Date: 04/10/2013 03:59 AM
OR–1st NewsMinute/365
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) – An Oregon lawyer accused of financially exploiting his mother and former mother-in-law has pleaded no contest to 13 counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment. Robert Andrew Browning of Forest Grove entered his pleas yesterday in Washington County Circuit Court. The Oregonian reports that Browning previously was a municipal court judge in two small Oregon communities. Assistant Attorney General Matt McCauley told a judge that between 2007 and 2009, Browning held power of attorney for both women. Now deceased, both women at that time were in residential care facilities and had dementia.
LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. (AP) – A mental health evaluation has found that a man charged in the slashing death of a Lake Oswego man is competent to stand trial but defense lawyers disagree. The Oregonian reports that Erik Meiser’s lawyers say their client suffers from delusions and can’t assist in his own defense. Yesterday, Clackamas County Circuit Judge Eve Miller scheduled an April 29 hearing on Meiser’s fitness. Another hearing on the man’s Oregon State Hospital records is planned for April 22.
BEND, Ore. (AP) – Court documents show an 86-year-old man gave Deschutes County officers differing explanations for the killing of his 83-year-old wife in January. The Bend Bulletin reports an affidavit and search warrant describe interviews with Lawrence Loeffler, who pleaded not guilty to killing Betty Jane Loeffler at their home outside La Pine. The documents say that at first, Loeffler described fighting with his wife and being scared for his life before shooting her twice. They say that later he described overhearing her the night before in a phone conversation that convinced him there was a plot against his life.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Former speaker of the Oregon House Lynn Lundquist has died. He was 78. His daughter, Brenda Blankenship, says he died suddenly yesterday morning. Lundquist was elected to the state House in 1994 and became speaker two years later. After one term as speaker, he was ousted by fellow Republican Rep. Lynn Snodgrass. He ran for secretary of state in 2000 but lost the GOP nomination to Snodgrass and became the first leader of the Oregon Business Association.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
