Portland to Pay $300,000 After Shocking Error
The City of Portland has agreed to pay $300,000 to Adam Gregg, a 39-year-old law student who spent more than five years in federal prison for a crime that never happened. Gregg was convicted for the death of a man allegedly killed by heroin he sold, only to later discover that the supposed victim was still alive during his incarceration.
A Wrongful Conviction and a Lost Half-Decade
Gregg served five years and four months—from February 8, 2016, to June 3, 2021—after pleading guilty to charges related to drug distribution and manslaughter. Prosecutors had told him that a man named Cole Culver, to whom he allegedly sold heroin, had died of an overdose.
Faced with a potential 20-years-to-life sentence, Gregg accepted a plea deal for a term of nearly seven years. He was convicted in Multnomah County Circuit Court and sent to prison.
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“I thought I was responsible for someone’s death,” Gregg later said in court filings. “I carried that guilt every day.”
A Stunning Discovery After Release
After being released, Gregg began searching for Culver’s family to offer an apology and seek their support for his law school application. But in doing so, he stumbled upon a shocking revelation: Culver was alive.
Gregg discovered Culver’s Facebook page, where posts showed Culver had been arrested while Gregg was still in prison. Further investigation revealed that Portland police had mistakenly listed Culver as deceased years earlier.
According to court records, Officer Matthew Brown of the Portland Police Bureau made the false death entry, which went unverified before being used by prosecutors during Gregg’s case.
Legal Battle and City Settlement
Gregg filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit against two Portland police officers and two former Multnomah County prosecutors. The civil case began in federal court but was later moved to Multnomah County Circuit Court, where the judge dismissed the claims against the prosecutors.
City attorneys, along with the Portland Risk Management Division and Portland Police Bureau, recommended settling the lawsuit to avoid further litigation.
The Portland City Council approved the $300,000 settlement, acknowledging that Gregg had been wrongly imprisoned based on erroneous police information.
From Inmate to Law Student
Now a student at Lewis & Clark Law School, Gregg says he is determined to use his experience to advocate for others who have been wrongfully convicted.
“No amount of money can give me back those years,” he said. “But I can use what happened to me to make sure it doesn’t happen to someone else.”
Tragically, Cole Culver, the man at the center of the case, died last year of unrelated causes.
Gregg’s story stands as a stark reminder of how a single clerical mistake can destroy lives—and how perseverance can reclaim them.
