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NEWS Cranston On Trial

Police, bar staff and Ian Cranston’s fiancee testify during the first week of arguments in the long-anticipated trial over Cranston’s shooting and killing of Barry Washington

By Jack Harvel

An earlier version of this story appeared Nov. 4 at bendsource.com.

The trial of Ian Cranston began Nov. 2 with attorneys selecting a 12-person jury that would decide whether Cranston was justified in the shooting of Barry Washington on Sept. 19, 2021, in downtown Bend. The shooting reached national news and sparked outrage over the charges of manslaughter rather than murder, Cranston being released from jail the same afternoon as the shooting and the perceived racial bias of the shooting and in the initial charges. Cranston is white and Washington is Black.

During jury selection the defense weeded out potential jurors who formed a negative opinion of Cranston from unfavorable media coverage, those who felt negatively toward carrying concealed firearms and those believing the presence of a white shooter and a Black casualty could influence their feelings to a degree that could impact their ruling. The prosecution asked potential jurors how alcohol affects behavior, if some-

one who’s drunk gets the same protection under the law, if they own guns and how they use them and how jurors decide if someone is lying.

The following day the attorneys and judge convened for final motion, where the judge ruled on what evidence could be brought forward and what couldn’t. Judge Beth Bagley decided that data taken from Washington’s cell phone was outside the scope of the warrant—an attempt to determine whether Cranston and Washington had ever been around each other prior to the night of Sept. 19. Bagley also sided with the defense in barring a comparison to other downtown incidents compiled by the Bend Police Department and decided Washington couldn’t be called a “victim” until closing arguments.

During opening arguments prosecutor Michael Swart argued that Cranston’s pride was bruised when Washington punched him in the face twice after approaching his fiancee Allison Butler. Washington had approached Butler in a bar flirtatiously, telling Butler she’s beautiful, according to court documents, but left cordially after being informed that Butler was engaged. It’s unclear if Washington recognized Butler when he approached her again outside, but Cranston reportedly told him to “move along” and “she’s taken” before an argument escalated to profanity and then physical violence.

“After Barry Washington punched Ian Cranston twice in the face, Ian Cranston instantaneously took out his hand gun that he had holstered on his back and took it to his side, and then he waited for 30 seconds, a half a minute. Thirty long seconds to take his revenge, to look for an opportunity to assuage his pride, to look for an opportunity to take his vengeance on Barry Washington and prove his manhood to his fiancee,” said Swart, the prosecutor.

Swart said Cranston’s actions were disproportionate and that there was no proof Washington was going to attack him a second time. The defense argued that Cranston had no means to defend against Washington, who was 6 inches taller than Cranston and 40 pounds heavier. The defense also alleges that Cranston only fired after Washington pushed Butler and turned toward Cranston with a raised fist.

“Ian Cranston never wanted to be in the situation he was put in that night. When Mr. Cranston left his home, he didn’t know that before the night was over, he’d be attacked suddenly without warning by a man far stronger and more powerful than him,” said Kevin Sali, Cranston’s attorney.

The first four witnesses called in the case were Bend Police Department officers who responded to the call or conducted detective work on the case. Officers reported coming into a chaotic scene and finding Washington lying unconscious in a small pool of blood with an entry wound on his lower left abdomen and no exit wound. The earliest reports suggested it could have been a self-inflected wound, but officers were later made aware that there was a shooter.

Body camera footage shows police rendering aid on Washington, putting a bandage over his wound and checking for others. Washington at times briefly regained consciousness. Police were made aware that Cranston was the shooter by an employee at The Capitol, the bar outside of which the shooting took place. At the time Cranston was assisting an officer in treating Washington’s wounds. Cranston applied pressure to Washington’s wounds 20 seconds after shooting him, but between then and the arrival of the police the bouncer at The Capitol had begun helping Washington and Cranston was standing nearby.

Several officers said they were surprised to learn that the shooter had stayed and administered aid on Washington and described Cranston as cordial and compliant. A doorman at The Capitol, however, considered Cranston, Butler and their friend Tyler Smith as seeming unaffected by the shooting.

“He didn’t seem as to have that much remorse, if that makes sense,” said Jarrett Yount, who was checking IDs at The Capitol. “None of them in the group were on their phones calling or anything. The other two friends were just kind of standing against the wall and had this kind of smirk on their face.”

