Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued a pardon on the grounds of innocence Tuesday for a man who was convicted of first degree sexual abuse in 2009.
Fredrick Earl Bain stands with his two daughters.
Courtesy of Oregon Innocence Project
Fredrick Earl Bain was wrongfully convicted by a nonunanimous jury, according to the Oregon Innocence Project — a project launched by the Portland legal nonprofit, the Oregon Justice Resource Center.
Bain spent six years in prison, and he was also sentenced to 10 years of post-prison supervision. The state considered his sentence completed May 13, 2019.
The Oregon Innocence Project started working on Bain’s case more than five years ago. The project said the witness in the case eventually recanted her allegations against Bain in 2015.
“She was adamant and clear that she had not been abused, that the origin of the account was something she deeply regretted,” said Steve Wax, legal director of OIP.
That witness has maintained that the crime never took place, according to the Oregon Innocence Project, and she has also repeated her recantation to Malheur County District Attorney David Goldthorpe, who supported Bain’s pardon.
Attorneys with OIP worked to overturn Bain’s conviction through the court system, to no avail, leaving a pardon from the governor as the only option.
“We are so grateful to Gov. Brown for taking up a very careful review of the material we had sent to her,” Wax said.
A letter written to Bain from Brown’s general counsel, Dustin Buehler, cites the witness’ recantation, the lack of any other evidence in the case, as well as Bain’s “crime-free life” since his conviction as the reasons for the pardon.
“A pardon is an extraordinary opportunity that Governor Brown grants only in very rare circumstances,” Buehler wrote. “You have convinced her that you are worthy of this opportunity. The Governor asks that you be true to your word, and continue to work hard and prove yourself worthy of this privilege.”
This is the first pardon Brown has granted on innocence grounds, according to the Oregon Innocence Project.
Bain is an Army National Guard veteran who now lives in Idaho.
“This is something I’ve been fighting for over the past 11 years,” Bain said in a statement. “There have been times I wanted to give up on life, but now I feel like I can breathe again. This is a new beginning for me and my family.”
Even though the pardon came after Bain finished his prison sentence, Wax said it still has major impacts on Bain’s life.
“The sentence that he had received required him to register as a sex offender, in all likelihood, for the remainder of his life. And that would have placed significant restrictions on what he would be able to do in terms of living, working and his relations with grandchildren,” Wax said. “Now, he is able to get off the registry and his civil rights are fully restored.”
Wax also pointed out the importance of Bain’s conviction coming from a nonunanimous verdict. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year to end Oregon’s usage of nonunanimous verdicts to find people guilty of crimes.
“It’s a very good thing that we are finally, in Oregon, moving away from a system in which there can be nonunanimous verdicts,” Wax said.
Before that Supreme Court ruling, Oregon was the last state in the nation that allowed convictions in many types of cases with an 11-1 or 10-2 jury decision.