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eEdition  CLOUDY 65 • 52  |  WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2020  |  theworldlink.com

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No timeline for lawsuit JILLIAN WARD The World

COQUILLE — As of Tuesday, no trial date had been set yet for the civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court over the handling of Leah Freeman’s murder investigation. The lawsuit was filed by Nicholas McGuffin, who was wrongfully convicted and spent nine years in prison over her death before being exonerated last year. “Federal court typically works hard to keep us on track and moving in that direction … We should expect that,” said Janis Puracal, one of McGuffin’s attorneys at Maloney Lauersdorf Reiner, PC. and also the attorney who investigated his case with the Forensic Justice Project, leading to his exoneration. Puracal answered questions from The World about the case, saying, “We want to be able to get this case in front of a jury as soon as possible.” Of course, in the era of the

new coronavirus, not everything may go as planned. “… (I)t’s difficult to predict how long it takes to get to trial,” she said. “In the time of the pandemic, it’s nearly impossible to predict because of the complicated factors.” Since Freeman disappeared almost 20 years ago, Puracal said McGuffin has wanted to find out what happened to her. “… He was exonerated in December and still had prosecutors in the news saying he was guilty,” Puracal said. “That steps down the effort to figure out what happened to (Freeman). They put him in a position to have no choice but to file a lawsuit in order to push the case forward.” The federal civil rights lawsuit is against numerous police and other officials in Coos County. The suit focuses on how Freeman’s case was investigated. Even though no trial date has been set yet, Puracal said the usual measures taken before a

case goes to trial can be done remotely, including discovery and deposition. Puracal said that since McGuffin was released from prison just before Christmas last year, he “has been able to reconnect with his daughter, which has been a beautiful thing to see.” “I think he thought it would be easier getting out (of prison) than it is, so it’s been a struggle,” Puracal added. “He really wanted to stay in Coquille. That’s where he grew up and where his parents are. (He) wanted to make up for the lost time with them, but he couldn’t find a job. No one would hire him there because of the stigma that surrounded him.” Because of this, she said he found work in Portland. “That’s been difficult for him because he’s a family man and being away from family was difficult and now that he’s out, he’s still having to be away from his family,” she said. According to a Monday press release from McGuffin’s

legal team Maloney Lauersdorf Reiner, PC., the lawsuit alleges that local agencies manufactured “false evidence and (hid) other evidence that would have cleared him.” The lawsuit is filed against the City of Coquille, the City of Coos Bay, Coos County, Oregon State Police, as well as Sheriff Craig Zanni. The lawsuit is also filed against individuals from those departments, including Mark Dannels, Pat Downing, Susan Hormann, Mary Krings, Kris Karcher, Shelly McInnes, Raymond McNeely, Kip Oswald, Michael Reaves, John Riddle, Sean Sanborn, Eric Schwenninger, Richard Walter, Chris Webley, Anthony Wetmore, Kathy Wilcox, David Zavala, the estate of Dave Hall, and the Vidocq Society. The lawsuit states that McGuffin seeks “economic and non-economic damages,” “an award of punitive damages,” as well as the cost of his attorney fees and “such other relief as the Court finds just and equitable.”

Sailing the Coquille River

Man who pulled gun on protesters indicted The World COOS COUNTY — The man who allegedly pointed a gun at Black Lives Matter demonstrators last month is facing potentially one felony and two misdemeanor charges. According to a press release from the Coos County District Attorney’s office, Brandon Dean Moore, a 36-year-old Coos Bay resident, was arraigned on a secret indictment Monday afternoon. The Coos County Grand Jury met June 30 and heard testimony from nine witnesses. “The indictment returned by the grand jury alleges the following crimes,” the release said. The crimes listed include unlawful use of a weapon with a firearm, which is a Class C felony. They also include menacing, which is a Class A misdemeanor, as well as disorderly conduct in the second degree, which is a Class B misdemeanor. Moore was released on his own recognizance with special conditions that he not possess any firearms or have contact with “the alleged victim,” the release said. “This office did ask the grand jury to consider charging Moore with a bias crime,” the release said. “After hearing the evidence, the grand jury declined to indict Moore on a bias crime.” The court proceedings will move forward on Aug. 24.

