Oregon Appellate Court - October 30, 2013
by: Abassos and Alarson • October 30, 2013 • no comments
Miranda - Compelling Circumstances - 12 year Old Defendant
A 12 year old is in compelling circumstances, for Miranda purposes, where he is escorted by the principal to an administrative room and repeatedly asked pointed questions that presume the youth's guilt. That is: "taking into account the length of the interview, the location, youth's age, maturity level, the repetitive and escalating nature of the questions throughout the interview, and the increasingly coercive tactics used by the detectives, we conclude that a reasonable twelve-year-old of similar age, knowledge and experience, placed in youth's situation, would have felt required to stay and answer all of the detective's questions." State v DP, 259 Or App ___ (2013)
Stalking - Communicative Contact Must Be an Unequivocal Threat
Yelling at a neighbor and saying "Why don't you come over and kick my ass then" does not amount to the sort of unequivocal threat necessary for communicative speech in a Stalking prosecution. See State v Rangel. State v Jackson, 259 Or App ___ (2013)
Constitutional Speedy Trial - Misdemeanor - 16 Month Delay Attributable to the State
A 16 month delay attributable to the state in a misdemeanor case is not reasonable. Here, the state did not argue that 16 months was reasonable. It argued that 4 of the 16 months were attributable to the defendant because he switched attorneys. But since the trial court found that delay to be attributable to the court's docket, the state does not prevail. State v Mercier, 259 Or App ___ (2013).
Merger - Counts with Alternative Theories Merge into One Conviction
Where guilt is found on multiple counts charged as alternative theories of guilt, the multiple counts merge into one conviction. Because the state has no interest in receiving multiple convictions where only one is allowed, the court reverses even in the absence of an objection. Here, the state argued, in the alternative, that a sexual act was either non-consensual (and therefore sex abuse II) or forcible (and therefore sodomy II). Reversed for merger of convictions. State v Steltz
