Oregon advocates work to streamline wrongful conviction payouts

Senate committee heard testimony on amendments to exonerees law

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Phillip Scott Cannon was convicted of a triple homicide in Polk County in 2000. He spent 11 years behind bars — but he consistently maintained his innocence. But after years of fighting his case was exonerated after bullets and crime scene photos were lost by the Oregon Department of Justice.

Being wrongfully convicted “sucks,” he said. “It’s probably one of the most helpless feelings you can have.”

He is now working with advocates like Janis Puracal with the Forensic Justice Project, an organization working to stop wrongful convictions from happening in the first place.

In 2022, lawmakers passed the Oregon Justice Exonerees Act which would provide wrongfully convicted Oregonians some money if they are exonerated. The act calls for $65,000 for each year a person spent in prison if their wrongful convictions were overturned.

But not many of the exonerees have seen any money. So far, 27 lawsuits have been filed since the Oregon Justice Exonerees Act was passed in 2022.

Part of the reason is the cost involved.

“We actually brought this same concept two years ago, in 2023. And the challenge that came back was, ‘Well, this is going to be really expensive for the state. Can we afford this?’” she said. “So recognizing that, we narrowed down the concept so that we can make this a no-cost solution so that nobody can come forward and say this is way too expensive.”

The Forensic Justice Project narrowed its focus to 3 evidence methods — hair comparison, bite mark analysis and comparative bullet analysis — that were commonly used before DNA was available as a tool.

Monday, Puracal brought that argument before a Senate Judiciary committee hearing on SB-1007 to amend the Oregon Justice Exonerees Act. Advocates want to amend the law to allow convicted Oregonians get a retrial if any of those 3 methods were used during the investigation.

“I have clients who are still sitting in prison today based on hair comparisons and bite mark comparisons that were done back in the ’80s and ’90s,” Puracal said. “They have been sitting in prison for decades, waiting for a law like this so that they could get back into court.”

The state owes Cannon about $750,000 for his time behind bars. But so far he and many other exonerees haven’t seen a penny.

“It’s hard to put into words just exactly how much turmoil it causes in a person’s life,” Cannon said.

Puracal wants to put the amendments to the law in front of lawmakers during the next legislative session in February 2026.

“We need to fix compensation by making it a much more efficient process, so that if you’ve already proved your innocence, you don’t have to do that all over again,” she said.