Beavercreek killer will be transferred to Pendleton facility
by Rick Bella, The Oregonian
Friday April 10, 2009, 4:45 PM
A state panel has agreed that convicted killer Christopher Darrell Persyn of Beavercreek should be transferred from the Oregon State Hospital in Salem to a secure residential facility in Pendleton.
The state Psychiatric Security Review Board said Persyn should be transferred to the newly opened 16-bed Pendleton House as soon as there is an opening, said Mary Claire Buckley, the board’s executive director. The facility, built on the grounds of the old Eastern Oregon Training Center, is fully fenced.
“At first, residents aren’t even allowed into the fenced area without staff members present,” Buckley said. “It is a very secure facility.”
Buckley said the only difference between the state hospital and Pendleton House is the frequency of psychiatric care. Pendleton House residents are visited by a staff psychiatrist only once a week. Staff psychiatrists are on call 24 hours a day at the state hospital. Buckley said Persyn proved to the satisfaction of hospital staff that he did not need 24-hour psychiatric care.
Persyn, 37, pleaded guilty-but-insane for killing his father in 1998, then stabbing his 13-year-old nephew and strangling his 10-year-old niece. The children survived, though the nephew suffered brain damage.
Clackamas County sheriff’s deputies pepper-sprayed Persyn and shot him three times in his legs before they could subdue him.
After his plea, Persyn was sentenced to a life of supervision under the review board.
— Rick Bella; rickbella@news.oregonian.com
Link: http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2009/04/beavercreek_killer_will_be_tra.html
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