Oregon's number two law official in 1989 Assistant Attorney General Scott Scott McAlister: Child Porn-Related Conviction and Practicing Law
Scott McAlister: Child Porn-Related Conviction and Practicing Law
Meet Scott McAlister, a man who very well may know who really killed Michael Francke. Part 1 in a special Exposé on corruption in Oregon prisons.
Scott McAlister in 2005 with Tempe, AZ
Municipal Court Judge Michelle O'Hair Schattenberg |
(TEMPE, Az.) - Oregon's number two law official in 1989 was Assistant Attorney General Scott McAlister. He was later convicted of a crime related to possessing child pornography and yet is still a practicing attorney, in Tempe, Arizona.
Pretty crazy isn't it?
It gets worse; for 17 years, McAlister had provided legal counsel for Oregon Corrections. This is when Oregon showed up on the radar locally and nationally for an extremely corrupt prison system.
To lead the charge for justice from within, Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt hired Michael Francke in 1987. Francke had earned a national reputation as the prison director who cleaned up New Mexico's Correction Dept. after rioting that left over 30 inmates dead.
Francke found the corruption within Oregon's system, but we'll probably never know exactly what or how much. We do know he was in the middle of the investigation, and that he was starting to dismantle the infrastructure of the problem, "cleaning house", as he said.
It is also documented that Francke became very disillusioned after attending a retreat with Scott McAlister and several top corrections officials. It was a several-day event, but Francke left after the first day.
Scott McAlister left his position in mid-January 1989 and headed for Utah, as it was clearly established that he hadn't met Francke's approval.
As it turns out, Michael Francke only had a short time left to live. He was murdered in the parking lot of the Corrections Department on 18 January 1989.
Scott McAlister, former OR Asst AG
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According to FreeFrankGable.com, "Francke had been critical of McAlister’s day-to-day legal advice to the department, also noting that McAlister was prone to spend his time in court rather than seek alternative remedies."[1]
In fact, Francke addressed his concerns about McAlister's work habits to Oregon AG Dave Frohnmayer[2].
Oregon's prisons were suffering from corruption; this is the man who guided their legal defense for almost two decades. Scott McAlister was arrested for child pornography by the FBI, shortly after arriving in Utah and resigned from his position there in December of the same year.
In 1990, the Statesman Journal published:
"A former Oregon assistant attorney general had no valid reason to check out two child pornography films from a Multnomah County court in 1980, according to the Portland defense lawyer involved in that case. More than 10 years after the case closed, Scott McAlister is scheduled to appear Friday in a Utah court to face a second-degree felony child pornography charge for giving the two films to a woman there.
"McAlister worked almost 17 years for the Oregon Justice Department, mostly representing the Department of Corrections in legal matters. He left Oregon in January 1989 and became the inspector general for the Utah Department of Corrections."
According to the case against McAlister, "In or about September 1980, the Accused came into possession of two video films which the parties agree constituted child pornography..."
McAlister had snatched the tapes from evidence in a case he prosecuted. He was still packing them around almost ten years later.
Court documents state:
"In or about June, 1989, the Accused delivered a box of video films to Linda Dreitzler, an acquaintance of the Accused's in Salt Lake City, Utah. The two pornographic films were among the films delivered, a fact of which the Accused was aware."
McAlister was charged with second-degree felony sexual exploitation of a minor, after authorities obtained two films that reportedly contain child pornography. Interestingly, the term 'child pornography' is used little, though that is specifically what it was; simple 'pornography' is repeated over and over again in the charges. In the end they got McAlister for Moral Turpitude.
"{T}he category of misdemeanors involving moral turpitude is fixed with reference to the nature and elements of the crime and without consideration of the specific circumstances of a case. Interpreting moral turpitude in this way avoids the difficulties of lack of notice and definitional precision which attend the variable, fact-specific alternative."
This top state official dealing with the most severe types of crimes, including crimes against children, was slapped on the wrist and allowed to remain practicing law. After all, he had become the Utah Corrections Department inspector general.
Standard Operating Procedure: Current Research Shows Corruption Continues
Salem-News.com is launching a special series beginning with the saga of former Oregon Dept. of Corrections Officer William Coleman.
