Jeannace June Freeman

{{Short description|20th-century American murderer in Oregon}}

Jeannace June Freeman (1941/42 - 2003) was the first woman ever sentenced to death in the U.S. state of Oregon, and remained the only woman sentenced to death in Oregon until 2011.{{Cite web|last=Zaitz|first=Les|date=2011-03-15|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/03/angela_mcanulty_eugene_woman_who_killed_15-year-old_daughter_lands_on_new_death_row.html|title=Angela McAnulty, Eugene woman who killed 15-year-old daughter, lands on new death row|website=OregonLive.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-25}} Her conviction was upheld by the Oregon Supreme Court,{{cite web |title=State v. Freeman, 232 Or 267, 374 P2d 453 (1962) |publisher=Find A Case |url=http://or.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19620919_0040091.or.htm/qx |accessdate=2011-07-01 |archive-date=2012-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326112206/http://or.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19620919_0040091.or.htm/qx |url-status=dead }} though she was not in fact executed.

She was sentenced to death in 1961, for the murder of her partner Gertrude May Nuñez Jackson's two children. They met when Jackson (32 years old) hired Freeman (19) as a babysitter. They soon became lovers, though the relationship was volatile.

According to Jackson's later testimony in court, Freeman beat Jackson's son Larry to death in a fit of rage. Jackson agreed to conceal the crime and go along with killing her daughter Martha. They discarded both children's bodies in Crooked River Gorge, at Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint.

The pair fled to California, where they were arrested a few weeks after the children's bodies were discovered and identified. Jackson was sentenced to life in prison, while Freeman was sentenced to death. When Oregon voters abolished capital punishment in 1964, Gov. Mark Hatfield commuted Freeman's sentence to life imprisonment. She served 20 years, while Jackson served seven. Freeman changed her name to Wilma Lin Rhule, and was later sent back to prison for assault.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKUHCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA324|title=Women and Capital Punishment in the United States: An Analytical History|last=Baker|first=David V.|date=2015-11-16|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786499502|language=en}} Freeman died in 2003.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon/index.ssf/2009/02/the_rest_of_the_story.html|title=The rest of the story|last=Madrid|first=Ed|date=2009-02-03|website=The Oregonian|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-25}}