Oregon Supreme Court - October 17, 2013

by: Alex Flood and Abassos • October 18, 2013 • no comments

Venue is a jurisdictional issue, not an element of the crime. Thus, it needs to be alleged pre-trial, prior to jeopardy attaching. Pushing aside stare decisis, a unanimous court sitting en banc, finds that venue cannot be an element of the crime because:

1. Article I, Section 11 says nothing about either venue being a material allegation or matters of proof for any of the listed rights.

2. Historically, the common law venue cases are about the jurisdiction of the court, not venue as a material allegation.

3. Constitutionally, venue provisions were created out of the fear that a foreign power could try a citizen in a foreign land; a justified fear since England was extraditing citizens for treason.

Summarizing these issues, the court says:

"We are left, then, with constitutional wording that even defendant concedes says nothing about requiring proof of venue as a material element of the state's case, as well as contemporaneous history that fails even to hint at the possibility that the constitution was intended to have that effect.