The last witness called on Friday was Cranston’s fiancee, Allison Butler. Just before Washington was shot, Butler started filming Washington while saying, “Say hello.” Washington pushed the phone away from him, which Butler said struck her in the face. The footage is one of four video excerpts used in the case. Prosecutors argue it was a deliberate provocation while the defense says it was meant to deter Washington from striking anyone else.

Prosecutors attempted to highlight inconsistencies in Butler’s story as told on the stand, in the grand jury, during police interviews and in her cell phone footage, pointing to grand jury testimony where Butler said Cranston used profanity and that she said Washington hit her in the cell phone video, but said he pushed her during the grand jury indictment. The defense argued that when Washington pushed Butler’s phone it struck her face and could reasonably be called being hit. Defense attorneys also said Butler, who denies the filming was meant to provoke, wouldn’t intentionally goad someone who had just committed violence.

Bagley chastised both the prosecution and defense during the questioning of Butler, prompting her to dismiss the jury. Sali loudly objected to a line of questioning that he believed violated a court order that barred character evidence over a quote Butler delivered to the grand jury. Bagley told Sali to keep his objections brief, and told Swart to wrap up his questions.

“Mr. Sali, when you have an objection to make, you stand up and you make a brief real objection that I can identify by the evidence, code or whatever it is. Hearsay, backhanded evidence, relevance, whatever it is, anything beyond that is argumentative,” Bagley said. “Mr. Swart, this is a tortuous line of questioning. You need to get where you need to get faster and better and streamlined.”

Butler’s testimony drew a close to the first week of the trial that could continue until Nov. 18. The trial resumed on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Prosecutor Brooks McClain shows the gun Ian Cranston used to fatally shoot Barry Washington in downtown Bend in September of 2021.

Photos: Jack Harvel

Prosecutor Michael Swart questions Allison Butler at the trial of Ian Cranston over the fatal shooting of Barry Washington.

Home Prices Drop

October saw a drop in prices, number of sales and a growth of days on the market

By Jack Harvel

Median home prices dropped in Bend by $45,000 in October, falling to the lowest level since the beginning of 2022, according to the Beacon Report. Median sales have been raising with some dips and plateaus since November 2019, when the median home price was $431,000 — in October it was $680,000.

Real estate in Bend is showing some signs of cooling off after a surge during the COVID-19 pandemic that saw higher prices, fewer days on the market and a higher number of sales. Median sale prices reached a peak in March, when the average home sold for $773,000. July 2020 was the peak for home sales, when 318 homes were sold. In October that number was at 160, following trends of tampered sales during the winter.

Before COVID-19 homes were typically on the market for over three months before making a sale. The first year of widespread COVID, between April 2020 and April 2021, the average amount of time a home spent on the market was fewer than five days. The time spent on the market has been steadily increasing since May, and now homes typically are on the market for 28 days.

The market in Redmond is trending in the same direction, with median home sales down to $478,000 after a peak of $542,000 in August. Pre-pandemic in late 2019 and early 2020 the median home price in Redmond was in the low $300,000 range. Redmond also had a very low average day on the market over the past two years, with the average being between 4-10 days for most of 2020 and 2021. Last month the average amount of time on the market was 24 days.

Building permits in both Bend and Redmond were relatively low in October. Bend issued 37, while Redmond issued 16. Both Bend and Redmond permits peaked in April of 2021 with 90 permits issued in Bend and 62 issued in Redmond.

Courtesy Beacon Report

Housing prices dipped slightly, though a home in Bend is still much more expensive than they were pre-pandemic.

Criminal Charges Filed Against Former Timbers Director

Three former youth soccer administrators are facing misdemeanor criminal charges over alleged tampering of files to create a rival club

By Jack Harvel

Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel filed third-degree criminal mischief charges against three former administrators of the Bend FC Timbers soccer club this month. The former executive director has been tied up in lawsuits since November 2021, when she was accused of embezzling over $80,000 through what the lawsuit claims was an improper profit-sharing agreement. In August Tara Bilanski filed a defamation suit against the BFCT and the board president that claimed $5.1 million in damages.