Opposition grows to US agents in Portland

arrested people on the street, far from the courthouse, with no probable cause and whisked them away in unmarked cars. The federal government was sued again Tuesday by the Western States Center, two state representatives and others who argued that agents violated protesters’ 10th Amendment rights by engaging in police activities designated to local and state governments. Federal agencies defended the actions in Portland. Some in the crowd this weekend used radio frequency jammers and shot pellet and airsoft guns to injure officers, according to the Justice Department. It’s also investigating “suspicious devices” outside the courthouse that could have caused “serious harm to those in the building,” spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. Some of the demonstrators also tried to barricade federal officers inside the courthouse and set the building on fire, Kupec said. In a news conference in Washington, acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary

PORTLAND (AP) — The Trump administration is facing growing pushback — in the courts and on the streets — to sending federal agents to Portland, Oregon, where protests have spiraled into violence, and vowing to do the same in other Democratic-led cities. Far from tamping down the unrest that followed George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, the presence of federal agents on the streets of progressive Portland — and particularly allegations they have whisked people away in unmarked cars without probable cause — has energized two months of nightly protests that had begun to devolve into smaller, chaotic crowds. President Donald Trump’s administration also faces multiple lawsuits questioning its authority to use broad policing powers in cities. One filed Tuesday says federal agents are violating protesters’ 10th Amendment rights by engaging in police activities designated to local and state governments. The legal action was filed by the Portland-based Western States Center, which helps organize and promote the rights of communities of color and low-income people. Oregon’s attorney general sued last week, asking a judge to block federal agents’ actions. The state argued that masked agents have arrested people on the street, far from the U.S. courthouse that’s become a target of vandalism, with no probable cause. “It is time for the Trump troops to go home and focus their attention on other activities,” Democratic Gov. Kate Brown said on MSNBC. Federal authorities, however, said state and local officials had been unwilling to work with

Please see Protests, Page A2

Please see Agents, Page A2

Amy Moss Strong, The World

Boaters enjoyed the sunny weather on the Fourth of July in the Coquille River in Bandon.

Protests find new momentum PORTLAND (AP) — Mardy Widman has watched protests against racial injustice unfold in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, for more than seven weeks but stayed away because, at age 79, she feared contracting the coronavirus. But that calculus changed for Widman when President Donald Trump sent federal law enforcement agents to the liberal city to quell violent demonstrations — a tactic he’s said he’ll use for other cities. On Monday, a masked Widman was in the street with more than 1,000 other Portland residents — a far larger crowd than the city had seen in recent days as it entered its eighth week of nightly protests. “It’s like a dictatorship,” Widman, a grandmother of five, said, holding up a sign that read: “Grammy says: Please feds, leave Portland.” “I mean, that he can pick on our city mostly because of the way we vote and make an example of it for his base is very frightening,” she said. Far from tamping down the unrest, the presence of federal agents — and particularly

allegations they have whisked people away in unmarked cars without probable cause — has given new momentum and a new focus to protests that had begun to devolve into smaller, chaotic crowds. The use of federal agents against the will of local officials has also set up the potential for a constitutional crisis, which could escalate if Trump sends federal agents elsewhere. Federal forces were deployed to Portland in early July, and tensions have risen since: On July 11, a protester was hospitalized with critical injuries after a U.S. Marshals Service officer struck him in the head with a round of less-lethal ammunition. Then, anger flared again over the weekend after video surfaced of a federal agent hitting a Navy veteran repeatedly with a baton while another agent sprays him in the face with pepper spray. Richard Cline, principal deputy director of the Federal Protective Service, told reporters Tuesday that the officers are part of the Marshals Service and that the Justice Department’s inspector general is investigating. Crowds in Portland had re-

cently numbered fewer than 100 people but swelled to more than 1,000 over the weekend — and they’re once again attracting a broader base in a city that’s increasingly outraged. Federal agents again used force to scatter protesters early Tuesday and deployed tear gas and rubber bullets as some banged on the doors of the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse and tried to pull plywood off the shuttered entryway. The boarded-up courthouse, which has been a focus of protests, is now covered with graffiti. Portland police said some protesters lit fires in the street and tried several times to set them at the courthouse doors. “It is time for the Trump troops to go home and focus their attention on other activities,” Democratic Gov. Kate Brown said on MSNBC. State and local authorities didn’t ask for federal help and are awaiting a decision on a lawsuit seeking to restrain the federal agents’ actions. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in court papers that masked federal agents have


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