Date: 09/27/2012 10:29 AM
OR–3rd NewsMinute/303
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – An Oregon Court of Appeals ruling could clog some county courts with jury trials for low-level offenses such as shoplifting, urinating in public or interfering with police. The court yesterday said a woman accused of shoplifting in 2010 should have received the jury trial she wanted to clear her name of a theft charge. The Oregonian reports Multnomah, Marion and Lane counties often downgrade misdemeanors to violations to avoid the cost of trials with court-appointed lawyers.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – A 30-year-old robber who was wounded in a shootout with a Salem police officer has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. The Statesman Journal reports Matthew Saner was high on heroin in February and armed with a rifle when he hit a convenience store and FedEx office. He fired at a responding officer who wounded Saner before taking him into custody.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – A man who robbed a Eugene bank three days after he was released from prison is headed back behind bars for a nearly four-year term in federal prison. The Daniel Lafuente was sentenced yesterday for a December robbery and for another bank holdup in January. The Register-Guard reports Lafuente had been released from prison in early December after completing a 10-year sentence for armed robbery.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Oregon’s Willamette Valley is off limits to canola crops, to protect farmers growing seeds for organic vegetables from having their crops contaminated by canola pollen, pests and diseases. But demand for renewable energy has helped fuel a push to start farming canola, which can be pressed to extract oil for food or renewable energy. A proposal to loosen the canola ban has raised a tense conflict between producers of organic foods and renewable energy in a state that cherishes both.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
