A convicted murderer who served jail time for killing a teenage girl is fighting backlash over his reappointment to a review board in a 'woke' Oregon city.

Kyle Hedquist, 47, whose life sentence for murder was cut short in 2022, has been appointed to serve on the Community Police Review Board and the Civil Service Commission of Salem.

'I have spent the last well over 30 years now trying to evaluate how did I get there,' Kyle Hedquist, 47, told KOIN 6 News. 'I think about it every day and it's tough.'

'I have been on ride-alongs. I have interacted with the police department on multiple occasions. I've been to briefings. There's never been a problem,' Hedquist said.

Hedquist was sentenced to life without parole for murdering Nikki Thrasher in 1994. Prosecutors said he lured the teen down a remote road and shot her in the back of the head to stop her from revealing his burglary spree.

He was released in 2022 after former Oregon Governor Kate Brown commuted his sentence, arguing Hedquist was 17 at the time of the crime and 'shouldn't be locked up for life.'

In 2023, while adjusting to life after prison, Hedquist was elected by the Salem City Council to serve as a volunteer on a police oversight group - a role he applied for. The board reviews police conduct complaints and makes policy recommendations.

Despite his 27-year sentence for the execution-style killing, the council reinstated Hedquist in a 5–4 vote on December 8. He has also been appointed to the Citizens Advisory Traffic Commission and the Civil Service Commission, which oversees local fire departments.

Following Brown's controversial decision, Hedquist said he wants to take accountability and prove he is reformed.

Kyle Hedquist, 47, is facing scrutiny after he was reappointed to Salem's police oversight board

Nikki Thrasher was born in Oregon in March 1975 and died in 1994

Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson has voiced strong opposition to Hedquist, claiming that little to no background check was done before his appointment.

'Mr. Hedquist's crimes make him an inappropriate person to oversee anything that police officers do,' Clarkson told KOIN 6. 

'We wouldn't put a bank robber as the president of another bank. We wouldn't give a child molester the ability to run a daycare. There are things that we do in our past that are going to make us ineligible, unqualified or inappropriate, to do things in our future.' 

Clarkson is not the only official raising concerns about Hedquist as the Salem Police Employee's Union and other council members have also spoken out.