“Ezra’s Law” bill for longer assault sentences runs out of time
Published 1:00 pm Friday, February 25, 2022
- In this January 2020 file photo, Ezra Jerome Thomas, then 4, appeared with relatives at the Jefferson County Courthouse to hear District Attorney Steven Leriche announce a proposed state law named in the boy’s honor. Ezra was severely injured by his mother’s boyfriend, Josue Jair Mendoza-Melo, who was sentenced in September 2019 to 12 years in prison.
MADRAS – The 35-day Legislative session will close without passage of Ezra’s Law, a sentencing bill named for a Madras boy critically and permanently injured by his mother’s boyfriend in 2017.
But key supporters of the bill say they’ll work to draft a new version that will pass during the 2023 long Legislative session that begins next January.
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“I am encouraged by the commitment of a bipartisan work group and look forward to what we can accomplish for Ezra and victims like him,” said Rep. Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles.
Bonham has tried three times before to win passage of the bill. Supporters will work between sessions to draft a preliminary new version of HB 4108 that will be ready when lawmakers return to the Capitol in January.
“We can find a broadly supported, bipartisan solution to introduce in the 2023 legislative session,” Bonham said in a statement.
Ezra Jerome Thomas was 2 when his mother’s boyfriend, Josue Mendoza-Melo, attacked him while babysitting, leaving the boy unable to walk, talk or see.
Due in part to his limited criminal record, Mendoza-Melo received a 12-year sentence, which drew outrage from relatives and supporters of victim’s rights.
The proposed law would secure longer sentences for people who cause permanent physical injury to their victims. Past versions of the bill would have assigned automatic 25-year prison terms to offenders whom a judge determines has “permanently” injured their victim.
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The most recent version of the bill received a short public hearing on Feb. 8, but did not come up for a committee vote before Thursday’s deadline. The bill will automatically expire with the end of the session, which under the Oregon Constitution must adjourn no later than March 7.
The 2022 version of the bill was supported by the Oregon District Attorney’s Association and opposed by the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
Past efforts to make the bill a priority were hampered by the lack of co-sponsors among the majority Democrats in the Legislature.
Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend, said Friday that he will assist in efforts to shape new legislation for 2023.
A former prosecutor at the Deschutes County District Attorney’s office, Kropf offered his conditional support for a bill.
“I am supportive of the bill concept,” Kropf told The Bulletin. “There’s just some language I’d like to see fine-tuned, and I’m committed to working with Rep. Bonham on this in the interim.”
Plans for a new effort at passing a version of “Ezra’s Law” are also dependent on the outcome of the 2022 election. The Legislature that convenes in January will be elected from newly drawn districts.
Kropf is running for re-election to House District 54. Bonham’s House District 59 was significantly altered under redistricting. He’s opted to seek the Senate District 26 seat currently held by Sen. Chuck Thomsen, R-Hood River. Thomsen is retiring and has endorsed Bonham.
Andrews covers criminal justice for The Bulletin newspaper in Bend, a partner in the EO Media Group. Gary A. Warner is the state politics reporter for EO Media Group, a partner in the Oregon Capital bureau. .
