Robert Keegan was acquitted on second-degree murder charge, given minimum sentence for first-degree manslaughter
By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news
A small group of protesters stood in solidarity with slain Black teenager Aidan Ellison on Friday on the steps of Jackson County Justice Building in Medford as Ellison’s killer was sentenced on first-degree manslaughter and other charges.
Some individuals sang songs, others left flowers and wrote in chalk on the face of the building and on the courthouse steps. Among the messages were the phrases “Keegan is a murderer,” and “For Aidan.”
Among those protesting was an Ashland man named Tonai, who only wanted to share his first name with Ashland.news, who knelt down to write a message in chalk on the steps.
He had just attended the 11 a.m. sentencing hearing of Robert Paul Keegan, a 50-year-old white man, who killed Black teenager Aidan Ellison in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, 2020. Both Keegan and Ellison were victims of the Almeda Fire, which burned approximately 2,500 homes on Sept. 8, 2020.
Tonai was somber following the hearing, where Judge Tim Barnack sentenced Keegan to 12 years, including 10 years for first-degree manslaughter and one year each for unlawful possession of a firearm and one year of reckless endangerment of the clerk at the Stratford Inn in Ashland, where Ellison was shot. Keegan will be credited two and a half years for time served since his arrest, according to the Rogue Valley Times. He was also sentenced to five years post-prison supervision.
Keegan will serve 7.5 years more years in state prison for the manslaughter conviction, then be transferred back to the Jackson County Jail to serve the two years on the lesser convictions, the Times said.
Tonai said he’s been living in Southern Oregon for 16 years. Asked how he felt following the sentencing, he said: “I don’t have any more room for fear. I feel numb.”
But he emphasized he is not surprised, and cited the history of Black people in the state as a whole as the reason he’s not surprised by the sentence, including inclusion of Black exclusion laws in its founding documents.
According to the Oregon Encyclopedia, “Oregon’s racial makeup has been shaped by three Black exclusion laws that were in place during much of the region’s early history. These laws, all later rescinded, largely succeeded in their aim of discouraging free Blacks from settling in Oregon early on, ensuring that Oregon would develop as primarily white.”
Included in the state constitution was “racist language” not removed until 2002, which Tonai referenced.
Among the laws, Black people were outlawed from entering or living in Oregon in 1849, with “exceptions made” for those who already lived in the state.
Oregon was the only free state admitted to the union with an exclusion clause in its constitution.
“As heartbreaking as the whole situation is, a part of me is not surprised,” Tonai told Ashland.news.
Tonai feels the court system as a whole is “unjust” and alleges the system is “very racist.”
“We live in a society where we’re seeing people not be held accountable for the murder of Black people,” Tonai said. “It gives other people a feeling like they have a license to murder a Black person and not be held accountable.”
D.L. Richardson, an officer with the Black Southern Oregon Alliance, attended the sentencing, and spoke with Ashland.news (for which he serves as a volunteer board member) on his way off the courthouse grounds. Richardson was born and raised in Selma, Alabama, coming to Southern Oregon in 2001, where he taught at Southern Oregon University and was chair of the Communication Department. He also co-organizes the Black Youth Summit at SOU, which welcomed 230 students to campus in April.
“I thought it was interesting that the judge gave comments about what was involved in the trial and what was important to remember as part of the trial,” Richardson said. “And he commented on the world at large, that if the person being charged had taken that into account, they would have another life still here.
“I felt like at a point we were being lectured to, and it wasn’t a time to be lectured to,” Richardson said.
Richardson also expressed disappointment with the process and the result of the trial. He believes the trial should have been held in another county, with greater ethnic diversity.
Dominique Toyer, a former member of the Southern Oregon Coalition for Racial Equity, spoke on the steps of the courthouse.
Toyer, like Tonai, said she wasn’t surprised by the sentencing, which she termed a “slap on the wrist.”
“When you look at the history of lynching in America, that’s exactly the outcome,” Toyer said.
“Sometimes lynchings don’t even go to trial.”
“A lot of you may be wondering what we do now,” she added.
Toyer urged everyone to confront themselves, their friends, their families regarding racism.
“I am and still have to look within my own biases,” Toyer said.
“Everyone is capable of perpetuating abuse,” she added.
Toyer said she believes Keegan felt threatened because “Black skin is threatening.”
“You cannot tell me that this was not racially motivated, and who gets to decide when it is and isn’t racism?” she asked. “Should it really be law enforcement that decides what is and is not racist?”
“I want to say this to all Oregon residents: Know your history,” she added. “Do not deny your history. Don’t cover it up.”
Questions, comments, story tips? Reach Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at [email protected].
