ASTORIA, Ore. — Visitors to the Clatsop County courthouse can once again enter the building without being screened as extra security measures have been lifted.
The Daily Astorian reports that tougher security procedures were instituted last week in time for the county’s first death penalty trial in more than a decade, but the Sheriff’s Office and other officials balked at the extra cost and resources needed to screen everyone entering the court.
Sheriff Tom Bergin says his deputies are already overworked due to patrols and covering shifts at the jail, including inmate transports to prison, and that his office does not have the personnel to move shifts to the courthouse.
A metal detector has been set up outside the courtroom where Randy Lee Roden is being tried. Roden is facing the death penalty in connection to the death of a Seaside toddler.
