Friday, June 10, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Family Wins $1M After Pigs Ate Their Son's Body
Family Wins $1M After Pigs Ate Their Son's Body
By DEE MOORE
SALEM, Ore. (CN) - Three men who fed a murdered man's body to pigs must pay the victim's family $1 million, the Marion County Circuit Court ruled.
The details of the grisly 2006 murder sound like a plot pulled straight from fiction. In April 2006, Christopher Lampkin was visiting someone at the Cedar Crest Apartments in Salem. During the visit, the 23-year-old got into an altercation that quickly turned deadly with other residents of the apartment.
"Leonardo Garcia Gonzalez, Victor Hernandez and others told Mr. Lampkin to get on his knees and say his prayers," Lampkin's mother, Denise Mullins, claimed in 2008 complaint. "Mr. Lampkin was then shot 'execution style' in the head and taken to the bathtub where Leonardo and Victor Hernandez began to cut off his head and limbs of his body with kitchen knives."
The men stuffed the remains in a duffel bag and called a friend, Joseph Norman Schmidt, whose father owned a pig farm in rural Yamhill County.
Schmidt put the duffel bag into a feed barrel for the pigs, an animal that is famous for its omnivorous palate.
Police recovered parts of Lampkin's remains from the feed barrel in 2007, and Schmidt cooperated with the investigation in exchange for immunity.
Mullins reportedly identified her son's remains by the watch that was still strapped to the corpse's arm, and DNA tests later confirmed the identification.
Her lawsuit states that Schmidt and his father, Joseph Francis Schmidt, "knew or should have known criminal activity such as mutilation of a corpse and drug use occurred on their property."
Ultimately, a judge dismissed the charges against the farm owner, the apartment complex and that complex's owner. It also appears that Mullins misidentified Gonzalez' co-conspirator, whose name appears as Victor Tovar Gonzalez in the latest court filing.
The Gonzalezes, who are cousins, are each serving time in Oregon penitentiaries.
Marion County Circuit Court Judge Dale Penn awarded more than $1 million to Lampkin's estate earlier this month.
Each defendant will pay a third of the judgment.
Gonzalez said he attacked Lampkin because he became paranoid that Lampkin was there to rob him, according to Associated Press coverage of Gonzalez's trial.
"I become convinced he was scoping out the apartment to rip me off," Gonzalez reportedly told the judge. "I was really afraid someone was going to rob and shoot me."
Mullins is represented by Brian Lathen of Swanson, Lathen, Alexander, McCann & Prestwich.
Copyright by Courthouse News Service
By DEE MOORE
SALEM, Ore. (CN) - Three men who fed a murdered man's body to pigs must pay the victim's family $1 million, the Marion County Circuit Court ruled.
The details of the grisly 2006 murder sound like a plot pulled straight from fiction. In April 2006, Christopher Lampkin was visiting someone at the Cedar Crest Apartments in Salem. During the visit, the 23-year-old got into an altercation that quickly turned deadly with other residents of the apartment.
"Leonardo Garcia Gonzalez, Victor Hernandez and others told Mr. Lampkin to get on his knees and say his prayers," Lampkin's mother, Denise Mullins, claimed in 2008 complaint. "Mr. Lampkin was then shot 'execution style' in the head and taken to the bathtub where Leonardo and Victor Hernandez began to cut off his head and limbs of his body with kitchen knives."
The men stuffed the remains in a duffel bag and called a friend, Joseph Norman Schmidt, whose father owned a pig farm in rural Yamhill County.
Schmidt put the duffel bag into a feed barrel for the pigs, an animal that is famous for its omnivorous palate.
Police recovered parts of Lampkin's remains from the feed barrel in 2007, and Schmidt cooperated with the investigation in exchange for immunity.
Mullins reportedly identified her son's remains by the watch that was still strapped to the corpse's arm, and DNA tests later confirmed the identification.
Her lawsuit states that Schmidt and his father, Joseph Francis Schmidt, "knew or should have known criminal activity such as mutilation of a corpse and drug use occurred on their property."
Ultimately, a judge dismissed the charges against the farm owner, the apartment complex and that complex's owner. It also appears that Mullins misidentified Gonzalez' co-conspirator, whose name appears as Victor Tovar Gonzalez in the latest court filing.
The Gonzalezes, who are cousins, are each serving time in Oregon penitentiaries.
