Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson criticized Salem City Council’s appointment of convicted murderer Kyle Hedquist to public safety oversight boards, citing serious safety and accountability concerns.
Salem, OR. — Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson has voiced strong opposition to the Salem City Council’s recent decision to appoint convicted murderer Kyle Hedquist to the Community Police Review Board and the Civil Service Commission.
Clarkson’s criticism follows the council’s vote to place Hedquist on two boards with direct oversight of public safety institutions. Hedquist previously received a sentence commutation in 2022 under former Governor Kate Brown, a decision Clarkson opposed at the time.
In an April 22, 2022 press release, Clarkson warned of what she described as “significant safety concerns surrounding the sudden and ill-planned governor’s commutation” of Hedquist’s original life sentence. She detailed the crime, stating that Hedquist “tricked the victim into driving him to a rural Douglas County location where he shot the victim execution-style in the back of the head and dumped her body along the road.”…