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| The candle light vigil for Shanny and Jake at the Park |
First I want to thank everyone who showed their support today, we all really appreciate it. I want to explain more about the horrible plea offer that the District Attorney’s Office accepted. This plea is the brain child of a Judge Bergstrom who is an out-of-county judge that the DDA and Defense Attorney Hanson brought in to do who knows what. Anyway, when Alicia Eagan called us with the details of this deal she only gave us bits and pieces and so my attorney (who has been at every hearing and doing his own investigation) asked for a written copy of the plea deal and was told ‘no’ so he asked again, only this time in front of the judge and was again told ‘no’ but also that it wasn’t the DA’s policy to share that but that she would meet with my attorney to give him the details, which are as follows:
Defendant to Plead to 2 Counts Criminally Negligent Homicide.
The prosecution and the defense have stipulated to a sentence of 37 months on one count and 38 months on the second count. Total 75 months. Less 20% good time.
No alternative prison programs which might lessen his sentence even more. This is the sole dim light in a very dark deal.
3 years of post-prison supervision.
Revocation of his driver’s license—which he never had in the first place.
There is nothing about his drug using and additionally he could be out early never serving the full
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| Jake |
sentence, with all likelihood doing this again. The sentence is a fraction of the 150 months (with no credit for good time) he should have received for 2 Manslaughter II convictions.
Alicia Eagan said that she could not use the drug use or lab results in court because according to her the defense could have this evidence suppressed because according to the police reports and doctors reports there were no signs of intoxication. This is a lie; we have reports from 2 first responders that said yes, he did show signs of intoxication. To compound this lie she said that the blood collected was done without a warrant when in actuality no warrant was need for an exigent blood draw. Also, did you know it is a Federal Offense to harm Military personnel, Shantel was a Petty Officer 3rd Class in the US Navy (active duty home on leave) but was any of this even taken into account? Nope it wasn’t. And if she has lied to us and the judges, who else has she lied to or withheld pertinent information from about this case?
Given that the results of the blood draws have never been released, and the police reports have never been released, we feel that the District Attorney’s office has totally betrayed our trust. We believe that the information is being withheld because it would reflect badly on the DA’s office and for no legitimate reason. Not providing the victims with any meaningful input on pleas, evidence or negotiations is what passes for victim’s rights in Yamhill County. The Victim’s Advocate appears to have being a dog handler as her primary responsibility.
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| Shaanny at YC Track Meet |
Months ago we went to District Attorney Brad Berry to request that Alicia Eagan be replaced. He refused to even consider a change. That led up to the current disaster. At the time Mr. Berry assured us that the matter would go to trial if the defense did not accept a plea to Manslaughter II. When confronted with Mr. Berry’s statements, Alicia Eagan’s explanation was that she was never privy to that conversation. Another deliberately misleading statement. She has also stated that Brad Berry approved of this deal.
Alicia Eagan and the Defense Attorney plan on having the settlement judge (Bergstrom) hear the plea but our Attorney objected to this on our behalf (the court rejected our objection) as we feel that as this ridiculous plea was his brain child he will not listen to all the many voices that are dead set against it. We want a judge that had no part in creating this plea agreement and will make an impartial decision based on both sides of the equation. We firmly believe Judge Bergstrom should remove himself from this matter.
We also hope that Alicia Eagan will wake up and realize what mockery she has made of the justice system. And to the officers she has thrown under the bus with HER incompetence and ignorance, thank you for trying.
The next hear will be the Plea Hear on Tuesday, September 27th at 3:00 pm at at the Yamhill Court House NE 5th St in McMinnville. Please come and lend your voice to ours.
Laura's Book Binge 