Coleman was falsely charged by his superiors after experiencing blatant and repeated racism in the Oregon State Penitentiary and blowing the whistle. They drug him to court and told him he was facing 40 years in prison. Forty years in prison on trumped up charges from the state of Oregon - that he beat hands down, with a unanimous not guilty verdict; thus proving that the weak case against him was nothing more than a series of false claims constructed by police and prosecutors and other state officials, clearly in collaboration, in an attempt to discredit his claims of racism.
He was found not guilty by a unanimous jury.
40 years for a black prison guard who stood up against racism is a long stretch from the meager seven days in jail that McAlister was ultimately sentenced to for Child Porn and he is still a practicing lawyer.
This is but one example of preferential and discriminatory behavior at the highest levels of Oregon's judicial system.
McAlister is still a practicing attorney, with a nice house, nice life. Anyone else very likely would still be rotting behind bars, and certainly expected to register as a sex offender.
In the main photo, courtesy of freefrankgable.com, McAlister is pictured with a current Arizona judge. They appear to be friends, motorcycle riding buddies.
But worse about McAlister, is the obvious connection that he likely had to Oregon's internal corruption. If a man with 17 years behind the scenes doesn't have inside information, no one does. However, just days before Francke's murder, on 12 January 1989, McAlister testified before an Oregon Legislative Committee looking into the charges of wrongdoing at the Corrections Department. He said, he was "unaware of any such activities". It is unclear whether he was under oath.
"If anyone is out to get you, they can get you." --Michael Francke about Dome Building security on the day he died
Michael Francke's investigation of serious in-house corruption suffered a violent death along with him on 18 January. His murder was about all it took to end that investigation. Mysteriously, absolutely no files or documentation regarding the massive case were found after his death[3].
McAlister resigned as the Utah inspector general just months later amid sexual harassment allegations. In January 1990, The FBI searched McAlister's Salt Lake City home and seized pornographic videos, in addition to the two kiddie porn videos that had been removed from Oregon evidence files by McAlister.
According to a report on FreeFrankGable.com: "McAlister was arrested in January after his former secretary, Linda Dreitzler, reported to federal authorities that she had found the films in a box of 30 movies that McAlister had given her for safekeeping. She said McAlister had shown her some of the movies depicting adult sex in hopes of convincing her to participate in group sex."
Dreitzler was paid $95,000 by the state in an out-of-court settlement for a sexual harassment suit that she filed against McAlister and the Department of Corrections, an expensive tab for taxpayers to pay for his 'indiscretion'.
Typically, a crime that crosses state lines lines becomes federal. McAlister only had to appear in Utah state court, because "officials feared that it would be difficult to prove that child pornography had been transported across state lines for the purpose of exhibition, as outlined in federal law." This was a difficult explanation to accept for those involved, as those most trusted are usually expected to lead the best example, not find protection when they break that trust.
Lady Justice never sleeps. The state of Oregon convicted a man named Frank Gable for the Murder of Michael Francke, though it is commonly believed that Gable did not commit the crime. A movie about the case called 'Without Evidence' says it all in the title.
Gable is currently serving life without parole.
The Francke murder case is considered as wide open as any cold case in the world, according to many. Certain reporters in Oregon have kept the torch burning for many years, along with the Francke family.
The story of William Coleman, referenced above, is going to be Hell on Oregon Corrections. They tried, lied and failed. It is all a matter of record, not theory or innuendo, and leads into the depths of what was never meant to be revealed.
Michael Francke would have brought the crooked down but they killed him first. New information that will be published in the coming weeks just might lead Mr. McAlister back to Oregon after all.
STAY TUNED TO SALEM-NEWS.COM FOR PART 2 IN THIS ONGOING SERIES
A 1995 film Without Evidence, written by Gil Dennis and Phil Stanford, an Oregon columnist who has investigated the case extensively, was based on the Francke murder and subsequent investigations by Kevin Francke, Michael's brother. In the film, Francke was portrayed by Ernie Garrett, also starring Angelina Jolie.
Written by: Tim King
Editor: Bonnie King
Editor: Bonnie King
Part two in this series: Jun-18-2010: Exposé: Skeletons Falling Out of the Closet of Oregon Corrections - Tim King Salem-News.com
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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.
Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com
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