Terry Bean’s case Dismissed in Eugene, Oregon this morning
Terry’s nightmare is finally - hopefully - over. If you are writing about this case, there are finally facts the defence can share and were shared by Terry’s attorney outside the Courthouse this morning. Now that the truth can be told, he can get back to work serving the community he has been helping for over 40 years.
Statement of Terry Bean’s lawyer outside the Courthouse.
Derek Ashton of Cosgrave, Vergeer and Kester Law Firm in Portland Oregon.
“While we are pleased with today¹s outcome, this is a case that should never have been brought in the first place. And in my 29 years of trial work, I have never seen anything like this case where the facts are ignored in a drive for the spotlight.
Terry Bean is a lifelong Oregonian who is respected and beloved for his devotion to his community. His name deserves to be cleared and we hope that today’s dismissal accomplishes that goal.
For almost a year we have been silent about the truth so that we could try this case in court and not in the media as the prosecutor tried to do.
This case fell apart for a lack of evidence. If we had our day in Court, we are certain Mr Bean would have been found to be innocent of the charges based on four important facts: Terry Bean left the hotel room before anything happened, after being set up there by Kiah Lawson; We had a witness who would have attested to the fact that he left; As proof that this was all about money in the first place, we have proof that Kiah Lawson led the police to this young man last year. But before he did, he and his accomplice Jeff Dickey had numerous contacts with him to get their stories straight and on their advice, the young man in question sought a civil attorney to make a financial claim before the police were ever involved.
The young man in question did not want to show up in Court because he did not want to face cross-examination, not, as Mr. Healy charges, because he was paid a civil settlement.
It is also important to note that they conducted hundreds of interviews of past associates of Terry Bean looking for additional cases and did not find ONE credible accusation.
The prosecutor and the detective, thinking they had a big fish, ignored all of these facts and in almost a year, never once interviewed Terry Bean to get the truth. Instead, Mr Healy got his name in the paper every time he smeared him.
We look forward to telling the whole story, but in the meantime, for the people’s sake, we hope that the overzealous, overly-ambitious and likely, homophobic actions against Mr Bean have come to an end.”
Statement of Terry Bean:
“On the advice of my attorney, I have been silent for almost a year so while I am relieved that the charges against me have been dropped, this nightmare never should have even begun. I take some measure of comfort that the world can now see what I have always known–that I was falsely accused and completely innocent of every accusation that was made. I didn’t go through this alone—my friends, family and business associates suffered alongside of me both because of the false accusations and their support of me. I am immensely grateful and moved by their unwavering support. I look forward to being able to tell the story of this conspiracy of lies, deceit, blackmail, malicious prosecution and yes, homophobia, now that this case has ended.”
Photo By NA (Personal Camera) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons