PHOTO COURTESY OR OREGON DOC
The shooting death of a Pendleton inmate by a security guard in late August is likely headed to a grand jury.
According to OregonLive, Umatilla County District Attorney Dan Primus is hoping to present evidence to a grand jury in November.
The correctional officer fired the shot from a yard tower at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution on Aug. 29 after two inmates who were assaulting a third inmate failed to disengage. Inmate Jayson Matthew Withers was hit, transported to a local hospital, and was pronounced dead. The inmate who was being attacked was transported to a local hospital for treatment of injuries.
OregonLive is reporting that investigators have interviewed between 50 and 100 corrections staffers on duty that day, and they have taken statements from many, if not all, of the nearly 200 prisoners who were on the yard on the morning of Aug. 29.
August’s shooting was the first time in decades an Oregon prison staffer has shot and killed an inmate in the line of duty, officials have said.
The full story is online at OregonLive.com.
