EUGENE, Ore. -- The main reason the Lane County
District Attorney’s Office was able to prosecute three young men who
assaulted Riley Campbell behind a Eugene shopping center on May 9, 2007,
is because of Campbell’s grand jury testimony.
That would not be remarkable in a typical criminal case, in which the victim is often a key witness.
But Riley, now 35, is developmentally disabled and autistic, and communicating is not exactly his strong point.
He is, however, a whiz with facts, reads
piles of novels and comprehends the world around him. But he has
difficulty expressing himself, especially when distressed.
So when he was able to identify his three assailants in mug shots and tell the grand jury exactly what they did to him, it was powerful testimony.
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