Anatomy of a 2020 Premeditated Double Homicide
(Portland, OR) May 18, 2024
Trigger warning - this article contains one grainy crime scene photograph.
For myself, I often think about the Portlanders who have lost precious family members to violent murder. Particularly since 2020, when the notoriously incompetent Mike Schmidt took over as DA of Multnomah County in August and failed all of Portland’s residents over the intervening years.
Schmidt failed Portlanders by protecting predatory criminals at the expense of peaceful working class, tax paying citizens - citizens of all colors. Schmidt has also revealed himself to be a misogynist - a man who identifies with and aligns with men as an anti-feminist, male supremacist in the workplace.
Schmidt is a man who routinely promoted men at the expense of the women in the DA’s office. The hostile work environment Schmidt created led to an unprecedented departure of NINE women, (eight of whom were longtime lawyers) including a male lawyer who also quit in disgust.
The crux of this story, though, is about losing precious loved ones. One such person to experience the heartbreak of losing a loved one in the ‘Anything Goes’ climate of 2020 Portland is a woman named Debe Hobbs. She is the mother of Nate Hobbs who was murdered, (along with Cassy Leaton) in a 2020, premeditated ambush killing, planned and executed by longtime criminal, predator and con man - Phillip Lawrence Nelson.
Nate Hobbs mother Debe has described the last four years as: “…devastating for our whole family.” The family includes six other siblings, and countless cousins in a large tight-knit family who all adored Nate Hobbs.
One glaring issue that cannot be ignored in this tragedy is that the killer, Nelson was released by the DA after being involved in a violent Antifa riot and should not have been.
A DA can request someone be held pending charges, but may also agree to their release. It is apparent that Schmidt deliberately dismissed hundreds of Antifa rioters charges on Schmidt’s corrupt theory that so long as Schmidt agreed with the rioters political views, he would choose not to Prosecute them. Even if this meant releasing a dangerous, and known offender on unsuspecting Portland residents.
Less than one week before Nelson murdered Nate Hobbs and Cassy Leaton on the evening of June 16, of 2020 at the morbidly unlucky wood-frame four-plex located at 14th and NE Davis Street, south of Benson High School, Nelson had assaulted people at an Antifa riot in downtown Portland. He was arrested for fighting with a police officer, or “interfering with a peace officer,” and the charges were dropped the next day.
While Nelson was associating with Antifa militants, he was also conning multiple people out of thousands of dollars. Nelson had broken into the Davis four-plex, abandoned and unused by it’s longtime owner, the late slumlord, Lawrence Stover only weeks before beginning his con. He was busy telling anyone who would listen that he was the owner of the building - a lie of course - he was nothing but a squatter con artist living out of a cluttered, dirty car.
The con included Nate Hobbs, Cassy Leaton and a male roommate, Tyson Lee, a Native American man who lived with them in that upper west unit. And then there was Mike Johnson, a Black man and single father living in the adjacent upper east unit, with his young son. So, why didn’t Nelson go after those three men?
Why did he zone in on Nate and Cassy?
In my opinion, this brutal 2020 double homicide has all the earmarks of a revenge killing. It preoccupies my mind because I wonder how I would feel if it were me dealing with such a heartbreaking loss. I think about the Hobbs family. I wonder how they navigate the sheer gravity of this loss, the anger, and the rage of knowing the horrible details of what happened to Nate, their son and brother and his little girlfriend, Cassy Leaton.
The death of Nate Hobbs, and Cassy Leaton was pointless but more than that, it was avoidable - even after Schmidt took office, following the murders, if Mike Schmidt understood the duties of a DA and was able to perform those duties, the Hobbs family could have gotten some manner of justice rather than what they have gotten, which is not justice at all but rather a slap in the face.
Schmidt, like all the DA’s who came before him, should have kept dangerous criminals at bay by prosecuting them, and incarcerating them. Instead, he has placed the welfare of violent criminals above the general safety of the working class families who make up most of the residents of Portland, Oregon and has ignored families like the Hobbs family, or their need for justice.
Who Was Nate Hobbs?
Nate Hobbs was born September 2nd, 1980. He is described by his mother as having been a loving child, who grew up into a loving adult who was never regarded as confrontational, let alone violent and would give you the shirt off his back. As he was only a slight five foot seven, weighing in at a slender 145 pounds, he was not a big guy. He learned how to resolve problems by talking them through and not resorting to violence. But none of that came out in the 2024 trial, postponed for years, because Phillip Lawrence Nelson, a true jail house conman kept firing one attorney after another to put off the inevitable.
This is what criminals do, who are guilty.
In high school, Nate had dreams of becoming a pharmacist and for several years asked his mother to buy him expensive books on chemicals and medications so he could study them and prepare for college. His desire was to help people by becoming a pharmacist.
Later on, Nate changed his plans and became perhaps a bit more realistic. Because he enjoyed working outside with his hands, he pursued work in construction and learned how to build and fix things. He laid down tiles in his mother’s home, where they remain today. He created his own unique tools and took on landscaping, becoming a skilled gardener. For several years he cared for over 20 trees on his mother’s property. She said: “They are now 25 feet tall. He trimmed them and it was pretty amazing that he could trim all these trees when he was only 5 foot seven.”
Nate Hobbs was not a big man, and he was not violent.
Nate Hobbs and Cassy Leaton’s killer, Phillip Lawrence Nelson, however, stood at an impressive six feet two inches and easily weighed 200 pounds or more. But why would he want to kill two people, among a total of four he had conned out of money? What was it about Nate and Cassy that made Nelson want to destroy their lives?