Marion County Circuit Court Judge Dale Penn awarded more than $1 million to Lampkin's estate earlier this month.
Each defendant will pay a third of the judgment.
Gonzalez said he attacked Lampkin because he became paranoid that Lampkin was there to rob him, according to Associated Press coverage of Gonzalez's trial.
"I become convinced he was scoping out the apartment to rip me off," Gonzalez reportedly told the judge. "I was really afraid someone was going to rob and shoot me."
Mullins is represented by Brian Lathen of Swanson, Lathen, Alexander, McCann & Prestwich.
Copyright by Courthouse News Service
Leave Us Alone, Title Company Tells Oregon
Leave Us Alone, Title Company Tells Oregon
By DEE MOORE
SALEM, Ore. (CN) - Stewart Title Co. says Oregon illegally demanded that it pay $200,000 in "retaliatory tax," 10 years after a judge told the state that its demand for the tax was "simply incorrect."
The title company claims that Oregon's recent demand is a rehash of a demand it made a decade ago, when the Marion County Court "agreed with Stewart Title's plain reading" of Oregon's retaliatory tax statute, and "rejected" the state's interpretation as "simply incorrect."
Stewart Title sued the state and its Department of Consumer and Business Services in Marion County Court - the same court that issued the ruling between the same parties 10 years ago.
"Now, a decade later, the Department has billed Stewart Title for an amount of 'retaliatory' tax based on its very same judicially rejected interpretation of the Retaliatory Tax Statutes," the complaint states. "This billing also directly contradicts promises the department made to Stewart Title upon which Stewart Title reasonably relied."
Stewart Title challenges the state tax on "foreign domiciled" insurance companies. It claims that it is licensed to conduct business in Oregon, and works with and through Oregon-based agents who retain a "significant portion" of the money generated in the state.
Stewart claims the department not only misinterpreted Oregon law, it misinterpreted Texas law when calculating the taxes, by including "fees transactions that were not the business of insurance," such as title searches and examination services.
"The Retaliatory Tax Statutes do not empower the department to access retaliatory taxes against Stewart Title for amounts paid to or retained by its agents in Oregon for title search and examination work," the title company says.
And it says the tax is unconstitutional, as it does not apply to all insurers in the same manner.
Stewart Title says the state assessed the tax as "a revenue raising measure," but the state does not get "a second bite at the apple."
Stewart Title seeks declaratory judgment. It is represented by G. Kevin Kiely with Cable Huston Benedict Haagensen & Lloyd, of Portland.
Copyright Courthouse News Service
By DEE MOORE
SALEM, Ore. (CN) - Stewart Title Co. says Oregon illegally demanded that it pay $200,000 in "retaliatory tax," 10 years after a judge told the state that its demand for the tax was "simply incorrect."
The title company claims that Oregon's recent demand is a rehash of a demand it made a decade ago, when the Marion County Court "agreed with Stewart Title's plain reading" of Oregon's retaliatory tax statute, and "rejected" the state's interpretation as "simply incorrect."
Stewart Title sued the state and its Department of Consumer and Business Services in Marion County Court - the same court that issued the ruling between the same parties 10 years ago.
"Now, a decade later, the Department has billed Stewart Title for an amount of 'retaliatory' tax based on its very same judicially rejected interpretation of the Retaliatory Tax Statutes," the complaint states. "This billing also directly contradicts promises the department made to Stewart Title upon which Stewart Title reasonably relied."
Stewart Title challenges the state tax on "foreign domiciled" insurance companies. It claims that it is licensed to conduct business in Oregon, and works with and through Oregon-based agents who retain a "significant portion" of the money generated in the state.
Stewart claims the department not only misinterpreted Oregon law, it misinterpreted Texas law when calculating the taxes, by including "fees transactions that were not the business of insurance," such as title searches and examination services.
"The Retaliatory Tax Statutes do not empower the department to access retaliatory taxes against Stewart Title for amounts paid to or retained by its agents in Oregon for title search and examination work," the title company says.
And it says the tax is unconstitutional, as it does not apply to all insurers in the same manner.
Stewart Title says the state assessed the tax as "a revenue raising measure," but the state does not get "a second bite at the apple."
Stewart Title seeks declaratory judgment. It is represented by G. Kevin Kiely with Cable Huston Benedict Haagensen & Lloyd, of Portland.
