A controversy is brewing in Salem as public safety professionals say they oppose the City Council’s appointment of a convicted murderer to a public safety position.

Kyle Hedquist was appointed to serve on the Community Police Review Board and the Civil Service Commission after he was arrested for the murder of a 19-year-old back in 1995.

In a Tuesday press release, Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson said, “While I acknowledge there are certainly appropriate ways for those who have completed their full sentences and displayed honest rehabilitation to give back in our county, this is not one of them. Our police and fire professionals have a right to expect better from city leadership.”

Hedquist was released in 2022 following his sentence commutation by then-Gov. Kate Brown. At the time, DA Clarkson openly opposed the move, expressing her “significant safety concerns surrounding the sudden and ill-planned governor’s commutation”

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