$100,000 BOND SET FOR FRANCKE FIGURE

Author: PHIL MANZANO - of the Oregonian Staff

A Marion County judge ruled Tuesday that Jodie Mae Swearingen, a jailed material witness in the murder of Oregon Corrections Director Michael Francke, will not be released unless she can post $100,000 bail.

In a separate twist, Swearingen's attorney, Mark McKnight of Portland, was taken to the Marion County jail after Tuesday's hearing when two courtroom deputies served him with a 2-year-old arrest warrant for negotiating a bad check.

Marion County Circuit Judge Gregory West upheld a material witness release agreement that has allowed prosecutors to keep Swearingen in the county jail since September. She had fled the state and was arrested in Denver.

West said Swearingen's grand jury testimony is important to the Francke case and there is ``every reason'' to believe she may not appear at the trial, which is scheduled to begin March 4.

McKnight has been trying to win Swearingen's release by challenging the state's material witness law and arguing that Swearingen is no longer ``material'' to the case because she has since ``recanted'' her testimony.

Swearingen told a Marion County grand jury that she saw Frank Gable stab Francke on Jan. 17, 1989, outside the Corrections Department headquarters in Salem. Gable was indicted on six counts of aggravated murder and one count of murder on April 9, 1990.

Swearingen was designated one of eight material witnesses -- people whom prosecutors contend had information important to the case and were potential flight risks. Most of the witnesses were in custody at the time and were released under an agreement that required they report regularly and not move without notifying authorities.

Failure to abide by the agreement could result in a warrant for their arrest and imposition of $100,000 bail.

In September, Swearingen told a member of Gable's defense team that she lied to the grand jury, and she then fled the state. She was arrested in Denver, returned to Oregon and jailed.

McKnight challenged Tuesday whether Swearingen still could be held because she is now willing to sign a statement saying she will appear for the trial and also will give depositions to lawyers on both sides.

Swearingen, 18, testified briefly Tuesday, saying she was willing to testify in court and in a deposition and would live with her father in Dundee if she were released.

But under cross-examination by Sarah Moore, Marion County deputy district attorney, Swearingen admitted she was picked up as a runaway seven times when she was living at home.

Also, Rod Swinehart, a Marion County release officer, said Swearingen had violated the material witness agreement in June and said a second agreement with harsher restrictions was in effect when Swearingen fled the state.

``This is the third time around for Miss Swearingen,'' Moore told West.

West said he would rule later on other motions filed by McKnight regarding Swearingen's treatment at the jail, including wearing of civillian clothes, being handcuffed and manacled when taken to court and being allowed to leave the jail Sundays to go to church.

In a side development after the hearing, McKnight was taken to the county jail on a 2-year-old Yamhill County arrest warrant.

The warrant was issued in July 1989 after McKnight allegedly failed to reimburse The Pack Rat, a Lafayette secondhand store, for a $51 check returned by the bank for insufficient funds.

Mark Lawrence, Yamhill County deputy district attorney, said police notified McKnight that the store had to be paid or an arrest warrant would be issued. Lawrence said McKnight told police he would send a check, but a warrant was issued in July after no check was received.

Two deputies approached McKnight after the hearing and took him to a separate room where he was told of the warrant. McKnight was handcuffed and taken to the jail, where he was booked and released.