Copyright Courthouse News Service
Ruling Challenges Ore. Foreclosure System
Ruling Challenges Ore. Foreclosure System
By DEE MOORE
PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) - Bank of America and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems broke the law when they failed to record every time the trust deed for a couple's home mortgage changed hands, a federal judge found in a ruling that questions Oregon's system of allowing banks to foreclose without going to court.
Although home owners Ivan and Katherine Hooker have been in default on their loan since 2009, Judge Owen Panner found that the bank and Mortgage Electronic foreclosed on the couple's loan after too many unrecorded transfers left the couple in the dark about who to contact for a loan modification.
"While I recognize that the plaintiffs have failed to make any payments on the note since September 2009, that failure does not permit defendants to violate Oregon law," Panner wrote.
Oregon is one of the few states that allow banks to foreclose on mortgages outside of the courtroom. The only caveat to this is a state statute which requires that all records of sales and transfers be listed in the county land records office where the property is located. Banks are required to record these transactions before initiating a non-judicial foreclosure according to the Oregon Trust Deed Act.
Mortgage Electronic (MERS) argued that the Act allowed it to be lax on recording each individual transfer with the county, as long as it kept track of the transfers in its own internal system and recorded the "final assignment" with the county before initiating foreclosure.
But Panner said the law requires every transfer to be recorded with the county.
"Considering what is commonly known about the MERS system and the secondary market in mortgage loans, plaintiffs allege sufficient facts to make clear that defendants violated the Oregon Trust Deed Act."
In the case of the Hookers, the paper trail to find the holder of their deed was convoluted and, completely missing in some places, making it impossible to figure out which bank to approach about a loan modification.
According to Panner, this information could have helped avoid the pain of foreclosure.
"When a borrower on the verge of default cannot find out who has the authority to modify the loan, a modification or a short sale, even if beneficial to both the borrower and the beneficiary, cannot occur," the judge wrote.
This confusion, Panner wrote, is primarily a result of the system instituted by Mortgage Electronic, which was created in the 1990s by the mortgage industry to facilitate the process of bundling and reselling mortgages as securities.
The situation was so bad that on one day in May 2010 the company made three changes to the plaintiff's deed of trust on behalf of three different people, all certified by the same notary.
To find the paper trail, Panner ordered Mortgage Electronic to provide the court with a chain of title for the note and trust deed. The company uses a system it calls "summary and milestones" to track transfers of servicing and ownership rights of loans.
But the judge found numerous holes in the data. There is no record in the summary of how Guaranty Bank obtained its interest in the trust deed before transferring it to Wells Fargo, the ruling states. And neither Mortgage Electronic nor any of the banks recorded the transfers with the Jackson County land records office, where the property was situated, Panner wrote.
In fact, it took the homeowners' complaint to call attention to the fact that the documents filed last spring were "out of order" and appeared to be "rushed," thereby briefly stopping the foreclosure, according to the opinion.
"A lender that knows it will immediately sell a loan on the secondary market has no incentive to ensure the appraisal of the security is accurate," Panner wrote. "Similarly, the lender need not concern itself with the veracity of any representations made to the borrower. In short, the MERS system allows the lender to shirk its traditional due diligence duties."
Panner said the fact that an agency which can not accurately police itself has the authority to foreclose on people's homes was cause for concern.
"Foreclosure by advertisement and sale, which is designed to take place outside of any judicial review, necessarily relies on the foreclosing party to accurately review and assess its own authority to foreclose," the judge wrote. "Considering that non-judicial foreclosure of one's home is a particularly harsh event, and given the numerous problems I see in nearly every non-judicial foreclosure case I preside over, a procedure relying on a bank or trustee to self-assess its own authority to foreclose is deeply troubling to me."
This is one of six separate cases in which Oregon courts have halted foreclosures involving Mortgage Electronic.
Copyright Courthouse News Service
By DEE MOORE
PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) - Bank of America and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems broke the law when they failed to record every time the trust deed for a couple's home mortgage changed hands, a federal judge found in a ruling that questions Oregon's system of allowing banks to foreclose without going to court.
Although home owners Ivan and Katherine Hooker have been in default on their loan since 2009, Judge Owen Panner found that the bank and Mortgage Electronic foreclosed on the couple's loan after too many unrecorded transfers left the couple in the dark about who to contact for a loan modification.
