LANE COUNTY, Ore. (KMTR) -- A Lane County fugitive in an attempted murder case has been captured in California, but as he makes his way back to Oregon, many are wondering if Lane County will be able to keep him locked up.
26-year-old David Friend was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Moreno Valley, California, nearly a year-and-a-half after he and his brother were accused of beating up and shooting a man in a Springfield-area home on Harbor Drive.
Investigators believe David Friend pulled the trigger. He's now being held in a California jail on a Federal charge. But when Friend is transferred to Lane County, investigators are expected to drop the Federal hold and that means Lane County will pay for his jail stay.
The funding issue has delayed Friend's extradition process. Lane County has had to promise both Oregon and California governors they won't release Friend when he gets here.
“Normally, a guy that's looking at the type of charges that he's looking at, it would be a no-brainer. Of course we wouldn't let him out of jail. He's got an attempted murder charge,” says Sergeant Cliff Harrold, a detective with the Lane County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO). “But given the realities in Lane County right now and the fact that we are releasing people on significant Measure 11 violent offenses, we actually had to do a little more hoop-jumping in order to get this extradition process going forward.”
LCSO says Friend is a such a high-risk offender that he's not near the top of the list of the next perpetrators to be released. That’s just based on the current jail population though.
David Friend's brother, Nicholas Friend is serving a seven-year prison sentence for his role in the crime.
LCSO says the only reason Friend is in custody is because of FBI field agents in Eugene and America's Most Wanted television program. A tip from someone who saw the show helped investigators narrow the field of search down to California. Eugene FBI agents helped find him and coordinate Friend’s capture.
