Thread by @NancyRomm

I have been disturbed all week by the news out of Portland. The smashing of bus stops, the street racing (illegal) and gunplay that spills from Columbia Blvd. on weekends into the city...

https://twitter.com/wtfportland1/status/1564321009888788480?s=21&t=dD5SrSb26gIyxXvbt3z2Qw

...the 9 shootings/4 deaths over the weekend, the DMs that warn, look out for major chaos on the mayor's birthday...

Nothing comes close to the murder on Saturday of Rachael Abraham, who for months had been terrorized and beaten by Mohamed Adan, and whose life, according to the Multnomah County DA's office, faced "significant lethality factors." kgw.com/article/news/c…

Abraham called the police on Adan numerous times, after he repeatedly beat and choked her, knelt on her throat, told her he should kill her. This, while four children were in the house. He was arrested and rearrested.

From the @kgw report: "Adan was granted release from jail on the condition that he wear a GPS ankle monitor and have no contact with Abraham or the children. Adan almost immediately violated both conditions."

Adan cut off his ankle monitor. He attacked Abraham again. He was arrested again. The court set bail security at $20,000, which seems ludicrously low, when one needs only 10% to secure release.

On Aug. 20 a group called the Portland Freedom Fund [Twitter account now deleted] paid the $2000. The group's co-founder Amanda Trujillo "took on responsibility to pay the full amount of his security if he again failed to comply with the conditions of his release."

A week later, Adan killed Abraham with such brutality it left the children's bedroom carpet soaked in blood. She had been repeatedly stabbed, though an autopsy showed she'd been strangled to death.

Adan is responsible for this murder. But the climate in Portland also allowed this to happen. Violent crime is extremely high, the city will likely break its homicide record this year; the justice system is not keeping up and does not seem to know how oregonlive.com/crime/2022/04/…

There are all sorts of reasons given - ideological, a backlog created by the pandemic, interdepartmental struggled. But there are breaks in the system that contributed to Abraham's murder, breaks that will inexorably lead to more murders...

... if they are not looked at with clear eyes and actual justice as the objective. Let's first break down the statement @DAMikeSchmidt released after the killing:

"Our prosecutors aggressively pursued a high bail amount in this case. Mr. Adan’s intent to kill the victim was unambiguous. After the judge set Adan’s bail, the Portland Freedom Fund undermined our efforts..."

Setting bail at $20,000, of which only $2000 is required for release, is a "high bail"? Can someone please shine light on this, maybe @ScottGreenfield?

Obviously progressive DAs are open to the idea of restorative justice; I've written about Chesa Boudin (of whom Schmidt was a supporter) failing to convince San Francisco that such policies made the city safer reason.com/2022/06/09/del…

Now let's look at the Portland Freedom Fund, about which I currently know as much as the next Googler. Here is their mission statement:

"We are a volunteer-run abolitionist organization currently dedicated to reducing harms perpetuated against our Black, Brown and Indigenous neighbors by the criminal justice system through posting bail so they may navigate their case from a position of freedom."

I do not care if you want to set up a bail fund exclusively for left-handed Croatian tennis players. What I do care about is having a giant blot across your field of vision and calling it justice, something Portland has been actively engaged in and supporting for years...

...propping up people and groups who have no idea of what they're doing, aside from a flag-waving sense of justice, for which they are first lauded, then tolerated, then maybe feared what do you do with them, after you've been calling them the good guys all this time?

Here's what Portland Freedom Fund does with itself: It exonerates its part in the tragedy by stating, "the court had deemed [Adan] eligible for bail release and he was referred to us." True enough.

It was apparently also be true, so far as their field of vision extends, that PFF was "in contact with Mr. Adan throughout the time between his release and re-arrest and did not receive any indications for concern."

But a question: Does anybody here know what they are doing here? Also, those hoping Abraham's murder will cause PFF to have a moment of reflection, well, you'll have to make do with the usual "hearts and prayers" facebook.com/PortlandFreedo…

RIP, Rachael Angel Abraham. You deserved better/end

This thread got weirdly cut off, go here

https://twitter.com/NancyRomm/status/1564965436076310530?s=20&t=M0tVDbJ7DnawQY3e7Fn1vA