Interesting: Today the Clackamas County (OR) District Attorney got indicted on two counts of felony perjury...she will be booked into the county jail, if she hasn't been already, according to local news reports.:
hotnews.oregonlive.com
Clackamas DA indicted on perjury charges, stripped of power by governor
The Associated Press
10/5/98 10:10 PM
OREGON CITY, Ore. (AP) -- Clackamas County District Attorney Terry Gustafson was stripped of her power to prosecute Monday after she was indicted on charges she lied about destroying records in a juvenile sex case.
A grand jury indicted Gustafson on two counts of perjury and one count of failure to expunge confidential records relating to her prosecution of a teen-age boy accused of molesting two girls in 1994.
The boy was acquitted in 1995, and a judge ordered his case file destroyed. Gustafson, then a deputy district attorney, allegedly took home the documents.
According to the indictment, Gustafson swore in an Oregon State Bar disciplinary proceeding in 1996, and later that year in Clackamas Circuit Court that she had no knowledge at the time of the case of the order to destroy the records.
"I came to learn about it some time later," she said during the bar proceeding.
Soon after the indictment, Gov. John Kitzhaber ordered state Attorney General Hardy Myers to temporarily take over all of Gustafson's criminal cases and all civil cases involving the state of Oregon.
Gustafson denied the charges as she left work Monday afternoon. Asked by a television reporter whether she was innocent, she said, "Yes."
When she was asked whether she would fight the charges, she replied, "Absolutely."
Gustafson's decisions sparked controversy in two highly publicized cases in recent years.
She prosecuted 9-year-old Brandon Roses for the juvenile equivalent of murder after he shot his 5-year-old sister to death in 1995. He later pleaded guilty to juvenile manslaughter.
This year, Gustafson was criticized for not prosecuting the Followers of Christ Church after several children died when their parents denied them basic medical treatment. Members of the Oregon City church believed faith would heal their children.
Gov. John Kitzhaber's chief of staff, Bill Wyatt, said the governor decided that temporary removal of Gustafson was the most prudent decision.
"It was optional, but I think it was a fairly obvious action under the circumstances," Wyatt said. "Not many DAs have been indicted on felonies. You should not have prosecutors serving when there's a serious cloud hanging over them."
The investigation of Gustafson, ordered by Kitzhaber and spanning the past 15 months, was conducted by William Richardson, a former chief judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals, who decided that the case should be presented to the grand jury.
Gustafson will retain administrative and personnel power as district attorney. Assistant Attorney General Byron Chatfield was appointed by the state to take over her cases.
"The deputy DAs will continue to do what they are doing," Wyatt said.
Oregon's attorney general has stepped in to taken over a county district attorney's duties only twice before in the past 18 years.
In 1980, the state removed Marion County District Attorney Gary Gortmaker. In 1993, Clatsop County District Attorney Julie Leonhardt was charged with forgery, tampering with public records and misconduct. "
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