Habeus Corruptus
Did Vanessa Sturgeon lie about finding two dead bodies on her property?
Because TMT Development President and CEO Vanessa Sturgeon is currently on a dog-whistle-stop tour of every television news outlet that will have her — in her determined effort to influence the local election — it falls upon me to inform you that Sturgeon appears to have perjured herself during the Freddy Nelson, Jr. wrongful death trial.
If you followed my daily updates, you already knew that I found her testimony lacked credibility, generally; but particularly Sturgeon’s claims to have found two dead bodies at her [self-admittedly shithole] Delta Park shopping center. These are my notes from her time on the stand, on day 10:
There was really no point calling out and dissecting every single falsehood that any of the witnesses made. There were too many to keep up with.
But Sturgeon’s shocking assertion about the two corpses — that she claims to have personally discovered — really stuck out. It seemed to be precisely the kind of bold statement which is meant to leave an enormous impact, but which demands to go unquestioned. Because who the hell would lie about something so ugly and specific, and so easily disproven.
The answer appears to be locally influential, multi-millionaire real estate developer Vanessa Sturgeon:
Upon request, the Portland Police Bureau provided no record of Sturgeon discovering, witnessing, complaining of, or having knowledge of any dead bodies (suicide or homicide victims), on her property or anywhere else, during the time frame she claimed, or at any other time.¹
Which seems pretty definitive.
Now, is it possible that Sturgeon really did find two bodies, but pawned off the task of reporting them to some hapless underling? Sure, but it’s doubtful she would have been able to avoid a police interview, as a person with knowledge of the situation; and as such, she would have appeared in the PPB reports and the summary.
Given her impressive history of evading legal consequences for her conduct, it’s unlikely that Sturgeon will face criminal charges or any other fallout for her apparent perjury.²
But we can note, in the court of public opinion, Sturgeon’s dogged efforts to use the homeless/crime/danger narrative to benefit her own financial interests; and, in viewing her recent public relations campaign through that lens, understand where her real motivations lie.
¹ The police records do note, however, that Sturgeon was the subject of a hit and run (property) investigation in 2011.
² I believe the statements fit the requirement for perjury: that they be knowingly false and material to the matter. Sturgeon gave the testimony in support of her decision to hire armed security to patrol Delta Park. Most of the expert testimony at trial — on both sides — related to the reasonability of that decision. It’s therefore not just material to the issue, it’s foundational.
