In response to threats directed at Salem city councilors, a beefed up police presence greeted dozens heading into a special meeting Wednesday, where councilors voted 6-2 to strip convicted murderer Kyle Hedquist of his roles on two city boards and commissions. 

Two councilors who originally voted to reappoint Hedquist in December to the city Community Police Review Board and the Civil Service Commission changed their minds during Wednesday’s vote. They were Council President Linda Nishioka, who’s currently seeking reelection, and Councilor Vanessa Nordyke, who’s challenging Mayor Julie Hoy for her job.

Councilor Micki Varney abruptly left the meeting early with little explanation, saying only that some city councilors had been excluded from decisions in the hours leading up to the meeting. She did not elaborate before walking out, or following her departure in text messages to Salem Reporter. 

That left the vote 6-2 with Nishioka and Nordyke joining Councilors Paul Tigan, Deanna Gwyn, Shane Matthews and Hoy in withdrawing Hedquist’s roles on the police review board and Civil Service Commission.   

Councilors Irvin Brown and Mai Vang held firm to their original votes in support of Hedquist’s appointments during the council’s meeting on Dec. 8. 

Varney, Nordyke and Nishioka originally voted to reappoint Hedquist at that meeting. 

“These are not easy decisions, and we are often confronted with things that we wonder, ‘Did I have all of that information? Did I make a good choice?’ And what we do have is the opportunity for reconsideration,” Nishioka said during discussion. “I believe in rehabilitation and the diverse perspectives that are valuable on any committee. At the same time I must weigh the concerns raised by my constituents and public safety leaders.”  

The vote came after a contentious meeting where Hedquist himself made a final appeal to the council to give him a second chance at serving on the board. He said there were no grounds for removing him and that he is a reformed man after spending decades in prison for killing a teenager in Douglas County in 1994. Hedquist pleaded guilty when he was 18 years old.   

“For 11,364 days I have carried the weight of the worst decision of my life. I carry that every day. There is not a day that has gone by in my life that I have not thought about the actions that brought me to prison. I replay the details, I search for a way back to my own humanity through the wreckage of that singular moment,” Hedquist said, speaking passionately and on the verge of tears. “That debt is unpayable. But it is that same debt that drives me back into the community…I speak because I am the living evidence of what happens when violence wins and I want to ensure that it never wins again.” 

In addition to Hedquist and his wife, Kate Strathdee, about 20 other community members spoke during public testimony. They were largely split between supporting Hedquist’s roles on the two boards and commissions and those who urged the council to remove Hedquist.   

Elizabeth Infante, a local commercial real estate broker and the former chair of the community police review board, said she met Hedquist while serving on the board last year. 

“The first thing he said to me was that he was once a resident of DOC (Department of Corrections). To me, he wanted to highlight what he had done. If I was ashamed and I felt really horrible for what I did, I would keep that quiet. I wouldn’t put it out there for somebody to ask,” Infante said. “That shows that (Hedquist) still has that behavior, that he was impulsive, narcissistic when he was a young age.” 

Bill Smaldone, a Willamette University professor of history, supported Hedquist’s appointments. 

“It is a moment when I really felt proud of our city council. When the choice had to be made between reappointing Mr. Hedquist in line with the idea that this council believes in restorative justice, believes in rehabilitation, believes in second chances,” Smaldone said. “And so I felt really good that we had decided to do that rather than go down the road of endless punishment where no one can ever recover oneself. Now it appears we might be reversing that.” 

City councilors originally appointed Hedquist to the police review board unanimously in 2024 after he applied for the seat. The volunteer board is tasked with reviewing external complaints made against the Salem Police Department, according to the city’s website. The review board met only once in 2025 and its role is limited to making recommendations to the chief of police and city manager. 

Police and fire union leaders expressed concern over Hedquist’s roles on the police review board and the Civil Service Commission, which could have influence over fire department personnel, in a letter emailed to city councilors on Dec. 12.

The motion to withdraw Hedquist’s appointments was advanced by Nordyke. She said in late December she had changed her mind on Hedquist’s reappointment following pressure from those unions. 

Vang originally proposed reappointing Hedquist at the December meeting, going against the recommendation of the city boards and commissions appointments committee. 

She has since received several threatening messages following the union pressure campaign and after the reappointment received national media attention.

Vang double downed earlier this week in a statement indicating that despite threats she had no intention of backing down from her original vote. 

“My vote to reappoint was based on my values of fair treatment, people’s capacity to change, and in restorative justice,” Vang said during the meeting. “I do believe people change. Especially over multiple decades and years…Mr. Hedquist served his sentence over 28 years. He completed what the courts required of him. He spends his time working on opening warming shelters for our homeless. He also spends his time helping others who serve their time become productive members of our community…He was already serving on this board for two years without incident.” 

Hedquist was sentenced to life in prison following his conviction on the 1994 murder. Then-Gov. Kate Brown commuted his life sentence in 2022. Both the original crime and his commutation received substantial media coverage.

He was released into Marion County instead of Douglas County due to “community concerns” over him living in Douglas County, and over the objections of Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson. 

Hedquist now works for the nonprofit Oregon Justice Resource Center and has lobbied for criminal justice reform at the Oregon Legislature.

City officials did not perform a background check on Hedquist when he initially applied for the volunteer role, and councilors have since said they weren’t aware of his criminal history when they initially voted to appoint him. 

Hedquist was also appointed to the Citizens Advisory Traffic Commission on Dec. 8, but public safety leaders have not objected to Hedquist’s role on that commission. 

Councilors also voted 7-1 Wednesday night to require the city to perform background checks on all applicants to city boards and commissions, and to bar anybody with a violent felony conviction from serving on the police review board and the Civil Service Commission.

The proposal for background checks came from Nishioka. Her original proposal would have required such checks only for the police review board and Civil Service Commission.

Hoy proposed expanding the requirement for background checks to all applicants to city boards and commissions. Councilors voted unanimously for that change. 

Matthews also proposed barring anybody with a violent felony conviction from serving on the police review board and the Civil Service Commission. He also proposed designating a seat on the police review board for an individual who is a victim of a felony crime. Councilors approved his changes with Vang being the only councilor voting against them. 

Vang was the only councilor to vote against the final motion after it was amended twice. 

Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected]. 

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