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This wikilog article is a draft, it was not published yet.

by: Ryan • February 16, 2012 • no comments

The OSC has issued a press release describing the issues in those cases they'd granted review to last week. Hard to imagine a criminal defense lawyer whose practice won't be impacted at some point by the opinions that we'll eventually get from those cases.

The first I want to highlight is Bronson James' case:

State of Oregon v. Luis Sanchez-Alfonso (S059458) (A135246) (appeal from Washington County Circuit Court; opinion reported at 238 Or App 160, 241 P3d 1194 (2010)). Defendant Luis Sanchez-Alfonso has been granted review of a Court of Appeals decision that affirmed defendant's convictions for assault II, assault III, and two counts of criminal mistreatment.

On review, the issues are:

1. Is a diagnosis of intentional physical abuse, perpetrated by a specific individual, admissible scientific evidence under State v Brown, 297 Or 404, 687 P2d 751 (1984), and State v. O'Key, 321 Or 285, 899 P2d 663 (1995)?
2. In a diagnosis where a specific individual is diagnosed as the perpetrator, can that part of the diagnosis be stricken, or "blue-lined" out of the diagnosis, rendering the remainder of the diagnosis scientifically admissible?
3. Can a diagnosis of intentional physical abuse perpetrated by a specific individual ever be harmless error?

Self-evidently, if you have these issues, preserve them now! Sometime in 2013, we may get another defense-favorable opinion from a case originating out of Washington County.