Caption: This is Nikki Thrasher in Roseburg High School’s 1992 yearbook. Kyle Hedquist executed her in 1994.
One More Method To Defund Police
There is more than one way to “defund” police and, some years ago, Democrats in blue states came up with it: Over-regulation of every little thing a police officer does, on and off the job. That makes it nearly impossible for police officers to do their jobs, that is, to arrest wrong doers. It also discourages people who want to protect people in their community from applying to be police officers.
DEMOCRATS LOVE FELONS
In 1995 Kyle Hedquist, now age 49, was convicted of aggravated murder for the execution style killing of 19-year-old Nikki Thrasher. He received a life sentence, but he is already out on the streets. He feared Thrasher would report him to police for hiding stolen property in her home, so he shot her in the back of the head and dumped her body along a remote logging road. He wanted just a murderer, Hedquist was also a thief.
In a rush to release as many violent criminals as possible just before she left office (SEE ARTICLE LINKED BELOW), Marxist Governor Kate Brown granted Hedquist clemency.^ I believe she did so, in part, because he had demostrated that he is a hard core Leftist activist, like herself. In so doing, she ignored opposition from multiple law enforcement leaders, including the Douglas County District Attorney, the Marion County District Attorney, and the Marion County Sheriff. The decision, according to the Douglas County DA “rejects and diminishes the justice delivered in the name of Ms. Thrasher, her family and friends.” [The execution took place in Douglas County. Oregon’s capital is in Marion County AND so is the state prison.]
Salem City Council first voted, unanimously, to appoint this convicted murderer to the Police Review Board in 2024 and voted 5-4 December 8th to reappoint him over fierce opposition from both the police and firefighter unions. Salem is Oregon’s capital. The council’s vote went against the recommendation made by the Boards and Commissions Appointments Committee, as well. The committee voted December 3rd to recommend not reappointing Hedquist to the police board and leave the position open.
Salem City Council, Democrats all, also voted to approve a recommendation of an undisclosed organization to appoint Hedquist to two other commissions, the Citizens Advisory Traffic Commission and the Civil Service Commission.
MURDER “PAYS”
Hedquist served 28 years in prison for the 1995 murder of Roseburg teen Nikki Thrasher. While in prison, Hedquist enrolled in college and worked to advocate for prison education and programming. Since his release, Hedquist became a policy associate for the nonprofit Oregon Justice Resource Center and advocated for criminal justice reform at the Oregon Legislature. He told the Statesman Journal he joined the local boards to continue advocating for his community. His community? Who does he consider to be “his” community? It certainly isn’t the law-abiding.
For this murderer Hedquist clemency quickly led to a career in Democrat politics. Perfect fit for a criminal. As a retired Oregon attorney, this writer can’t help but wonder: How soon will Hedquist be elected as Oregon’s attorney general. The Oregon State Bar certainly won’t object as they have been accepting applications from lawbreakers for decades now and promoted the five months of BLM/Antifa rioting in 2020, wherein one man was stalked & murdered in downtown Portland.
Bobbin Singh is executive director of the Justice Resource Center,* a far Left pro-criminals organization which is partly funded by George Soros and partly funded by Oregonians’ tax money. Singh knew of Hedquist through mutual connections and, after an interview, created a position for Hedquist at the Capitol as “policy associate” with an estimated salary of $89,000. From the outset of 2023’s legislative session, Hedquist established himself as a fixture in Hearing Room D. The hushed room houses both of the Legislature’s judiciary committees, which consider bills governing Oregon courts and the more than 12,000 felons incarcerated in state prisons.
There, he regularly testified in support of such bills as the one which would reinstate voting rights of felons. He works closely with Democrat lawmakers. And despite some setbacks, several of the key bills he championed have notched notable committee wins. Hedquist freely goes everywhere in the Capitol while Nikki Thrasher continues to rot in her grave.
A subscriber’s comment after reading this article: “This isn’t “oversight.” It’s inversion. When Democrats elevate a convicted execution-style murderer to police oversight, they’re not reforming law enforcement — they’re mocking it. This is defund-the-police by humiliation, regulation, and moral sabotage. Kyle Hedquist didn’t “pay his debt”; Nikki Thrasher paid with her life. Hedquist walked out of prison into a taxpayer-funded political career while his victim’s family wasn’t even notified. That’s not justice. That’s ideological vandalism. Oregon Democrats didn’t just cross a line — they erased it. When killers police the police, the message is clear: law-abiding citizens are no longer the priority.”
Check me out on X @dianelgruber.
OREGON’S OUTGOING GOVERNOR, KATE BROWN, RELEASES “JOGGER RAPIST”
This is a unique article for this writer. I am well acquainted with both Oregon’s outgoing governor, Kate Brown, and a rape victim which Brown is further victimizing, Danielle Tudor. Lil Kate and I both graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, she in 1985 and me in 1986. Danielle, a wife & mother, owned & operated the cleaning ser…
^Brown commuted 104 sentences during her tenure and granted 130 pardons, Hedquist being one. As a result of this, Thrasher’s family was not informed of his release.
*Founded in 2011, the OJRC focuses on dismantling mass incarceration and systemic discrimination. They provide direct legal services, engage in public education, and advocate for policy reform.
^^While there is no public record of the Open Society Foundations (OSF) providing a direct institutional grant to the Oregon Justice Resource Center (OJRC) in their most recent financial disclosures, the two organizations are closely linked through shared leadership and historical support. Oregon General Fund Appropriations: In 2025, the Oregon Legislature approved $1.2 million in General Fund money (taxpayer dollars) for the Criminal Justice Commission to distribute as grants to the OJRC.
The author, Diane L. Gruber, is a First Amendment advocate who writes for Substack. She calls her Substack newsletter America First Re-Ignited. Follow me on X @DianeLGruber.
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