By Noelle Crombie
oregonlive.com
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ore. — The escaped inmate whose alleged attack on two Japanese women sparked a rare rebuke from a Japanese diplomat was arraigned Wednesday on attempted murder charges in Washington County Circuit Court.
Jedaiah Lunn, 36, was transferred to the Washington County Jail this week from the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.
Lunn faces 11 felony counts stemming from the April 14 assault in the Gales Creek Campground in western Washington County, according to court filings.
Lunn was indicted by a Washington County grand jury on two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, six counts of first-degree robbery and one count of first-degree escape — all Measure 11 offenses that come with mandatory minimum prison sentences.
Lunn appeared in court by video. He pleaded not guilty and asked the judge if he would be going back to the prison — versus staying in the Washington County Jail — pending the resolution of the case.
Judge Chris Colburn told Lunn that decision would be up to the sheriff, the prosecutor and Lunn’s lawyer.
“That is a conversation you should have with your attorney,” Colburn said.
Details of how Lunn escaped from a prison work crew and who was supervising the crew remain unclear. Witnesses said they saw the crew working near the camp restrooms and that the crew members appeared to be lightly supervised.
The Oregon Department of Corrections and the Oregon Department of Forestry have so far declined to shed light on Lunn’s escape, saying it remains under investigation.
The two agencies operate South Fork Forest Camp, a minimum-security prison outside Tillamook, where Lunn was housed.
At some point on April 14, Lunn escaped from the work crew and encountered two women. He is accused of beating them and leaving the area in a car belonging to one of the women.
The top Japanese diplomat in Oregon detailed the women’s extensive injuries: One sustained a skull fracture and cerebral hemorrhaging and the other underwent four surgeries to address the complicated fracture of her arm.
Witnesses reported coming across a bloody scene on the road leading to the campground.
Kimberly True encountered the women on the road that day and said they told her that a stranger had beaten one of them on the head with a metal pole, then turned on the other woman when she intervened.
Lunn was found later that night on Sauvie Island.
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