Alexander v. Board of Parole & Post-Prison Supervision

134 P.3d 1055, 205 Or. App. 443, 2006 Ore. App. LEXIS 550
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMay 3, 2006
DocketA120078
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 134 P.3d 1055 (Alexander v. Board of Parole & Post-Prison Supervision) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alexander v. Board of Parole & Post-Prison Supervision, 134 P.3d 1055, 205 Or. App. 443, 2006 Ore. App. LEXIS 550 (Or. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

*445 LANDAU, P. J.

Petitioner was convicted of sodomy and rape in the first degree in 1988 and was sentenced as a dangerous offender on the basis of a “severe personality disorder.” In 2002, the Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision issued an order deferring his parole consideration date for 24 months. Petitioner seeks review of that order, advancing two arguments. First, he argues that the board erred in finding that the condition that was the basis for the dangerous offender sentence was not in remission. Second, he argues that, in any event, the board erred in relying on the opinion of a psychologist, as opposed to a psychiatrist, as the law in effect at the time of his offenses required. We affirm.

The relevant facts are not in dispute. Petitioner was, as we have noted, convicted of sodomy in the first degree and rape in the first degree, based on conduct that occurred in 1987 and 1988. The trial court sentenced him to consecutive 30-year dangerous offender sentences. ORS 161.725 (1987); ORS 161.735 (1987).

In May 2002, the board ordered that petitioner be evaluated by a psychologist, McGuffin. McGuffin determined that petitioner’s Axis I disorders of alcohol and cannabis dependence were in remission but that he suffered from the Axis II disorder of antisocial personality disorder, characterized in his case by, among other symptoms, lack of empathy and insight, resentment of authority, low stress tolerance, and limited self-control, resulting in “unpredictable behavior” and a tendency to use physical force. McGuffin believed that it was unlikely that petitioner could be successfully supervised in the community and concluded that he presented a severe emotional disturbance such as to constitute a danger to the health or safety of the community.

In June 2002, the board held a parole consideration hearing in which it considered, among other evidence, McGuffin’s evaluation. In determining whether petitioner met the substantive criteria for parole release, the board applied the versions of ORS 144.226 and ORS 144.228 in *446 effect at the time of petitioner’s offenses. 1 Following the hearing, the board issued an order finding that petitioner suffered from a “mental or emotional disturbance, deficiency, condition, or disorder predisposing [him] to the commission of a crime”; that he therefore was a danger to the health or safety of others; and that “the condition which made [petitioner] dangerous is not in remission and [petitioner] does continue to remain a danger.” The board deferred petitioner’s parole consideration date. Petitioner filed a timely request for administrative review, but the board denied relief.

*447 In his first assignment of error on judicial review, petitioner argues that the board erred in determining that the condition that made him dangerous was not absent or in remission. Specifically, petitioner argues that the record does not disclose the nature of the condition on which the trial court originally based his dangerous offender sentence, “let alone that that condition is present today.” He also argues that only conditions categorized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as Axis I disorders properly can be considered conditions likely to render a person dangerous and that his psychological evaluations either omit any mention of any Axis I disorders or characterize such disorders as in full remission.

The board first responds that petitioner’s assignment of error is moot. The board reasons that, even assuming that it erred in finding that petitioner’s condition was not absent or in remission, petitioner is entitled only to the setting of a parole release date “in accordance with the applicable range and variation permitted” by the relevant board rules and that, as demonstrated by the board’s determination following petitioner’s May 2004 parole consideration hearing that petitioner remained dangerous, he would not have qualified in 2002 for release under those rules.

On the merits, the board responds that substantial evidence supports the finding that petitioner is dangerous. The board points to McGuffin’s May 2002 psychological evaluation, to petitioner’s record of institutional behavior, and to his crimes of conviction. As to whether the board erred in relying on a condition or conditions other than those that formed the predicate for petitioner’s sentence, the board argues that that challenge presents an issue of statutory construction as to which petitioner failed to exhaust his administrative remedies and that judicial review of that issue therefore is not available. On the merits of the latter issue, the board argues that the sentencing orders for petitioner’s two convictions each state the court’s finding that petitioner was “suffering from a severe personality disorder” and that the board’s order at issue here relies on McGuffin’s diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. The board argues that, accordingly, even assuming that the “condition” referred to in *448 ORS 144.228(l)(b) (1987) must be the same condition that was the basis of the dangerous offender sentence, that requirement was met here.

We first consider whether petitioner’s challenge is moot. In Hamel v. Johnson, 330 Or 180, 187-88, 998 P2d 661 (2000), the Supreme Court held that a petitioner’s challenge to the validity of a 1997 board order postponing his parole release date from May 1997 to May 1999 did not become moot when, based on new evidence, including a psychological evaluation of the petitioner, the board issued a 1998 order further postponing the petitioner’s scheduled release. That decision controls.

The board insists that Hamel is distinguishable. According to the board, the more pertinent decision is Meriweather v. Board of Parole, 140 Or App 415, 915 P2d 467 (1996), in which the board found that the petitioner’s dangerous condition was not absent or in remission. Id. at 418. On judicial review, we determined that the petitioner’s challenge was moot because, while judicial review was pending, the board issued a later order in which it made the same finding. Id. at 420 (citing State ex rel Juv. Dept. v. Holland, 290 Or 765, 767, 625 P2d 1318 (1981), for the proposition that a case becomes moot when, because of a change in circumstances prior to the appellate decision, the decision would resolve merely an abstract question without practical effect). The board acknowledges that Meriweather predates Hamel, but it contends that it remains good law and controls this case.

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Bluebook (online)
134 P.3d 1055, 205 Or. App. 443, 2006 Ore. App. LEXIS 550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alexander-v-board-of-parole-post-prison-supervision-orctapp-2006.