By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Jack Sigler could be in his 70s when he’s released from prison.
On Tuesday, the 54-year-old Sigler pleaded guilty to manslaughter and four counts of burglary in the December 2020 stabbing death of Mark Campbell, a Waldport city councilor and co-owner of Crestview Golf Course.
Sigler agreed to plead guilty and be sentenced to 27 years in prison without the possibility of parole after a one-day settlement conference involving his defense attorneys, the Lincoln County district attorney’s office and retired Multnomah County judge Eric Bergstrom. Accounting for time served and potential good behavior, Sigler could be released after 21 years.
Sigler had originally been charged with second-degree murder and six counts of burglary or theft, which would have effectively meant a life sentence if found guilty on those charges.
Five family members used the sentencing to stand within six feet of Sigler in court and tell him in emotional terms how Campbell’s killing had affected their lives. Campbell’s sister, DeeDee Renton, held a photo of her and her brother as she spoke through tears.
“I hope you understand the impact of your actions,” said Mark Campbell’s wife, Christine. “My world was destroyed.”
Sigler broke down in tears as family members spoke. Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, Sigler also spoke briefly saying he was “sorry for taking a son, a brother and a dad away” before he was overcome with emotion and returned to his seat.
Campbell was killed when he interrupted a burglary in a neighboring apartment overlooking his golf course on Dec. 6, 2020.
Three days later sheriff’s deputies arrested Sigler on charges on burglarizing the apartment of Ron Remy, a prolific collector of swords who lived next door to the Campbells. Sigler was living in his parents’ garage six blocks north on Crestline Drive.
On Jan. 14, 2021, a grand jury indicted Sigler on three counts of second-degree murder.
Sigler, who worked on local landscaping crews around the area and has a long criminal history on drug, burglary and theft convictions, has been in jail since his arrest.
The settlement conference – a normal procedure on complicated cases – was an attempt to see if the parties could reach a plea and sentencing agreement before a four-week murder trial scheduled to start mid-November.
— This is a breaking news story and will be updated
By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Mark and Christine Campbell were asleep in their apartment overlooking Crestview Golf Course early the morning of Dec. 6, 2020, when she heard a noise from the vacant apartment next door.
Christine Campbell returned to their bedroom, alerted her husband but he fell back to sleep. She went to look and saw someone with a flashlight inside the adjacent unit, according to documents filed in Lincoln County Circuit Court. She woke Mark Campbell, who grabbed a key and went next door to investigate.
The next thing Christine Campbell heard was a scuffle and her husband and another person yelling, according to the court filings. Christine Campbell stepped onto the deck outside and saw a man throw her husband to the ground and begin “slugging” him, according to the documents.
By the time Christine Campbell returned with a neighbor from another apartment her husband was on the ground bleeding, the documents say. The intruder had fled.
Paramedics were unable to save Campbell, 66, the co-owner of the adjacent Crestview Golf Course and a longtime Waldport City Council member. Homicides by strangers or during a break-in are rare, and the death of a well-liked and prominent member of the community shocked everyone.
In a news release, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office said Campbell died of “severe trauma received from multiple stab wounds.”
Three days later sheriff’s deputies arrested Jack E. Sigler, 54, on charges on burglarizing the apartment of Ron Remy, a prolific sword collector who had lived next door to the Campbells until his death the previous month. Sigler was living in his parents’ garage six blocks north on Crestline Drive and had apparently burglarized Remy’s apartment at least twice before Dec. 6.
On Jan. 14, 2021, a grand jury indicted Sigler on three counts of second-degree murder. Sigler most recently had worked on local landscaping crews and has a long criminal history on drug, burglary and theft convictions. He has been in jail since his arrest.
A jury trial — expected to stretch over weeks — is scheduled in mid-November.
Settlement conference Monday
But on Monday, Eric Bergstrom, a respected and recently retired judge from Multnomah County, will gather prosecutors and three defense attorneys to see if the case can be settled without going to trial.
The settlement conference is scheduled to last two days. It follows months of defense motions to exclude statements Sigler made and evidence gathered as deputies searched his bedroom, and another motion for separate trials on the burglary and murder charges.
Sigler’s attorneys – Steve Lindsey of Portland, Mark Sabitt of Eugene and Kristina Kayl of Newport – argue in their extensive motions that a sheriff’s deputy and state police trooper ignored Sigler’s “multiple requests” for an attorney when they went to Sigler’s parents’ home Dec. 7 after receiving a tip that he had previously burglarized Remy’s apartment. Sigler followed his father’s advice to let police search his living area and was handcuffed. Inside police found two samurai swords and Asian throwing stars in his bedroom. Later, after getting a search warrant, investigators said they also found 17 swords and five throwing stars in his room and the garage.
Sigler’s attorneys also argue Sigler was not properly given read his Miranda rights – and that any statements should be disallowed. They also argue that investigators did not have permission or a warrant at first to search his living and bedroom areas, and any evidence — including DNA evidence — from those areas should be disallowed.
