guidelines such as cerfew, internet usage, hanging out in bars or even strip joints if thats the case…Sorry I had to laugh on that strip joint thing. So who’s stripping who in much of this cockeyed justice today. Did you ever wonder how women got their rights to vote or the black man got his justice. I mentioned the women’s rights on here once and its also interesting how the blacks got their rights also. Alabama wasn’t a nice place years ago and many so uthern states. What a California gold rush did for those back in the time.
Not directly to us, but does start to dispell similar misconceptions and government stated falsehoods. Here is John Oliver’s newest video on Sex Workers.
https://youtu.be/-gd8yUptg0Q
Just did my annual in Van Nuys. Got my tier letter and proof of registration and its off to Janice. I did notice when you initial the boxes there is a box that says ‘if you are TBD you are still required to register’. There are 3 new boxes to initial regarding tiering. They were very pleasant and as I walked out I said “I hope I never see this office again”. They had no info on SORNA.
Might help in California,
state legislators passed SB 357
Los Angeles Times Opinion
Op-Ed: California’s loitering law is discriminatory and makes everyone less safe
Cheryl Dorsey
Mon, March 14, 2022, 6:01 AM
You know sometimes sleeping with the enemy is one’s own conscious or it can bring a person down and nobody likes to self incriminate themself. Is all the paperwork they give one sort of a self incriminating work in the making. Before I got involved in all this I was a demonstrator/ promoter of products for a few chain stores. I can’t mentioned the stores as that would a bit callous.Sure we can all look for a bed of roses or as one said on here learn from the school of hard knocks but life is not always easy street and justice has a ways to go in certain circumstances.
I’m sure marriage life isn’t easy also with something like this hanging over one’s shoulders but pressing on is always good when things get rough. Seems this registry is a bit much for many to swallow today that is why its so important to take this journey to DC to try and reconcile differences and its not only for us but for others that may get involved in a lot of this registry. I just hope people are writing their letters to this American Law Institute.