Man formerly on death row agrees to life sentence for Salem prison murder

After spending a decade in and out of jail, waiting years on death row and having his death sentence overturned, a 41-year-old convicted murderer will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

Isacc Agee, 41, agreed to waive his right to a jury sentencing Monday. His sentencing trial scheduled for September was canceled, and a sentencing date was set for January 2020. 

During the hearing, Marion County Judge Claudia Burton asked Agee a series of questions before accepting his waiver.

Did he understand he was agreeing to waive his right to a jury sentencing?

Agee, dressed in faded maroon prison scrubs and guarded by three corrections officers, said yes. 

She asked: Did he believe he would have the opportunity to get out prison, ever?

Agee paused briefly before answering no. 

The Oregon Supreme Court affirmed Agee's conviction but overturned his death sentence in 2015 and ordered a new hearing to determine whether he is intellectually disabled.

After speaking with Oregon State Police investigators and the victim's family, prosecutors decided against continuing to seek the death penalty. 

In February 2008, prison officials found Agee and another inmate beating Antonio Barrantes-Vasquez, 36, in his Oregon State Penitentiary prison cell.

Agee was serving a 40-year sentence attempted murder and assault at the time.

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According to court records,  in 2004, Agee hit a then-66-year-old Salem man with a pickup truck then beat him with a brick while high on meth. The man suffered a broken leg, jaw, shoulder and ankle, fractured eye sockets and crushed sinuses. 

While incarcerated, Agee and fellow inmate James Davenport wrapped a cement rock with cloth and beat Barrantes-Vasquez, a native Costa Rican, with it, also kicking the man. Shanks were found in the blood-spattered cell where the attack occurred.

Davenport pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated murder in 2010. He was sentenced to life in prison as part of a plea agreement after testing determined he was mildly mentally retarded and not eligible for the death penalty based on U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

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Following a 2011 trial so graphic that the judge scheduled counseling sessions for jurors, Agee was convicted of murdering Barrantes-Vasquez.

"His was a cold-blooded stabbing," prosecutor Matt Kemmy said during sentencing closing arguments. "He crushed Mr. Vasquez's skull over and over, while he begged for his life."

The jury deliberated for eight hours before determining that Agee should face the death penalty. 

He became one of five people on Oregon's death row convicted of killing an inmate. 

Agee had been in trouble with the law most of his adult life, with arrests for sex abuse, animal abuse, drug possession, assault, vehicle theft and menacing. 

Agee's attorneys argued against a death sentence, saying Agee had brain damage, fetal alcohol exposure, a drug addiction, a neglectful childhood and a low IQ.

"He was born broken," defense attorney Thomas Bostwick said. "He was out of his mind on drugs when he murdered (Barrantes-Vasquez)."

A 2016 study by Harvard Law School's Fair Punishment Project found that 25 percent of the people on Oregon's death row have evidence of intellectual disability or traumatic brain injury.

Previous coverage:Bulk of Oregon's death row inmates mentally impaired

The report said Agee has a psychotic disorder, suffers from partial fetal alcohol syndrome and has brain defects, a low IQ and the adaptive functioning equivalent to that of a 7-year-old child.

Following an Atkins hearing to determine whether Agee had the mental capacity to be eligible for the death penalty, the court found the defense did not present sufficient evidence to prove he was intellectionally disabled.  

But in its 2015 decision, the Oregon Supreme Court remanded the case back to trial court for a new Atkins hearing to consider recent supreme court rulings and changes in how intellectual disabilities are diagnosed. 

In December, Marion County District Attorney officials said their decision not to seek the death penalty was based solely on their assessment of the four "penalty phase" questions in light of the Oregon Supreme Court's decision regarding evidence that would be admitted into future court proceedings. 

Jurors are required by state law to consider whether the defendant committed the murder deliberately, whether the defendant would present "future dangerousness" to society by committing violent acts in the future, whether their conduct was unreasonable in the response to provocation and whether they should receive a death sentence. 

All 12 jurors must answer yes to all four questions in order to sentence someone to death.

The decision not to seek the death penalty was not based on prosecutors' ability to prevail in the new Atkins hearing, District Attorney Paige Clarkson said in a letter, adding:

"This decision applies to this case only and is not representative of any change in the Marion County District Attorney's Office position on the application of the death penalty in any other present or future prosecution." 

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For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodwort@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-399-6884 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth