Oregon judge overturns murder conviction that resulted in life sentence

The future of Elijah Michael Pruitt, a 22-year-old man found guilty of murder by a Lane County jury and sentenced to life in prison in 2023, remains uncertain after Oregon Appellate Court Judge Jacqueline Kamins overturned his conviction on Aug. 20.

Pruitt is accused of shooting 19-year-old Fernando Giffen-Vallejo after a dispute outside of a Fat Shack near the intersection of Patterson Street and 13th Avenue in Eugene on March 14, 2023. Giffen-Vallejo died as a result of his injuries.

Kamins ruled that former Lane County prosecutor Erik Hasselman prejudiced the jury by insinuating the state could have charged Pruitt with more serious crimes, which according to the Court of Appeals, denied Pruitt a fair trial.

Kamins further held the trial court abused its discretion when it overruled the defense attorney’s objection to Hasselman’s “improper argument.”

What happened that night in 2023?

According to the Court of Appeals, Pruitt was supervising the evening shift at a Fat Shack near the University of Oregon campus when he confronted Giffen-Vallejo, a customer, who was doing whippets in the restaurant’s waiting area. According to the Cleveland Clinic, whippets are pressurized containers of nitrous oxide. When inhaled, the gas can give users a temporary high.

Giffen-Vallejo left the restaurant after a heated confrontation with Pruitt but later returned and started graffitiing on the walls outside with spray paint. When Pruitt learned of the vandalism, he went outside and got in a “physically violent” fight with Giffen-Vallejo, the appellate court ruling said.

Once the fighting ensued, Giffen-Vallejo grabbed Pruitt by the neck and slammed him to the ground. Each managed to land a few punches on one another and when two people attempted to separate the pair, a gun was fired.

Giffen-Vallejo was found dead in a crashed vehicle near the Fat Shack and the two bystanders were injured, according to court documents.

Pruitt was later arrested and charged with one count of second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree assault, and one count of third-degree assault.

Problems at trial

During Pruitt’s trial, Hasselman sought to introduce video evidence from Fat Shack’s security cameras of a conversation between Pruitt and his coworker in which Pruitt said if Giffen-Vallejo came back, he would kill him. In addition to the original security video, Hasselman submitted a modified version with noise reduced and a version that provided captions as to what Pruitt and his co-worker were saying. The trial court, overseen by Lane County Circuit Court Judge Debra K. Vogt, admitted the video over defense attorneys’ objections, the appellate court ruling said.

Kamins said the modified video evidence was unscientific and there was an “insufficient foundation” for that evidence to be applied in court.

During closing arguments, Hasselman started to discuss the different levels of homicide under Oregon law, including aggravated murder. Defense attorneys objected to Hasselman’s statement, saying it was inappropriate to discuss crimes that were not charged in the case. The objection was overruled.

In the appellate court’s findings, Kamins said Hasselman, by providing video evidence of the conversation between Pruitt and his co-worker, indicated Pruitt acted with premeditation, despite knowing the relevant context that Pruitt “asserted that he acted in self-defense, a defense which ultimately turned on whether defendant was ‘justified in using physical force’ in the amount he ‘reasonably believed to be necessary’ under the circumstances.”

What happens next?

Pruitt’s case was remanded back to the Lane County Circuit Court for a new trial. Pruitt remains incarcerated at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution.

In a statement to The Register-Guard, Lane County District Attorney Christopher Parosa said his office is in the process of speaking with the Department of Justice about the prospects of appealing the Court of Appeals decision to the Oregon Supreme Court, though a decision has not been made.

Pruitt will remain under indictment for his original charges. Parosa said he suspects if no appeal is filed, Pruitt would be transported to the Lane County Jail pending a decision on release by the Circuit Court.

“My office will then be required to evaluate the ability to retry the suspect,” Parosa said. “That decision will be made with the input of the victims of the case.”

Haleigh Kochanski is a breaking news and public safety reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at HKochanski@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon appellate judge overturns Elijah Pruitt’s murder conviction