Eben Pindyck

On May 5, 2018 Eben Pindyck and O’Brien student Dean Bibens III published a dramatic narrative story in the Portland Oregonian headlined: “In the crosshairs of conscience: John Kitzhaber's death penalty reckoning.”

The story looks at the state of Oregon’s twisting relationship with the death penalty through the lens of inmates who dropped all their appeals.

It traces the change of heart by former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, a former emergency room doctor, regarding capital punishment.

Like Kitzhaber, Oregonians have long had an ambivalent relationship with the death penalty. Oregon voters decided to abolish capital punishment in 1914, and then again in 1964. Twice reinstating it in subsequent years, clearly their minds had changed, too.

As a senior in the College of Communication at Marquette, Dean Bibens assisted Pindyck with research. Bibens also authored a story based on a video interview with Carolyn Pratt, whose mother was killed by Gary Haugen. The governor granted an unwanted reprieve to Haugen. Bibens contributed an article titled: "Daughter of Gary Haugen's first victim speaks out."