Van Ornum Found Guilty in Taser Case

(Ian Van Ornum photo by KVAL)

The jury in the trial of taser victim Ian Van Ornum found him guilty of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Van Ornum said that he was disappointed and surprised in the verdict, but declined further comment at this time.

The judge scheduled sentencing for 11 am next Friday, April 24.

Van Ornum said he didn’t know what possible sentence he faced. His attorneys declined comment to reporters.

Prosecutor Bob Lane left the courtroom quickly without comment.

The Eugene police accused Van Ornum of slowing traffic (disorderly conduct) and resisting arrest at an anti-pesticide protest last May. Many witnesses have accused the police of brutality in the arrest.

Police video in the case shows that Van Ornum was tasered twice while he lay face down on the ground with his arms pinned under his side or held behind his back. Van Ornum’s doctor testified that he suffered a concussion.

Prosecutor Lane told the jury in his closing argument earlier today that whether or not the tasering was justified was “irrelevant” to the criminal charges. “There might be an argument to be made that not everything the defendant did justified being tased,” he said.

But Lane said the brutality complaint was a matter not for the criminal trial but for the city of Eugene’s police auditor and or a civil lawsuit. “I don’t live in the city of Eugene, so it’s not my money. I don’t care,” the county prosecutor said.