Prominent Portlander Terry Bean and his former attorney, Derek Ashton, have pleaded not guilty to alleged witness pay

Portland real estate developer Terry Bean and his former attorney Derek Ashton pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Eugene on computer crime charges.

bean and Ashton are accused of illegally using a computer to bribe a key witness do not testify against Bean in a sexual abuse trial in September 2015.

Lane County Assistant District Attorney Erik Hasselman written in court documents last summer that he and police have evidence that Ashton used $220,000 from Bean to pay the teenager who accused Bean of abuse to not show up for trial.

Bean and Ashton made brief appearances in Lane County Circuit Court to be arraigned and plead. No trial date has been set.

On the day of Bean’s arrest two weeks ago, his new attorney, Steven Sherlag, said he and his client were shocked by the new charges. “Mr. Bean unequivocally denies all state claims,” Sherlag said.

Ashton’s attorney, David Angeli, on Wednesday described his client as “a mainstay of the Portland legal community for over 30 years.”

“Mr. Ashton strongly denies these accusations and looks forward to fully vindicating himself so that he can continue to serve his customers and the community,” Angeli said in an emailed statement.

The two defendants were secretly charged in late October and then incarcerated in the Multnomah County Correctional System on October 30. Ashton, 58, was arrested at his home. Bean, 71, returned from vacation in Palm Springs, Calif., and turned himself in after learning he was wanted, according to his attorney.

Bean and Ashton each posted $3,000 bond and were released later the same day.

Indictments released Wednesday accuse the couple of “paying money to a witness to a crime to avoid testifying” in order to carry out “a scheme and artifice to defraud”.

Bean still faces criminal charges of sexually abusing the teenager in Eugene’s motel room in 2013 when he was 65 and the alleged victim was 15. The original case was dropped when the teenager failed to show up for trial, but a grand jury reindicted Bean early this year. His retrial in that case is scheduled for May.

Bean is a fifth-generation Oregonian, a top Democratic fundraiser, and a well-known gay rights activist.

He is also president of Bean Investment Real Estate, which is based in downtown Portland and “in partnership” owns more than 6,000 multi-family real estate units in the western United States, according to his company’s website.

Ashton has been a lawyer in Oregon for 32 years. He served as a prosecutor for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office from 1987 to 2002 before moving into private practice.

“He had a distinguished career as a deputy district attorney before entering private practice, where he continued to serve his clients with honor and distinction,” Ashton’s attorney, Angeli, said in his statement.

Ashton is currently listed as a partner on the website of downtown Portland law firm Sussman Shank. The website says Ashton “has tried over 135 jury cases, winning over 80%”, and he practices in a variety of cases – including complex civil litigation, white collar criminal cases and personal injury. .

In September, the Oregon State Bar opened an ethics investigation into Ashton over whether he helped bribe the teenage witness in Bean’s sexual abuse case.

–Aimee Green

[email protected]

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