PROFILES IN THE LAW Darryl Larson’s Career, Volunteerism Teach Him to Expect the Unexpected Photos courtesy of Darryl Larson Fate Guides the Way D arryl Larson has seen fate work in many ways throughout his per- sonal and professional life, guid- ing him through several memorable cases while working for the Lane County dis- trict attorney’s office and as a district and circuit court judge to chairing the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission and helping homeless people in Mexico. A self-proclaimed “policy wonk,” Larson entered the University of Or- egon School of Law with the intention of someday serving in elected office. During law school, he clerked for a private firm in Eugene. “I just really couldn’t imagine myself doing private practice, so I was at odds about what to do,” Larson says. “I was still up in the air while waiting for the bar exam results, and then fate intervened, as it often will.” Before the bar exam results were even out, a change in leadership occurred at the Lane County D.A.’s office, and friends 32 OREGON STATE BAR BULLETIN • JULY 2016 By Melody Finnemore encouraged him to apply for one of the newly opened positions. “It was the perfect job for me. I loved doing trial work and doing the right thing every day,” he says, adding he especially appreciated Pat Horton, the D.A. from 1973 to 1985. “He really created the first professional D.A.’s office in Oregon. The pay went up significantly, and we were able to keep people for most of their ca- reers.” Noting that it was a halcyon time to be a lawyer in the Lane County D.A.’s of- fice, Larson says he had the opportunity to begin trying major cases almost imme- diately. Among the many memorable — and painful — cases he was involved in was the prosecution of Norman “Snake” Brooks and Belinda Lederer, who were part of a communal group that had several run-ins with law enforcement. Larson was working with Michael Sul- livan, who went on to become the senior judge in Deschutes County, and they asked Detective Roy Dirks to help inves- tigate a drowning in the Blue Lake area. Dirks happened upon a gathering of the Brooks family and was shot and killed on April 11, 1975. “It was a terrible personal tragedy for all of us, and Mike and I felt incredibly guilty for sending him up there in the first place,” Larson says. Lederer ultimately was convicted of manslaughter and Brooks was found guilty of hindering prosecution. Larson also helped develop the case against Diane Downs, who was convict- ed in the 1983 murder of her 7-year-old daughter, Cheryl, and the attempted mur- der of her other two children, 8-year-old Christie and 3-year-old Danny. Downs claimed that a stranger had tried to steal her car and shot her and the children. “After an hour or two of listening to this, the captain and I looked at each oth- er and said, ‘She did it.’ We were going to have to keep an open mind about it, but it was pretty bizarre,” Larson says. He recalls staying awake for about 72 hours straight after the shooting to help gather evidence against Downs, only to have the case assigned to another pros- ecutor. He admits he was disappointed at the time, but was gratified to see Downs sentenced to life plus 50 years in prison. Work With Nation’s First Drug, Mental Health Courts After nearly two decades with the D.A.’s office, Larson put his name in for an open judgeship in the Lane County District Court. Gov. Neil Goldschmidt had something different in mind, how- ever, and asked Larson to serve as om- budsman to the state’s corrections system. Michael Franke, the system’s director, had recently been murdered, and at the time there was a theory that he was killed because he found out about drug dealing that involved corrections officers. That theory about Franke’s death was never proven, but it allowed Larson to hire top homicide investigators from the Eugene Police Department and work with the FBI to craft a unique surveillance sys- tem. “That was a fascinating job. First of all, the people you are interviewing are inmates in the penitentiary as well as cor- rections officers,” he says, adding John Foote, now Clackamas County district attorney, also played a key role. The in- vestigation resulted in a report for Gold- schmidt about the extent to which drugs were moving through the corrections system. As Larson and his team were complet- ing the report, Goldschmidt appointed