S.Ct. Grants of Review
by: Abassos • July 29, 2010 • no comments
The Oregon Supremes granted review on 3 cases today. The most important one is a kidnapping case in which some witnesses were moved a few feet from in front of an open store counter to behind the counter. The question is whether the brief movement was sufficient asportation. The appeals court, here, emphasized that the distance moved wasn't nearly so relevant as the qualitative difference between point A and point B. For example, moving someone from their driveway to the trunk of a car might be a very short distance but a huge qualitative difference. Here, the witnesses were moved from a place in the open to a tight area where freedom of movement was restricted. Also at issue is whether the movement of the witnesses was "incidental" to the primary kidnapping of the store employee.
In the second grant, the defendant's license was revoked for life based on 3 DUIIs. But one of the DUIIs was from 1981 under the previous statute. The lifetime revocation statute counts DUIIs under the current statute and any similar conviction from another state. But it's silent on whether a conviction under the old statute should be used. The trial court went the "spirit of the statute" rule and the Appellate Court AWOP'd.
The third case will determine whether a tribal officer is a police/peace officer for purposes of Eluding and Resisting. The appellate court found that a tribal officer is not a police or peace officer, despite the uniform, weapons, patrol car and other cop-related accoutrements. The statutes have an exclusive list defining police and peace officer and tribal officer doesn't fit into the list.