Perhaps the motive goes back to the multiple charges of domestic violence that have plagued Nelson since he was a young man. Nelson’s violent history was documented and known, going back to 2012 and 2017, with domestic violence charges and a series of traffic crimes.
And perhaps the motive was as simple as coveting the new happiness Nate and Cassy had found with each other. An adorable young couple just starting out, both working and both dedicated to creating a life for themselves. When speaking with Debe Hobbs she said they had initially been thrilled to move into the four-plex, saying they had put together a “cute little apartment” for themselves. Debe went on to say,“One of the female detectives commented on how neat and clean the apartment was. The DA used that. Nelson’s apartment was a pigsty. They showed pictures of it.”
In a very real sense, Nate and Cassy never stood a chance against such an amoral predatory sociopath. They were both diminutive, both extremely slender, small people. They were also newly in love. Nate and Cassy had found each other and were starting over. They had agreed that getting clean and staying clean from drugs was the only way they would be able to go forward in life. They were like a lot of people trying to get out from under the heavy burden of bad habits.
But their drug history did not define them. It did not define their worth or importance in the world.
Nate had been working full time at the bottle company, across the street from the four-plex for over eight months when he met Phillip Lawrence Nelson. Nelson admitted in the trial that he lied to them, claiming to be the owner of the four-plex, but of course he was not the owner. He was merely a predator and longtime conman when he met Nate and Cassy and easily fed them a con they simply did not recognize as being too good to be true.
What Went Wrong With the 2024 Trial?
After speaking with Debe Hobbs, and looking over articles on the internet, along with viewing other documents, it is clear that a lot went wrong with the trial. What should have been tried as a case of premeditated murder resulted in charges that were reduced to manslaughter and murder 2. The Hobbs family, particularly Debe Hobbs feel their fight for justice for her son Nate Hobbs, has fallen on deaf ears. When they wanted people to testify to Nate’s good character, they were denied the chance to arrange that. Why?
On the west side of the 1911 four-plex, after luring the couple into the basement, in less than three minutes, Phillip Lawrence Nelson had stabbed and slashed both of them in an ambush attack that he had planned and orchestrated.
The attack included cutting Nate’s throat after nearly disemboweling him with an “altered machete” he had created and sharpened himself. The blade penetrated a lung, one of Nate’s kidneys and his liver in one single downward stroke. After that, Nelson turned his fury onto the tiny Cassy, which included stabbing her in the back several times as she tried to flee.
Nelson’s testimony revealed a shocking level of callousness, lack of remorse and calculated premeditation.
After speaking with a friend, Joshua Marquis, who worked as DA of Clatsop County for many years, he shared some of this thoughts, saying about this case: “I was astonished that the jury would come back with such a diminished verdict.” Marquis also explained the process by which “the second murder of the victims” occurs, when their “characters are assassinated” for minor reasons (by defense attorneys). This often happens if murder victims have a history with alcoholism or drugs.
“The second murder of the victim happens when the victims characters are assassinated and Defense attorneys are free to attack the character of a victim even when they know its not true.”
Marquis, a critic of Mike Schmidt as I am myself further shared the comical instance, (which I viewed myself in a video podcast) in which Schmidt made a careless and colossal error, indicating a stunning lack of awareness of current events in Oregon: “Schmidt has gone on sympathetic podcasts and accused me by name as the CURRENT Clatsop County DA! I retired on Jan. 1, 2019.”
Because Marquis has been critical of Schmidt, Schmidt has accused him of other things, which seem absurd and inexplicable. Why not worry about things that matter and not what someone else thinks? And how could Schmidt make such a comical error about who the current DA of Clatsop County is? Marquis further shared that Schmidt believes Marquis is the power behind Betsy Johnson which is absurd, as Betsy Johnson is an independent person, and definitely her own woman, capable of her own thoughts, ideas and values.
“Schmidt believes I am the evil mastermind behind Betsy Johnson, who of course he is lying about on an almost cosmic level. For example, he claims "MAGA Donors" and I have gone through the entire donor lists on OreStar about 5 times and I do not see ANY contributions with any identifiable "Trump supporters."
As opposed to Schmidt, who has many more INSTITUTIONAL (i.e. "Dark") donors and the only two contributions at the quarter million dollar level (Soros through the Working Family Party, and disgraced state legislator Chip Shields at a quarter million EACH).”
Marquis goes on to state that the current DA’s office has a habit under Schmidt of repeated “plea downs” on serious murder cases, some of which can only be regarded as capital murder cases, as in cases of planned premeditated murder. What has happened to the Hobbs family is another example of a “plea down” which never should have happened.
When recalling the old days, something many Portlanders long for, Marquis eloquently shared his views on how things have changed.
“Once upon a time (1982-2012) Multnomah County DA was the undisputed best DA's office in the state, not just because of Mike Schrunk, but because of a fantastic stable of superb prosecutors; John Foote (who went on to become DA in Oregon City) Billy Williams, John Bradley, and a dozen others.
Not only are they gone, but as Pamela Fitzsimmons has been reporting on PORTLAND DISSENT they have been unable to secure murder convictions, even when they try cases. The "O" didn't even cover the murder trial Pamela wrote about early this month, even though the man is a double murderer. I read about this case, (Hobbs and Leaton homicides) and was struck by the tragedy and the viciousness. Nonetheless, you are right to question how much justice this couple, and the community got.”
I will include additional details about the day of the 2020 double homicide and what Nelson’s testimony revealed while on the stand in the Part Two of this story. Part two will be published in a couple of weeks.
~Theresa Griffin Kennedy
The 2020 Double Murder of Nate Hobbs & Cassy Leaton & the 2024 trial Leave More Questions than Answers - Part One.