Jen Davin, a former coach and assistant director, and Emily Williams, a former accountant and bookkeeper, are also named in the suit. The state is alleging that Williams and Bilanski intentionally deleted hundreds of documents from BFCT’s Google drive with the intent to inconvenience the soccer club’s operations. The state also alleges they downloaded documents that would aid them in the creation of a competing club — now named Apex Soccer Club.

“Members of a local nonprofit organization focused on kids disagreed with the board of directors of the organization, and rather than channeling their ire into advocating for change, they unlawfully tampered and interfered with property of the organization,” Hummel said in a press release. “In addition to setting a bad example for the kids served by the organization, the actions of the suspects in this case violated the law.”

The documents were allegedly tampered with in the days following Bilanski’s firing. The day before Bilanski was fired, 17 coaches signed a letter indicating they were going to strike over discontent with the board of directors and the board’s attempts to “marginalize” Bilanski and John O’Sullivan, the director of coach development at the time. All three defendants signed on to the work stoppage. In an interview with the Source Weekly last year, Bilanski denied she’d embezzled or used trade secrets.

In May Hummel announced that his office was investigating claims made in the civil embellishment suit. Third-degree criminal mischief charges are a misdemeanor and would only result in a ticket if the defendants are convicted. Bilanski, Williams and Davin will appear in court on Dec. 29.

Photo courtesy of Tara Bilanski

Back in pre-litigation times, Bend FC Timbers club members practice their craft.

“Rather than channeling their ire into advocating for change, they unlawfully tampered and interfered with property of the organization.” —John Hummel

Cranston en Juicio

Por Jack Harvel / By Jack Harvel Traducido por Jéssica Sánchez-Millar

El juicio de Ian Cranston comenzó el 2 de noviembre al seleccionar los abogados un jurado de 12 personas que decidirán si Cranston fue justificado por disparar a Barry Washington el 19 de septiembre de 2021 en el centro de Bend. El tiroteo llegó a las noticias nacionales y desató indignación por los cargos de homicidio involuntario en vez de asesinato y por el prejuicio racial percibido en el tiroteo y en los cargos iniciales, Cranston fue liberado de la carcel la misma tarde del tiroteo. Cranston es de raza blanca y Washington es de raza negra.

Durante la selección del jurado, la defensa eliminó a los jurados que fundaron una opinión negativa de Cranston debido a la cobertura desfavorable de los medios de comunicación, aquellos que estaban en contra de portar armas de fuego y aquellos que creen que la presencia de un tirador de raza blanca y uno de raza negra podría influir en sus sentimientos a un punto que podría afectar su veredicto. La fiscalía preguntó a los posibles jurados cómo la bebida alcohólica afecta el comportamiento, si alguien que está borracho recibe la misma protección bajo la ley, si posee armas y cómo las usa y cómo decide el jurado si alguien está mintiendo.

Al día siguiente los abogados y la juez convocaron una resolución final, en donde el juez dictaminó que pruebas se podían presentar y cuáles no. La juez Beth Bagley decidió que los datos tomados del celular de Washington estaban fuera del ámbito de la orden judicial, un intento para determinar si Cranston y Washington habían estado juntos antes de la noche del 19 de septiembre. Bagley también se puso del lado de la defensa al prohibir una comparación con otros incidentes compilados por el Departamento de Policía de Bend y decidió que Washington no podía ser llamado “víctima” hasta las últimas alegaciones.

Durante los argumentos de apertura, el procurador Michael Swart alegó que el orgullo de Cranston fue dañado cuando Washington le dió dos puñetazos en la cara después de acercarse a su prometida Allison Butler. Washington se había acercado a Butler en el bar para coquetearle, diciéndole a Butler que estaba hermosa, según los documentos del tribunal, pero se alejó cordialmente después de que le dijeron que Butler estaba comprometida. No está claro si Washington reconoció a Butler cuando se le acercó de nuevo afuera, pero según los informes, Cranston le dijó que “se alejara” y que ella “ya estaba apartada” antes de que se levantaran los humos hasta las grocerías y luego llegará a la confrontación fisica.

El testimonio de Butler llevó al cierre de la primer semana del juicio que podría continuar hasta el 18 de noviembre. El juicio continuará el martes, 8 de noviembre.