Less is known about the Lincoln County District Attorney’s strategy and evidence collected by Oregon State Police forensics experts who spent days at the apartment where Campbell was killed and in Sigler’s garage.
On Sept. 8, District Attorney Lanee Danforth asked Circuit Judge Amanda Benjamin to seal her office’s 25-page rebuttal to the defense motions and 81 pages of exhibits that Danforth said was “investigatory information” consisting of search warrant affidavits, the search warrants, and evidence from those warrants.
Benjamin, in a one-sentence order the same day, agreed to Danforth’s request.
On Thursday, Sigler, his attorneys and deputy district attorney Lynn Howard were in court for a 40-minute hearing to hear defense requests to have Danforth turn over communications between the district attorney’s office and investigators. Benjamin denied that motion.
Defense attorneys are also asking to have their DNA experts test Sigler’s cell phone – which Benjamin initially rejected Thursday but then agreed to see if both sides could work out an agreement to have the defense examine it.
Sabitt also complained about receiving only receiving old, requested emails from Danforth on Wednesday, saying “the state as ethical obligations to provide emails and exculpatory evidence” to Benjamin and defense attorneys.
How settlements work
Settlement conferences are frequently used on complicated cases or before long, expensive trials and bring in a judge from outside the county to conduct. Two days for the Sigler-Campbell settlement conference is unusually long, but could reflect the amount of evidence and complicated nature of the murder and burglary investigations.
The conferences are held behind closed doors, with the prosecution and defense attorneys making their case – including presenting some documents – separately to the judge, who shuttles between the two sides.
It’s all to determine if the two sides can reach an agreement to see if an appropriate plea and sentence can be worked out without the expense and trauma of a long trial.
But there’s always risk for both sides – and either one can reject a proposed settlement and go to a jury trial. Sigler would have to agree to any settlement in private and then plead to it in open court.
The victim’s family is not involved directly, but is notified of the settlement conference and could be allowed to make a statement if there is an agreement, a plea and sentence.
In Sigler’s case, it may be Bergstrom suggesting that Campbell’s killing appears to be manslaughter, a reckless killing committed in the course of a burglary, rather than second-degree murder, which is an intentional killing in the course of another crime. That could mean the difference of a minimum sentence of 25 years for second-degree murder and 10 years for manslaughter.
Bergstrom is known as having an excellent track record for working with prosecutors and defense attorneys to help settle cases. He recently oversaw the settlement of a sensational Yamhill County case involving the murder of a 25-year-old Salem woman and her 3-year-old son by the boy’s biological father, who received a life prison sentence without the possibility of parole.
Bergstrom received his law degree from Lewis & Clark College in 1990 and spent 15 years as a prosecutor in the Multnomah County district attorneys office before he was appointed in 2005 as a circuit court judge. He retired in January.
What the bar says about settlements
The Oregon State Bar has a good, clear concise explanation of settlement conferences. It says:
“Most judges want the parties to give some background of the case in writing before the conference begins. Judges read this information before the conference and allow each side to tell the judge his or her view of the facts and the law.
“A judge may first meet with the lawyers on each side. Or, a judge may meet with the lawyers and the parties together. Then the judge will talk separately with the parties and their lawyers. The lawyers will explain the law, the facts, and the positions of the parties. Discussions may go on for several hours. The parties either reach an agreement or decide that they cannot settle the case.
“Settlement conferences help each side lower their risk of losing the case at trial. Usually, there are strengths and weaknesses on both sides of any given case. If a party is open-minded and flexible, the party may reach an acceptable settlement that eliminates the risk of losing the case after a trial. A settlement is much more likely if both parties’ participation in the conference is reasonable and constructive.
“If the parties agree on a settlement, the judge will usually have the parties and their lawyers prepare a written agreement. It is usually necessary for one of the lawyers to prepare a formal settlement agreement the parties for signatures. The judge usually dismisses the case after the parties have signed the agreement.
“The judge may decide that the parties and their lawyers should return later. The parties may reach partial agreement and limit the number of issues that they will argue at trial. Or, the judge may agree with the parties and their lawyers that the case is unlikely to settle and schedule the case for a trial.
“In some counties, the same judge who presided over the settlement conference will continue as the trial judge. In other counties, the judge who presided over the settlement conference will not serve as the trial judge.
“If a settlement can’t be reached and the case goes to trial, prosecutors or defense lawyers must agree that they will not testify about settlement conversations at trial and may not tell the trial judge or jury about their settlement offers and demands,” the bar concluded.
- Quinton Smith is the founder and editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com
To read some public, unsealed documents from Lincoln County circuit court in the Jack Sigler/Mark Campbell homicide case, go:
District attorney’s outline of the case
Defense’s motion to suppress statements
Defense’s motion to suppress search results
Defense’s motion to suppress probable evidence
Defense’s motion to suppress evidence
To read previous YachatsNews stories about the case go to:
Initial story of Mark Campbell’s killing and reaction, Dec. 9, 2020