The unpleasant truth – based, if nothing else, on the rulings of two federal appeals courts which found that the Oregon State Police and Marion County DA’s office fabricated every bit of the evidence against Frank Gable – is that the Michael Francke murder investigation was just plain crooked.
Anne, the only real investigation of the official investigators in this case was performed by the federal public defender, Nell Brown, who demonstrated to the satisfaction of two federal appeals courts that the case against Gable was a complete put-up job. The result of "government misconduct," as the Ninth Circuit Court put it. I doubt, however, that the state police or prosecutors who were responsible for this miscarriage of justice will ever be subject to the sort of investigation I believe you're suggesting. The current crop of politicians and law enforcement officials in Oregon would like to pretend it never happened.
I wonder if public records requests might unearth some new relevant/material information. Gable's exoneration for "government misconduct" might be cited as the compelling public interest in releasing formerly undisclosed info. For example, the name of the attorney who advised OSP to surveil and harass Kevin with the clear implication (maybe even explicit) that they were free to kill him at the slightest provocation. That's just one example. Public records requests can be powerful in exposing government misconduct. I wouldn't mind trying to make one myself, to see what happens. 🤷
Jennifer, I do hope you do this. I've never had much luck with FOIA requests myself, especially with the FBI which generally sends back a bunch of blacked-out pages. If you do go ahead with this, maybe you can find a way to get some state or federal agency to reveal how Scott McAlister skated on the kiddie porn charges.
Reading over the public records manual (including state archives retention schedules) I see a lot of relevant records have already been destroyed, but some still exist subject to exemption rules. But the older they are the fewer exemptions to disclosure apply. I see some openings, the challenge being to get them, and getting records that are actually useful. So I'm working towards making a few requests.
That said, would you mind sharing information with me on records requests you've made respecting the murder of Francke, including Gable's prosecution? Even if not successful, it would be good to see the nature of your requests - I'm thinking I will get some great insight from them. Thank you for any input on public records requests.
I've made two records requests, both of which were denied. They weren't denied based on privilege, but because they didn't have possession of the records. I pivoted to legislative records to see what names pop up, but they retain even fewer records than state archivist so I'm not optimistic. I haven't given up, I'm just stuck trying to figure out what to do.
If I could get the whole record of the appeal I'd read every page. I'm pretty sure it is not exempt, last time I looked. I'm not living in the US presently so it's more challenging. That said, I do think the appeal file is the best bet.
Something occurred to me just this minute! I call Nell Brown and tell her what I'm up to, and see what she says. I just have to figure out what to say to her.
Any proper investigation would have immediately looked into Scott, and the relationship he had with Mike. Mike fires McAllister and a week later is murdered outside his office, come on.
Anne, the only real investigation of the official investigators in this case was performed by the federal public defender, Nell Brown, who demonstrated to the satisfaction of two federal appeals courts that the case against Gable was a complete put-up job. The result of "government misconduct," as the Ninth Circuit Court put it. I doubt, however, that the state police or prosecutors who were responsible for this miscarriage of justice will ever be subject to the sort of investigation I believe you're suggesting. The current crop of politicians and law enforcement officials in Oregon would like to pretend it never happened.
I wonder if public records requests might unearth some new relevant/material information. Gable's exoneration for "government misconduct" might be cited as the compelling public interest in releasing formerly undisclosed info. For example, the name of the attorney who advised OSP to surveil and harass Kevin with the clear implication (maybe even explicit) that they were free to kill him at the slightest provocation. That's just one example. Public records requests can be powerful in exposing government misconduct. I wouldn't mind trying to make one myself, to see what happens. 🤷
Jennifer, I do hope you do this. I've never had much luck with FOIA requests myself, especially with the FBI which generally sends back a bunch of blacked-out pages. If you do go ahead with this, maybe you can find a way to get some state or federal agency to reveal how Scott McAlister skated on the kiddie porn charges.
Reading over the public records manual (including state archives retention schedules) I see a lot of relevant records have already been destroyed, but some still exist subject to exemption rules. But the older they are the fewer exemptions to disclosure apply. I see some openings, the challenge being to get them, and getting records that are actually useful. So I'm working towards making a few requests.
That said, would you mind sharing information with me on records requests you've made respecting the murder of Francke, including Gable's prosecution? Even if not successful, it would be good to see the nature of your requests - I'm thinking I will get some great insight from them. Thank you for any input on public records requests.
I've made two records requests, both of which were denied. They weren't denied based on privilege, but because they didn't have possession of the records. I pivoted to legislative records to see what names pop up, but they retain even fewer records than state archivist so I'm not optimistic. I haven't given up, I'm just stuck trying to figure out what to do.
If I could get the whole record of the appeal I'd read every page. I'm pretty sure it is not exempt, last time I looked. I'm not living in the US presently so it's more challenging. That said, I do think the appeal file is the best bet.
Something occurred to me just this minute! I call Nell Brown and tell her what I'm up to, and see what she says. I just have to figure out what to say to her.
Got my fingers crossed. Please let me know how it goes.
Any proper investigation would have immediately looked into Scott, and the relationship he had with Mike. Mike fires McAllister and a week later is murdered outside his office, come on.