Earl Bain

Freedom Day: August 18, 2020

Fredrick Earl Bain’s path to overturning his wrongful conviction came down to his last hope: a pardon from Governor Kate Brown. Prior to this case, Governor Brown had never issued a pardon on the grounds of innocence, and based on the research we have done, we believe innocence-based pardons to be very rare across the country. But Earl turned out to be the exception, and his fight to clear his name reached its end in August 2020 when the governor granted him a pardon and acknowledged that he had been wrongfully convicted.

Earl is an army veteran who served in Afghanistan. He was wrongfully convicted of sex abuse by a non-unanimous jury in 2009 in Malheur County in eastern Oregon. There were no witnesses or physical evidence in his case. Earl spent six years in prison. The complaining witness recanted her story in 2015 and has since steadfastly maintained that the crime never took place. This recantation was repeated to the Malheur County District Attorney, Dave Goldthorpe, who supported the granting of a pardon to Earl.

Our Legal Director Steve Wax and our Senior Staff Attorney Brittney Plesser took on Earl’s case in 2015. They sought to overturn his wrongful conviction through the courts, assisting him with his federal habeas petition and later an appeal to the Ninth Circuit. Unfortunately, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision, with one judge dissenting. Rehearings were denied. That left a pardon from Governor Brown as the only option to overturn his conviction.

OIP attorneys submitted a pardon application to the governor’s office in the spring of 2020, and on August 18, 2020, the pardon was granted by Governor Brown. In issuing her first ever pardon on the grounds of innocence, the governor acknowledged the lack of evidence supporting the conviction, given that the complaining witness had recanted; the district attorney’s support for the pardon, and Earl’s showing himself to be a responsible member of society.  

Earl Bain spent six years in the Army National Guard, most of which was on active duty, including serving in Afghanistan. He once felt as though his time in prison had sullied the honor with which he served his country. The governor’s pardon means his reputation is restored. Earl now lives in Idaho. He and the owner of the company he works for plan on building up the business which produces decorative metalwork. Earl is looking forward to taking a leading role in that project. He will also get back into hunting and shooting, which he loved to do before his conviction. His daughter will go with him so they can enjoy the outdoors together. One of the most significant benefits of the pardon is that Earl will no longer be on the sex offender registry, which relieves him of the various burdens and restrictions that accompany registration.

Earl said the governor’s pardon felt like he had got his life back: “This is something I’ve been fighting for over the past 11 years. There have been times I wanted to give up on life, but now I feel like I can breathe again. This is a new beginning for me and my family. Now I can finally live without the fear and the worry. I am so thankful that Governor Brown has done this for me. What Steve Wax and Brittney Plesser have done for me, along with everyone else at the Oregon Innocence Project, all the staff and volunteers who worked on my case, is amazing. I can’t thank them enough for sticking with me.”

Earl Bain’s case matches some of the characteristics of wrongful convictions for sex abuse listed on the National Registry of Exonerations, a database of innocence cases. For example, 84% of wrongful convictions for child sex abuse documented by the registry involve false accusations and/or perjury, as Earl’s case does.  

The Oregon Innocence Project is grateful to Governor Brown and her staff for thoroughly reviewing Earl’s case and remedying the mistakes that were made. The Oregon Innocence Project team who worked on Earl’s case includes Legal Director Steve Wax, Senior Staff Attorney Brittney Plesser, and two legal interns, Alex Meggitt (who is now a staff attorney with the project) and Kelly Muldavin. We could not have been successful without the support of defense attorney Bob Moon; Foster Garvey PC who assisted with all of our brief formatting; and the invaluable contributions of Bob Stanulis, PhD, and Professor Daniel Reisberg, PhD.