PORTLAND — A second Oregon death row inmate is challenging the state to carry out its death penalty.
Jason Van Brumwell agrees with fellow inmate Gary Haugen that pursuing appeals is pointless.
The 38-year-old Brumwell was sent to death row in 2007 with Haugen after the two were convicted of a prison killing.
Brumwell announced his intentions in court Wednesday and in a phone call with The Oregonian.
“It’s about this whole (expletive) system we’ve got here,” Brumwell told the paper. “I told myself if it ever got to this point where everything breaks down,” that he would withdraw and allow his death sentence to be carried out.
“I owe it to myself to be true to myself.”
A Supreme Court records administrator said Thursday afternoon that the court had not yet received any communication from Brumwell.
Haugen dropped his appeals in 2011 and was to be executed. But Gov. John Kitzhaber blocked the execution and said no inmate will be put to death as long as he’s governor. Haugen has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Brumwell said an attorney, Michael Curtis of Portland, was dropped without warning from his legal team by Oregon Public Defense Services.
Brumwell and Haugen were convicted in the 2003 killing of David Polin, another inmate, who was found dead from 84 stab wounds and a crushed skull.
Brumwell has been at the Oregon State Penitentiary since 1996, after he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the aggravated murder of Frances Wall, a Dari-Mart employee.
Brumwell said he’s not intent on dying, but he believes the process is rigged and unfair to him.
“Of course I want to live,” he said. “When I look at outcomes, if I see that I cannot at least have a fighting chance to win, I will give up at the table.”
There are 34 men and one woman on Oregon’s death row. No inmate has been given a lethal injection since 1997.
