Benito Vasquez-Hernandez has orange canvas slip-ons, a single spoon, a wristband he wears at all times. He has little else.

He lives in a small cell with a single window high above his head and sleeps on a skinny mattress resting on a cinderblock frame.

Vasquez-Hernandez is treated like any other inmate in the Washington County Jail. But he's unlike every other inmate there.

At 897 days and counting, the 58-year-old may be the longest-held material witness in Oregon and perhaps the nation. He's waiting to testify in a murder case.

Legal experts are aware of no other witness jailed for so long. While no one appears to systematically track such cases, a law professor recalls only one similar instance - more than a century ago, in California.

In Oregon, a judge can keep material witnesses in custody until they testify, or release them pending trial. Under state law, material witness holds have no expiration, but detention typically lasts less than a week.

Civil rights advocates say a witness should never be locked up for long - certainly not more than two years. But it's not only the extraordinary length of Vasquez-Hernandez's imprisonment that disturbs them.

It's also his staggering disadvantages. He's poor. He's had no formal education and can't read or write. He's an immigrant who doesn't understand the American justice system. He's had no contact with his family.

As his days in custody have turned into months and then years, prosecutors have successfully argued that Vasquez-Hernandez's testimony is essential to their case and that he probably wouldn't show up to court if released.

His defense attorney has tried to get Vasquez-Hernandez out, devising a plan to take his sworn statement in a deposition so a judge could free him.

Eloy Vasquez-Santiago's murder trial is scheduled to start Tuesday. Until then, his father remains in jail waiting to testify.

The attorneys involved say the complications of the case are unprecedented in their experience.

Prosecutors told the court that they had no choice. Their fight, they said, is for Maria Bolanos-Rivera's children, who also lost their father years ago to homicide. His killing remains unsolved.

"I sincerely regret keeping this man locked up," Senior Deputy District Attorney Jeff Lesowski said when Vasquez-Hernandez's lawyer first suggested a pretrial deposition.

"But I don't see any alternative that is fair to these people," he said, gesturing to the victim's family members seated in the courtroom. "I'm trying to convict a man who has confessed to killing a mother. It's not a real easy job. It's not perfect."

He later noted that prosecutors eventually "agreed to the unorthodox deposition process." And while "it worked out for Moises," he said, the father "declined to take advantage of it."

David Rich, who represented Moises, said being in jail ruined the son's mental health.

"Quite frankly and bluntly spoken, being held in custody is making Mr. Vasquez-Santiago literally crazy," he wrote in court filings.

The state owes Moises more than $5,000 under an Oregon law that gives detained witnesses $7.50 a day, but Rich said Moises didn't want the money. He only wanted out. The lawyer hasn't heard from him since.

The father's attorney, Alan Biedermann, said Vasquez-Hernandez wants to go home and be with his family.

But he simply didn't grasp the implications of the deposition even though Beidermann had tried to explain to him exactly what would happen in court.

"It was not a matter of contempt or defiance," he said. "It was the result of his failure to understand the process."

Biedermann said he thought about petitioning the Oregon Supreme Court for Vasquez-Hernandez's release, but ultimately decided against it. The judge's order was lawful, he said, so he didn't believe a challenge would succeed.

He declined an interview request from The Oregonian/OregonLive to talk to Vasquez-Hernandez.

The situation is "sad," he said, "regrettable."

"That's a long time to spend in the Washington County Jail."

-- Emily E. Smith

esmith@oregonian.com

503-294-4032; @emilyesmith