Jail overcrowding blamed for release of accused murderer
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SALEM, Ore. – The man accused of shooting and killing another man outside a Walmart Monday morning was released from jail three weeks ago because of overcrowding.
The jail commander, Sheila Lorance, with the Marion County Sheriff's Office, said she had no choice but to release 41-year-old Mark Brown last month. He was released even though he'd been arrested many times.
Brown was arrested in Tigard Tuesday morning after police said he shot and killed 28-year-old Bryan John Lee Knorr in Walmart's parking lot the morning before.
Brown appeared in court Wednesday via video and said hardly anything to the charge of murder. Police said he drove into the store’s parking lot and up to Knorr and shot him dead through the open passenger-side window.
Knorr's family was in court and his mother often sobbed.
According to court records, Brown admitted he was at the Walmart and threatened Knorr that day as well as in the past but told police he didn't pull the trigger.
Brown had previously been arrested Aug. 11 for possession of methamphetamine. He was released the same day despite a long criminal history. According to the jail, it had no choice because it is at maximum capacity of 405 inmates and other prisoners had higher risk scores.
Lorance said it would have made a difference if Brown had been arrested for a violent crime.
"That would have put him at a higher risk. Then we have to look at the 405 people and consider them of which ones of those folks we are going to release and consider who's the greatest risk," she said.
The jail went through budget cuts last year and every day it's at capacity.
It's typical to release repeat offenders like Ricky Davis who was arrested 47 times. None of his crimes, like Brown, were serious enough to keep them locked up for a long time.
"If we had known that (he would allegedly shoot someone) we would have held him, if we had that crystal ball, we would have held him," Lorance said.
Court records didn't reveal a motive, and the victim's family didn't speak with KATU News. But Brown and Knorr may be connected through a Salem apartment. According to public records, it was the address of Knorr and his girlfriend, but a neighbor said they didn't live there anymore and that it was Brown who the neighbor saw coming and going as recently as Saturday.
Hard labor will straightne most of those loser's up.. But its cruel ....  Â
Bogus. I'm sure there had to be at least 1 non violent offender in that Jail. It just shows their disregard for the public safety, probably because they didn't get what they wanted... Playing russian roulette with the peoples lives is not cool and speaks volumes concerning the mind set these days..(don't give us what we want, we will show you!!!) You know they did not have to do that. They are not stupid, they know what they are doing and so do the people. Surely there was a peaceful pot grower they could have sent home to his family.
and they continue to arrest pot people not pod but pot growers and users,but let animals like this out our priorities and the polices priorities are not the same,we want to live they want to bust pot heads
This will happen over and over until they keep these animals locked up...
don't even think thwice about it, just PUT THIS ANIMAL DOWN Â !!
This is just the high profile crime. How many burglaries, assaults, etc. have been committed because of these early releases? And yet I don't see any belt tightening by law enforcement - new vehicles, new police stations. Why enforce if there's no punishment? It's catch and release.
You can thank the ACLU (American Criminal Liberties Union) and the mamby pamby liberals for this overcrowding issue. They, for some reason seem to think a prisoner needs to be comfortable, and if they are too close together it promotes disease, anger, stench, etc. etc. Well what I say to them is, delouse each prisoner, march them through a shower each day, and isolate the sick ones. Maybe if they don't like the jail conditions they won't be so tempted to commit the next crime. Take away the comfort, their victims aren't comfortable any more, if they are still alive. Our society will continue in this death spiral until such time as the majority of the population returns to respect and honor.
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 @souptonuts You are assuming that everyone who is jailed, is guilty of the crime for which they have been arrested.  There are occasionally innocent people who are jailed and later exonerated at trial.
@OMG! It is a fairly rare occurance that an innocent person is jailed. They may be found not guilty, but that does not mean they are innocent. More times than not it is a case of the defense out maneuvering the prosecution if a person gets off. At any rate it is rare that a person not guilty of anything is jailed for any length of time.
@G N You had better untie that knot in your tail before it cuts off your circulation. Don't complain about my opinions unless you have solutions to the problem. Typical liberal always has to resort to name calling. I don't smoke anything, but if you choose to smoke marijuana or anything else that is your choice, but going easy on crime just allows more problems.
It must take too much integrity for you to admit that there is no possible way for you to know how many innocents are in jail.
Almost like how you don't have the integrity to admit that "liberals" want to legalize marijuana, which would open up a MASSIVE amount of space in our country AND state jails.
But you wouldn't let something as unimportant as the FACTS stand in your way of judging others and condemning them for it, right? How else would you get that self-righteous feeling that you are addicted to, bigot?
 @OMG!  @souptonuts You hear all this crap about criminals rights. They sure care about their rights, Just not rights of those they commit crimes against. When someone murders someone isnt that some kind of rights violation.
If the jail commandor can feel comfortable suggesting she can't do her job effectively without a "crystal ball" she should pack her bags and find another profession.!!!
Let's clear out some of the States/Counties/Cities administrative offices FIRST, and while we're at it we can cram as many of these crime-wave idiots into a cell like sardines.
You know, Iâm really tired of all this âovercrowdingâ crap. Â So what if they are overcrowded? They arenât in there to have a vacation, they are there because they have committed crimes! Especially ones who have been arrested more than once, the likelihood that they are guilty of some crime is very high, and they should NOT be let go, especially if the crimes are violent ones! Lets stop coddling criminals, and keep them locked up, overcrowding, or not. Iâm sick of them being better off than the homeless people out there. I say, murder or attempted murder and all other crimes that are about use of weapons should be let out last. Meth and other drug related crimes are horrible, and I donât wish them free, but lets keep ones in that are going to kill someone first hand. If they have it as good as someone who gets a free bed and meals, they arenât hurting, and overcrowding isnât going to kill them, unlike what they might do if let out.Â
 @angelgabe The alleged murderer in this story was in jail for possession of methamphetamine.  He was released due to his lower risk score, and later was involved in this shooting. Â
You wrote, "Meth and other drug related crimes are horrible, and I donât wish them free, but lets keep ones in that are going to kill someone first hand." Â
How would you determine who will kill first hand?
 @OMG! He was arrested âmany timesâ. That would be the clue that his arrest was not simply a matter of oops, we got an innocent person. That, in my opinion would also be a clue that his potential for violence against another human being was a very real possibility. Iâm not a judge, but we need to be a bit more aggressive against letting real criminals go vs. keeping them in âovercrowdedâ jails. Overcrowding is not, in my opinion, a reason to let out violent criminals. They have no right, especially when they have been arrested âmany timesâ to a nice, easy, comfortable free jail cell (free for them, I am paying for that cell via my taxes) .
Voters may sleep soundly tonight knowing that worse criminals are getting his bed in the jail tonight.....after all those drug users are dangerous especially the one who smoke pot.....they need to let out all the murderers and sex offenders in order to keep those evil pot heads locked up.
Don't worry folks. Teachers will still make twice as much when retired as they do while working. Everything is just fine.