"While I recognize that the plaintiffs have failed to make any payments on the note since September 2009, that failure does not permit defendants to violate Oregon law," Panner wrote.
Oregon is one of the few states that allow banks to foreclose on mortgages outside of the courtroom. The only caveat to this is a state statute which requires that all records of sales and transfers be listed in the county land records office where the property is located. Banks are required to record these transactions before initiating a non-judicial foreclosure according to the Oregon Trust Deed Act.
Mortgage Electronic (MERS) argued that the Act allowed it to be lax on recording each individual transfer with the county, as long as it kept track of the transfers in its own internal system and recorded the "final assignment" with the county before initiating foreclosure.
But Panner said the law requires every transfer to be recorded with the county.
"Considering what is commonly known about the MERS system and the secondary market in mortgage loans, plaintiffs allege sufficient facts to make clear that defendants violated the Oregon Trust Deed Act."
In the case of the Hookers, the paper trail to find the holder of their deed was convoluted and, completely missing in some places, making it impossible to figure out which bank to approach about a loan modification.
According to Panner, this information could have helped avoid the pain of foreclosure.
"When a borrower on the verge of default cannot find out who has the authority to modify the loan, a modification or a short sale, even if beneficial to both the borrower and the beneficiary, cannot occur," the judge wrote.
This confusion, Panner wrote, is primarily a result of the system instituted by Mortgage Electronic, which was created in the 1990s by the mortgage industry to facilitate the process of bundling and reselling mortgages as securities.
The situation was so bad that on one day in May 2010 the company made three changes to the plaintiff's deed of trust on behalf of three different people, all certified by the same notary.
To find the paper trail, Panner ordered Mortgage Electronic to provide the court with a chain of title for the note and trust deed. The company uses a system it calls "summary and milestones" to track transfers of servicing and ownership rights of loans.
But the judge found numerous holes in the data. There is no record in the summary of how Guaranty Bank obtained its interest in the trust deed before transferring it to Wells Fargo, the ruling states. And neither Mortgage Electronic nor any of the banks recorded the transfers with the Jackson County land records office, where the property was situated, Panner wrote.
In fact, it took the homeowners' complaint to call attention to the fact that the documents filed last spring were "out of order" and appeared to be "rushed," thereby briefly stopping the foreclosure, according to the opinion.
"A lender that knows it will immediately sell a loan on the secondary market has no incentive to ensure the appraisal of the security is accurate," Panner wrote. "Similarly, the lender need not concern itself with the veracity of any representations made to the borrower. In short, the MERS system allows the lender to shirk its traditional due diligence duties."
Panner said the fact that an agency which can not accurately police itself has the authority to foreclose on people's homes was cause for concern.
"Foreclosure by advertisement and sale, which is designed to take place outside of any judicial review, necessarily relies on the foreclosing party to accurately review and assess its own authority to foreclose," the judge wrote. "Considering that non-judicial foreclosure of one's home is a particularly harsh event, and given the numerous problems I see in nearly every non-judicial foreclosure case I preside over, a procedure relying on a bank or trustee to self-assess its own authority to foreclose is deeply troubling to me."
This is one of six separate cases in which Oregon courts have halted foreclosures involving Mortgage Electronic.
Copyright Courthouse News Service
Friday, May 27, 2011
Art Project III - Still Life
My final project in my art photography class was a series of still life photos. Last week at critique for our portraits assignment my instructor called me a "professional photographer." Now it's true that I make my living as a journalist and photojournalist, but his comment was more than acknowledging that this is my job. He went on to point out that I "saw" and "knew" what would be the "perfect" picture. I was seriously flattered.
Photojournalism is seldom an art form. Mostly it's about capturing the action of the story. So you end up with a lot of well composed documentary shots that lend a visual aid to the writer's words. What I want to do is apply my artistic training to my technical skills. Photography plays so many different roles in our culture; it is a historic document, it is a souvenir, it is a memory, it is a record, it is a snap shot, it is journalism . . . and it is art. It can be many of these at once but for it to be art and these things as well is a seldom occurrence and is difficult to do.
I feel, given the input that my instructor has given me, that I am close to breaching this threshold.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Art Project II - Portraits
I have always preferred to take photos of found objects, architecture, industrial sites, shapes, things, but not people, to me they aren't as interesting, not as pleasing to the eye, but mainly I haven't liked it because almost all portraiture is too posed, too fake.
