Oregon’s Progressive Government Brown Clemency Push comes amid a surge in violent crimes

Despite increasing violent crimes across the country, the Oregon progressive Governor is using its administrative amnesty powers along with it. She is arguing with the state prosecutor for placing violent criminals behind the bars.

“This is a massive release of violent criminals through a process that violates the legal requirements of the law,” said Kevin Mannix, the President of Oregon Common Sense and the lawyer whose agency is filing a lawsuit against Gov. Kate Brown as a spokesperson of two district attorneys and the family of three homicide victims.

In Oregon’s largest city, Portland, according to the Police statistics, there were 57 in 2020 and 85 in 2021 cases of murder. Plus, 26 in 2018 and 36 in the next year.

The plaintiffs and Mannix are facing issues with nearly 1,000 convicts after Brown permitted them to leave the prison after March 2020.

“Recidivism, or repeat conviction rate, for violent criminals is at least 40%,” Mannix told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “Sure, we try to rehabilitate people. We try to change their lives, and we should keep trying. But the prediction I would make is that 40% of these violent criminals are going to commit another violent crime.”

Individually, Mannix said that the governor has the power and constitutional right to grant clemency. But there may be policies and reasons behind that she may be flouting.

“[The petitioners] seek Mandamus to order the suspension of illegal sentence reductions which are being carried out under the Governor’s asserted clemency power, but which violate the clemency requirements of the Oregon Constitution and Oregon laws,” the filing reads.

Cornell Law School stated that the Writ of Mandamus is considered as a court order especially for government officials that says to “properly fulfill their official duties or correct an abuse of discretion.”

The lawsuit alleges that not only the governor failed to notify the victim’s families but also illegally delegated the clemency powers to the state agencies, which also includes the Oregon Board of Parole.

“She’s turning herself into a super-legislature, which is across the board suddenly lowering sentences,” Mannix said. “And we’re saying she doesn’t have the power to carry out that process.”

Linn County’s Doug Marteeny and Lane County’s Patricia Perlow, the prosecutors, are also demanding the state criminal court judges to halt and stifle the Governor’s policies on the commutations of convicted criminals as minors.

“The commutation power does not grant the governor the ability to establish a new alternative penalty of being subject to a Parole Board hearing and oversight,” Marteeny wrote in a court filing. “I believe the governor has attempted to exercise powers not granted to her in her commutation powers and has violated established laws regarding the parameters of the clemency process.”

Along with the prosecutors, there are three other murder victim families that are joining the lawsuit. They include;

Randy Tennant, whose mother was stabbed by her grandson, Andrew Johnson. He murdered her grandmother by stabbing her in the head and neck 10 times when he was just 17. He then stole $2,000 and went on shopping. He served seven years in prison from a 25-to-life sentence.

Samuel Williams lost his daughter, Jessica, who was disabled when three teens stabbed her to death, mutilated the body and lit it on fire. The defendant Richard Alsup served 16 years from a 25-to life sentence. The father is also a plaintiff joining a lawsuit.

Melissa found her husband dead on a Halloween night in 2006. His brother served 14 years from a 25-to-life sentence.

The governor’s spokesperson told Fox News that it “makes every effort” to get input from the victims of crime before granting clemency.

However, the governor’s office didn’t comment on the pending lawsuit.