2019 killer of Boonesborough neighbor seeks release from State Hospital; DA, victim’s family push back

'I can’t articulate what she was capable of doing to our sister-- that we have to learn to live with'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – It’s been more than four years since Joanna Kasner shot and killed neighbor Valerie Peterson as she walked her dogs in the Boonesborough area north of Bend, and three years since a judge found her guilty except for insanity of murder and sentenced her to life at the Oregon State Hospital in Salem.

A hearing for the 2019 shooting death is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon before the state Psychiatric Security Review Board to decide if Kasner has progressed enough to leave the Oregon State Hospital and instead live elsewhere.

Peterson’s family received word earlier this month of the PSRB hearing, with a notice that said the hearing is to determine if “Kasner is still affected by a qualifying mental disorder and presents a substantial danger to others.” The board will decide if she’s a proper candidate for conditional release into the community and/or for discharge from board jurisdiction.

The Deschutes County District Attorneys Office will attend Wednesday's hearing.

“We do not support the release of Johanna Kasner," District Attorney Steve Gunnels said Tuesday.

The family of Valerie Peterson said they're afraid Kasner will do something heinous to someone else's family if released. They also feel that if Peterson is granted release, the judicial system would be failing them for not granting them time and peace to heal.

“We just want people to know that our story is not going to go away until justice is served," Alvina Whitman, Valerie's eldest sister, said Tuesday.

Gunnels said, “I prosecuted this case with Matt Nelson, another prosecutor in the office. And she was psychotic, dangerous and she murdered Valerie Peterson. It was a senseless murder. It was based on her drug use and the psychosis that resulted from her drug use.” 

Another of Valerie's sisters, Monique Franco, said, "(At) the last hearing, we learned that she was doing therapies. She was not on medication for her mental illness. I don’t understand how someone can go from being insane to rehabilitated."

As for how Kasner will be assessed, Gunnels said: “Whether her emotional state has stabilized, whether she could reliably be expected to take psychiatric medication, whether she could reliably be expected not to use illicit drugs again. Those would be the considerations that the state hospital would have in making that decision.”

Whitman said, "We’re going to fight for her to stay there, so it could go either way. Us as a Christian family, we believe that God is still in control, and we’re a product of bad things happen to good people."

Manny Franco, Valerie's brother, said although he forgives Kasner, he struggles emotionally, every day.

“The moving on, that’s where I’m at. I have moved on," he said. "But being reminded and having to write (victim) impact speeches, it doesn’t let you move on."

The family said they received notice that if released, Kasner may be relocated to Milwaukie, Oregon.

"I want people to hear our voice -- this lady may be in your community somewhere," Franco said.

A state Department of Justice victim advocate also sent an email about the hearing. She reminded the family that Kasner’s treatment team at her two-year hearing last November said they were preparing her for conditional release to a locked and secured residential treatment facility, and informed them that she now was requesting the conditional release hearing.

The advocate, Kamaile Luke, requested feedback regarding objections to such a release “and counties/cities you would not want her placed in.” The family can request no contact with her, she said, as well as travel restrictions.

 "I cannot begin to imagine how upsetting and devastating this notification may be for you and your family," Luke wrote.