This assignment was difficult because I was striving for various things. Authenticity, artistry, in-the-moment candor, honesty, truth, sculpted or a 3 dimensional look. As an artist I feel like its been hard to push the photojournalist aside, but I am working at making her pause and not just shoot the action, but shoot that truth.
Almost all the photos are new. Many are onesies. I had one moment to get one good shot. I used the last two, which I shot a couple months ago, because I liked them so much. Gareth was checking out his bass while here at my house practicing. Kelly turned toward me at the D while I was holding my camera and I shot. Most of the other people I don't know. Well there's Truxton and Elijah, too.
I have been taking art classes since before I started school. My mother, who was artistic, began teaching me to draw when I was pre-kinder age. From there it was art classes in elementary school, middle school, high school, private lessons, then college art. I began taking photos for the high school yearbook using a Pentax. Went to college and started taking pictures for the radio station where I worked. I took photojournalism classes and used a Canon AE1. Though my focus in art was always three dimensional, I sculpted, I often ended up being behind the camera.
Again because of my job as a reporter, I’ve found myself taking pictures. It was always a pain in most cases, difficult to juggle a camera, lenses, a note pad, pen and maybe a tape recorder. But, photography has come to replace sculpting for me mainly because it is accessible. I can’t easily bop out and weld up a sculpture, I don’t have a kiln, iron, aluminum and bronze pours require at least 50 other artists to do anything awesome and cool. It’s a very trying medium to work in. But, photography, that is much easier access.
I’ve noticed recently that standing behind a camera, looking through the viewfinder is like meditating. It’s zen; that moment of peace, composing a shot; a work of art. I have had so many years of composition that it’s second nature. It actually truly takes seconds. But, in those seconds exists eternity. I am clam, at peace, looking, seeing what only I can see, knowing what only I can know, because I am the one composing the shot. These ideas are alive in my head. Will it turn out the way I hope, expect? Maybe, usually, sometimes I surprise myself. Others I disappoint. But, always, I feel lost in that moment of being.
That is what I hoped to capture with this assignment; the moment of being.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Corban sends latest class into the world
Corban sends latest class into the world
At graduation, a plea for students to be leaders
Corban University graduates bow their heads during the invocation Saturday.
Dee Moore Special to the Statesman Journal
"Remember that everyone of you here today ... will impact others. You will influence others. Leadership in its purest form is influence," Cameron, a state representative from Salem, told his audience.
Asking the students why they worked so hard to earn their degrees, he posited, "I would suggest that it is to serve others."
Cameron told the students that the "best leaders are followers" and he suggested that by devoting their lives to Christ they would learn to be good leaders and servants of humanity.
Cameron was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university for his service to the community. Along with him, more than 250 graduates received their degrees while more than 2,000 friends and family were present for the occasion.
Before the ceremony, students posed with family for pictures, adjusted ties, applied makeup and fixed hair, often having to re-do much of what they had just done thanks to the numerous hugs and kisses bestowed on them.
The presence of wind and rain didn't daunt the spirits of the graduates; laughter and conversation flowed, their futures shining bright despite Oregon showers.
Graduating seniors Allyssa Bost, 22, of San Jose, Calif.; Ashley Strom, 21, of Salem; and Tiffany Petersen, 21, of Grants Pass, were busy helping one another adjust caps and gowns between nervous giggles. All three women have earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in elementary education.
Though they are happy to see their families and return home, the women agreed that Corban had been the right choice for them, and they said they would miss the camaraderie of the university.
Bost came to Oregon for her education thanks to happy memories of a brief time here as a student.
"I lived in the area for a year while in high school," she said.
She returns to San Jose with a summer job waiting for her but will have to get out and look for something more permanent. She doesn't anticipate difficulty finding a teaching position back home, though.
The same can't be said for Strom, who said Salem has few open teaching positions. She is going to be spending her time job hunting during the next few months. She hopes to teach kindergarten or first grade.
Petersen will be returning home to Grants Pass, but she won't completely be leaving Corban behind. Her four years at the school were a blessing, she said.
"It was where God told me to go," she said. "It was a perfect fit. The school did all it could for us as students."
She hopes to teach middle school-level history. Her face lights up when she discusses the topic.
"I love it," she said. "I could spend all day in Powell's Books store's history section."
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