Medford, Oregon- Jackson County District Attorney Patrick Green announced Monday that his office has filed a contempt action against the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC), its director Michael Reese, and Offender Sentence Computation Unit Administrator Tasha Petersen, accusing the agency of unlawfully releasing a convicted child sex offender years before his court-ordered sentence was set to end.
The filing, submitted in Jackson County Circuit Court, alleges the DOC “willfully disregarded” the sentencing intent of Judge Tim Barnack in the case of State v. Joaquin Cowart (Case No. 20CR08127). A hearing on the contempt action is scheduled for December 10, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. in Jackson County Circuit Court.
According to the complaint, Cowart was sentenced in 2021 to a total of 144 months in prison after being convicted on four counts of child sexual abuse involving a 14-year-old girl between 2012 and 2014. Judge Barnack ordered four consecutive 36-month sentences, making clear that any credit for time previously served was to be applied only once to the total term.
The DA’s office said DOC initially calculated Cowart’s release date as Sept. 11, 2029, consistent with the court’s intent. However, the department later recalculated his sentence, applying time-served credit four times—once for each count—reducing his sentence by 5,576 days and moving his release date to June 3, 2021.
As a result, Cowart was released from custody without advance notice to the court, prosecutors, or the victim, according to the district attorney’s statement.
“This recalculation of Mr. Cowart’s sentence was absurd,” Green said. “It turned a 144-month sentence for a dangerous sexual offender into a credit-for-time-served sentence, making it appear as though Mr. Cowart should have been released immediately after sentencing in 2021. That was never the court’s intent. Yet DOC disregarded and ignored all of this for some reason.”
In a declaration filed with the contempt action, Green said both prosecutors and defense attorneys in Jackson County agree that “presentence credit” language in judgments covering multiple counts was never intended to multiply earned credits. The filing asserts that DOC made the recalculation without consulting the sentencing court or prosecutors.
Green said he notified DOC Director Michael Reese on Sept. 26, 2025, that the agency’s actions were inconsistent with the court’s judgment but that DOC has not taken corrective action or returned Cowart to custody.
The contempt filing seeks remedial sanctions under Oregon law, including daily monetary penalties and an order requiring the department to reimpose the full 144-month sentence by applying Cowart’s credit only once and returning him to prison to serve the remaining time.
“This is not an action I take lightly,” Green said. “However, the Department of Corrections has facilitated what amounts to a statewide jail break—unlawfully and unilaterally releasing dangerous offenders like Mr. Cowart years before the courts intended or ordered. This reckless disregard for public safety is unacceptable. Enough is enough.”
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