Gov. Kate Brown commuted the sentence of a young man convicted of a 2009 robbery spree in Clackamas County a day before he would have been transferred to prison on his 25th birthday Tuesday.
Brandon Dixon was 17 when he pleaded guilty to robbing an adults-only store, a Denny's restaurant and two 7-Elevens at gunpoint or while armed with a knife. The methamphetamine-fueled crimes spanned nearly two weeks.
Since then, Dixon served more than half his sentence at the Oregon Youth Authority and demonstrated regret for his crimes, according to Brown and Clackamas County District Attorney John Foote.
"Clemency is an extraordinary remedy and Brandon Dixon is an extraordinary case," Brown said in a statement. "Brandon has demonstrated sincere remorse and has spent his time in Oregon Youth Authority custody mentoring troubled youth there. He has transformed from, in his own words, an 'unstable, unapologetic punk,' into a mature, hard-working, educated, humble, empathetic, and dependable role model to other incarcerated youth."
Brown said the support for Dixon's clemency application, in particular from Foote, guided her decision.
"We have been informed that Mr. Dixon has expressed complete and sincere accountability for his criminal conduct, unlike most offenders we see," Foote wrote to Brown. "Mr. Dixon's behavioral, educational, and work history while at Hillcrest and MacLaren has evidenced his commitment to not only being a law-abiding citizen, but actually giving back to the community."
In an interview Tuesday, Foote said his staff approaches to all clemency requests with the same mindset, and a key factor is whether the criminal's victims support clemency.
"The victims we were able to locate in this case, even after the long passage of time, supported this clemency request uniformly, and that played a large factor in our decision," Foote said.
Prosecutors also want to provide a sense of justice for victims and the community, so the punishment should be proportional to the crime, Foote said. Oregon's mandatory minimum sentence for armed robbery is seven years and six months, half the length of Dixon's 15-year sentence. "We took that into consideration as well," Foote said.
During his incarceration, Dixon mentored other youth, graduated from high school, earned an associate's degree from Chemeketa Community College with a 3.94 grade point average and became a certified barber and hairdresser. He is now working toward his bachelor's degree in business administration at Eastern Oregon University.
-- Hillary Borrud
503-294-4034; @hborrud