A Marion County Circuit Court judge on Tuesday sentenced a Salem man to 20 years in prison for shooting and killing a woman in January 2021.
A grand jury indicted Matthew B. Hansen, 32, in February 2021 on charges including second-degree murder in the death of 32-year-old Amanda M. Mankins of Salem, his partner.
Hansen pleaded guilty on Oct. 2 to first-degree manslaughter. The legal distinction from the original charge is that he did not intend to kill Mankins, but did so “recklessly, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life,” according to a new indictment filed the same day as his plea.
Mankins was found shot in a northeast Salem home. She later died at Salem Hospital, the Salem Police Department said in a news release at the time.
Police said Hansen and Mankins were in a relationship and both lived at the home on Northeast Norway Street.
Hansen also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and body armor as a felon and dealing oxycodone. Charges of unlawful use of a weapon and possessing oxycodone were dismissed as part of his plea deal.
Judge Tracy Prall also sentenced him to three years of post-prison supervision.
Firefighters responded in the early morning hours of Jan. 6, 2021 to a report of an overdose at the home.
“Based on the details of the call it sounded like someone who was present at the location had called someone else who was not, and that person ultimately called in the overdose,” an officer later wrote in a court filing. The officer said Hansen also called 911 but did not provide a name and hung up on dispatchers.
Firefighters arrived and found Mankins instead had suffered a gunshot wound to her chest, according to court documents.
A relative would later tell police that Hansen had called them frantically, crying and sounding panicked. Hansen told the person that “the gun accidentally went off” after he and Mankins had gotten into an argument, he became aggressive and they began wrestling.
Police arrested Hansen that same day.
He has convictions dating back to 2011 including possession of methamphetamine, second-degree theft, giving false information to a police officer for service of an arrest warrant and fourth-degree assault, court records showed.
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Salem man charged with murder in death of partner
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
