WEST LINN, Ore. — This week, dozens of patients who accused a former West Linn doctor of sexual abuse have called for the grand jury transcripts to be released.
More than a hundred women joined a civil lawsuit against Dr. David Farley, accusing him of sexual abuse while they were under his care. Prosecutors brought 23 of those cases before a Clackamas County grand jury in the fall of 2022. The grand jury declined to indict Farley on criminal charges.
The patients' demands come a week after an op-ed article written by the Clackamas County District Attorney was published, defending his handling of the case. District Attorney John Wentworth told KGW he has "carefully reviewed the newest claims by Dr. Farley's former patients and their civil attorneys" and went on to write, "I stand by the accuracy of my statements."
Wentworth also stated, "regarding the request for the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings, unfortunately Oregon law prohibits the release of those records."
He added that he supported Senate Bill 974, which was signed into law and went into effect in June of 2023. The law criminalizes sexual abuse under the guise of medical care.
Civil attorney Tom D'Amore, who represents over a hundred people alleging abuse, said it's important to release the transcripts in order to show a full picture of what was considered by the grand jury, and what may have been left out entirely.
"The District Attorney's office and the West Linn Police Department interviewed a lot of witnesses. They held the grand jury and the grand jury, we believe, was not given sufficient information and returned a no bill, or basically said that they're not moving forward (with criminal charges)," D'Amore said. "My thought is that you see what information was given to the grand jury and if key information, obvious information of sexual abuse was not given to that grand jury, then reconvene another grand jury and do it again."
The former patients' renewed push for transparency comes less than two months after the City of West Linn published an independent investigation into its own police department. The report found that the Farley investigation was riddled with errors, and that the lead detective was unprepared to handle the case and also failed to note key information.
"For a lot of these women, it was a sense of, you know, the first piece of justice they felt like they got was that report. And so that just kind of created a whole new firestorm of like, what really happened here?" D'Amore said.
KGW has spoken to several of Farley's former patients, who said he abused them for years. After an investigation, the Oregon Medical Board revoked Farley of his state medical license in 2020 for dishonorable and unprofessional conduct and gross or repeated negligence.
Farley retired in 2020 and moved to Idaho. There is a civil case against him that is still open and active.