Does Oregon's Government Simply Hate Black People?

Questions behind Oregon prison inmate's conviction draw attention of National Advocacy Groups; who was almost immediately sentenced to two more years behind bars.

Terrence Kimble

(SALEM) - An Oregon inmate whose conviction is so questionable that it recently caught the attention of two national advocacy groups with solid track records of freeing wrongly convicted prisoners, just had two more years added to his 19-year sentence. Advocates close to the case say the saga of Terrence Kimble is one of the most egregious miscarriages of justice in the current Oregon judicial system.

Kimble's problems are compounded by the fact that he offered court testimony in a case involving a former Corrections Officer, William Coleman, who filed a federal Whistleblower complaint against the state over very serious criminal allegations of official misconduct and federal Civil Rights violations of Black inmates.

'Torpedo' is the prison term for a guard's use of one or more hostile inmates to taunt or threaten another. If and when inmates in Oregon defend themselves or fight back during an assault, they are in automatic violation of prison rules and generally sent to isolation at minimum. Sometimes, as in this case, it can be much worse.

This man who has faced so much unfairness in his lifetime, was 'torpedoed' last year at the Snake River Correctional Facility, by men he describes as white racists, who surrounded him ominously and called him "nigger". As the men closed in to assault Kimble, he says he did his best to defend himself. Apparently correctional staff moved in to break up the altercation, and one was hurt in the process. The entire matter was blamed on Kimble, and this is the case that added two years to time behind bars, and it happened the day after his case was picked up by a noted advocacy group, The Innocence Project. The other agency involved in the case is New Vision.

The last names of the Snake River Officers involved in Kimble's incident are Curtis, Schultz, and Waldamaer. Coleman says the officers are part of a conspiracy to trump up false charges against Kimble. Kimble alleges that he has specifically been told he is suffering retaliation for his testimony in favor of the former Corrections Officer. He says the specific quote he has heard from prison staff is, "You shouldn't have testified for Coleman".

The video below offers a great deal of background on the story as do a number of articles about Kimble that are already published and always available to view. Long story short; Kimble is a man who had a rough life growing up in the Bay Area of California. He committed crimes, paid his dues and then after learning his lessons about petty crime, and gaining his freedom, became a motivational speaker.

His character is substantial to the point that one of his advocates, in Sacramento California, is a junior high school principal. After moving to Oregon with his wife and her children, he was accused, briefly and indirectly, of having raped his teenage stepdaughter. The girl told a friend that the offense occurred, the friend told her father and soon a police car arrived at Kimble's home in Eugene, Oregon. He was badly beaten by police though there is no evidence that he resisted arrest, and there is a parallel to the current additional two-year sentence. In each case the word of an African-American male had no power against the allegations of the police who claim to have been "assaulted" by this man.

Another image of Terrence Kimble

The alleged female victim was quickly taken to a hospital in Eugene, Oregon, medical professionals anticipated the arrival of a victim who initially said she was repeatedly choked and physically assaulted, before being raped by Kimble. Once in the care of doctors, the alleged victim said she had not been raped, in spite of her earlier allegation. A full examination revealed no signs of bruising, no signs of trauma, the girl joked with medical personnel, and the biggest evidence of all, was the doctor's revelation that the girl not only had not had sex, but that she had never engaged in a sexual act in her life.

The family of the girl sided with Kimble, and then DNA tests came back and indicated that there was absolutely no sign of Kimble's DNA present. The judge in the case was new to the bench, had never tried a major crime case, let alone one of a sexual nature. He made the remark that in spite of the evidence, he still would have found Kimble guilty of rape. William Coleman, who as a prison guard oversaw Kimble, has remarked before that when in the shower, Kimble was notably well endowed. The obvious thought is that if he had abused a young female, there would have clearly been evidence of it, there was none.

Terrence Kimble was convicted of sex abuse in the case and sentenced to 19-years. He had lived in Oregon for a total of three months when he was taken away and beaten and to this day, never released.

We have been writing about the malicious prosecution and Kimble's various difficulties under incarceration for some time and welcome the news that the Innocence Project and New Visions have each taken a strong interest in the case, making statements about the projected outcome that are very positive. All that Kimble's case has ever needed was the focus of an experienced agency that knows how to resolve judicial abuse swiftly and with excellent results.

Special report on the Terrence Kimble story

Coleman has written letters to Governor Kitzhaber and AG John Kroger about Kimbles' case. None have responded, which is surprising, even for a government agency. Governor John Kitzhaber was in office as the state's top official when Kimble was convicted, and now has again returned to the governor's office, however he has shown no interest in addressing the perceived injustice in Kimble's case. Instead of worrying about a false conviction of a Black man, Kitzhaber has been devoting large amounts of energy, time and taxpayer resources trying to undermine the will of Oregon voting populace by blocking the execution of a Murderer named Gary Haugen.

Haugen, Kitzhaber fights for. Haugen is a Caucasian inmate murderer convicted and sentenced to the death penalty. Over this case, Kitzhaber has proclaimed that Oregon's justice system is broken. However in Kimble's laughable conviction, an absolute backwoods joke of a legal opinion, Kitzhaber thinks the system is A-OK, okie dokie, just don't make him talk about it in honest terms, because it seems impossible to believe that a governor who is a medical doctor would let this fly.

What is a man's life, next to 19, now 21 years of a man's life? We know racism is rife in Oregon, however we did assume that it didn't creep its way right into the Oregon Governor's office. One thing is clear, there is no sign of any Black staff in his state office, never has a Black person served as a representative, never has one worked the reception desk, now I'm starting to wonder if they are allowed to work there? At any rate, Oregon's Governor John Kitzhaber's governorship has been the Alpha and Omega of Terrence Kimble's injustice.

William Coleman says Kimble has spent 10 years in prison as an innocent who has done nothing wrong, he has never admitted to any wrong doing. Evidence indicates that without a large degree of theatrics and a judge and prosecutor bent on convicting, Kimble would never have been so much as arrested.

Jul-27-2011: DNA Evidence Should Free Oregon Inmate Terrence Kimble from Prison

Mar-04-2011: How Far will Oregon Legal Officials go to Prevent Due Process?

Oct-27-2010: Inmate's Life Threatened by Staff at SRCI

Dec-27-2010" The 'Trickle Down' Effect of Whistleblower Retaliation

Dec-01-2010" Oregon Political Prisoner Being Stripped of Phone Use

Aug-25-2010" Whistleblower Blues: Man in the Hole

Nov-15-2010" Federal Mail Tampering at Oregon State Prison?

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Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim is a former U.S. Marine.

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