Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com
Last week, Portland Copwatch wrote Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk asking why the commanding on scene officer at the Aaron Campbell incident wasn’t called to testify in the grand jury proceedings.
The letter, suggests that depending on the communication Officer Ronald Frashour, who shot Campbell with an Ar-15 rifle, had with his commanding sergeant, he could have been indicted.
Schrunk had this to say:
The grand jurors did not request to the hear the testimony of Sgt. Reyna [the commanding officer] and it was apparent from the investigative interviews with her that she had nothing to add regarding the incident that had not already been testified to by Sgt. Birkinbine and other witnesses.
Sgt. Reyna did not see the use of deadly force and her account of the call itself was testified to by several other witnesses. Your speculation on actions she took that might have been relevant to Officer Frashour.s use of deadly force is not validated by actual events nor is your speculation that she was criminally responsible for the death that occurred.
As the grand jurors clearly stated in their letter of February 10 they did not need her testimony to resolve the issue before them regarding potential criminal liability arising from the shooting. Their thought that her testimony might have relevance to other issues was, as I indicated, not shared with us until they were discharged from duty and is belied by the investigative interview with Sgt. Reyna.
However, Copwatch remains isn’t satisfied with that response:
While DA Schrunk blames the fact that the jury did not call the on scene commander, Sgt Reyna, to testify under oath to their lack of interest until they wrote their letter, we still do not understand why he, an experienced prosecutor for over 25 years, did not encourage them to do so. A statement to detectives and a sworn statement to a grand jury are not the same.
