Family of shot Monroe student pushes for tougher juvenile justice rules

Major Clemens, a 14-year-old Monroe Middle School eighth grader, is recovering after being shot in the head in Eugene, but the case has become a sharper argument over whether Oregon’s juvenile system can match the violence of the crime.

Police said the Feb. 17 shooting near Marche Chase Drive and Kinsrow Avenue was not random. Officers first got reports of shots fired at about 9:46 p.m. near Autzen Stadium, where people were seen running and vehicles were fleeing. They later found an injured person in a parking lot in the 330 block of South Garden Way, and Eugene Springfield Fire took the victim to a hospital. A juvenile suspect was arrested Feb. 20 and was reported in one account to have been charged with first-degree assault.

Family friends say Clemens is making steps in his recovery, but they believe his life will never return to what it was before the shooting. Their frustration extends beyond the injury itself. They say the legal system appears to offer too little in a case involving a child shot in the head and the long-term damage that follows.

Their concerns center on Senate Bill 1008, the 2019 Oregon law that took effect Jan. 1, 2020. Before the reform, Measure 11 required automatic adult prosecution for 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds accused of certain serious crimes. SB 1008 changed that model so all youth accused of criminal conduct start in juvenile court, even in Measure 11 cases. It also created a second-look process and barred life without parole for crimes committed before age 18.

Under current law, some youth offenders can be eligible for a conditional release or second-look hearing when their projected release date falls after age 25 but before age 27. For Clemens’ family and friends, that possibility feels far too limited for a shooting with severe and lasting consequences.

Lane County District Attorney Christopher Parosa said the post-2019 standards make it harder to move teens into adult court because prosecutors now must show a level of sophistication beyond what is typical for that age group. He said Lane County has not tried a youth offender as an adult since SB 1008 changed the law. The district attorney’s office prosecutes all state felony cases in the county and oversees juvenile prosecution and victim services.

The case now sits at the center of a broader Oregon debate that lawmakers, prosecutors and victim advocates have been revisiting for years: how to hold violent teens accountable without abandoning the idea that children are different from adults. For Clemens’ family, the question is more immediate. They are watching recovery move forward while wondering whether the law will ever reflect the scale of what happened in a parking lot near South Garden Way.