Brown v. Multnomah County District Court

570 P.2d 52, 280 Or. 95, 1977 Ore. LEXIS 653
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 12, 1977
DocketCA 7893, SC 25407
StatusPublished
Cited by214 cases

This text of 570 P.2d 52 (Brown v. Multnomah County District Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Multnomah County District Court, 570 P.2d 52, 280 Or. 95, 1977 Ore. LEXIS 653 (Or. 1977).

Opinions

[97]*97LINDE, J.

In the course of revising the Oregon Vehicle Code in 1975 (Or L 1975, ch 451) the legislative assembly placed the first offense of driving a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicants (DUII) into a statutory category of "traffic infractions” as distinguished from "traffic crimes.” ORS 484.365. The question before us is whether, in the light of the entire statutory scheme, this offense may be tried without the constitutional safeguards guaranteed defendants in criminal prosecutions.

Charged in district court with a first offense DUII, petitioner moved for an order appointing counsel for him as an indigent, granting him trial by jury, and requiring the state to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. These rights are expressly excluded in the trial of traffic infractions under the code, ORS 484.390(1), ORS 484.375(1), (2), and the district court denied all three demands. On writ of review the circuit court concluded that driving under the influence of intoxicants, even as a first offense, retains sufficient characteristics of a criminal charge to require compliance with the constitutional guarantees and ordered the district court to conduct petitioner’s trial accordingly.

The Court of Appeals reached the contrary conclusion and reversed the order, 29 Or App 917, 566 P2d 522 (1977). We granted review to resolve the important constitutional questions involved. The case has been thoroughly briefed by the parties and amici curiae, and we have the benefit of the able opinion of the Court of Appeals. Whether the legislature effectively carried out its purpose to "decriminalize” the first offense of driving under the influence of intoxicants is a close question. For the reasons that follow, we arrive at a different assessment from that of the Court of Appeals and accordingly reverse.

I

Of the three constitutional rights invoked by [98]*98petitioner, two—the right to counsel and to a jury trial—are guaranteed specifically in "criminal prosecutions.” Section 11 of Oregon’s Bill of Rights, Or Const art I, § 11, provides:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the right to public trial by an impartial jury in the county in which the offense shall have been committed; to be heard by himself and counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and to have a copy thereof; to meet the witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; provided, however, that any accused person, in other than capital cases, and with the consent of the trial judge, may elect to waive trial by jury and consent to be tried by the judge of the court alone, such election to be in writing; . . ,1

The Court of Appeals concluded, upon reviewing our prior cases and the records of the Indiana constitution from which article 1, § 11 was taken, that the right to a jury trial extends to all offenses if they have the character of criminal prosecutions.2 29 App at 924, and note 5, 566 P2d at 526. We agree. The same is true of the right to be heard by counsel, although the right to appointed counsel at public expense requires separate discussion.

The third guarantee—proof beyond a reasonable doubt—is not expressed in the constitution, though it [99]*99may well be implicit in the concept of a "criminal prosecution” as understood when the constitution was adopted in 1859. It has been statutory law in Oregon from 1864 (L 1864; Deady Crim. Code §203) to the present, see ORS 17.250(5), 136.415, and we may reasonably infer from the legislature’s unchanged adherence to this standard of proof for traffic "crimes” that the legislature would expect it to continue to govern a trial of an offense as long as it remains a "criminal prosecution.” In any event, this safeguard is required by due process under the federal 14th amendment not only in criminal prosecutions but in other proceedings of similar character. In re Winship, 397 US 358, 90 S Ct 1068, 25 L Ed 2d 368 (1970) (juvenile court determination of delinquency).

More than these three procedural rights hinges on the characterization of a traffic offense as a "crime” or an "infraction.” The Bill of Rights also guarantees a defendant in a criminal case the right to a written accusation, to trial in the county where the offense was committed, to confront the witnesses against him in open court, and to subpoena witnesses. Art. I, § 11, supra 3 It protects him against double jeopardy and against being compelled to testify against himself. Art. I, § 12. The prohibition against ex post facto laws, art. I, § 21, refers to criminal laws. Fisher v. City of Astoria, 126 Or 268, 269 P 853, 60 ALR 260 (1928); In re Idleman’s Commitment, 146 Or 13, 27 P2d 305 (1934); cf Calder v. Bull, 3 US (3 Dall.) 386, 1 L Ed 648 (1798)4. Of these guarantees, the statute also expressly withdraws the protection against double jeopardy from "traffic infractions,” ORS 484.395, and, if the state’s argument in this court is accepted, it [100]*100leaves the other rights within the future discretion of the legislature. Considering that some of these entered the state and federal constitutions as a result of "Abuses and Usurpations” charged against George III in the Declaration of Independence,5 the question whether the distinction between "criminal prosecutions” and "infractions” is itself wholly in the discretion of the legislature has notable importance.

n

It is beyond dispute that the legislature may define and enforce obligatory conduct by means other than the criminal law, as it does in taxation, or injuctive orders, or in creating private remedies, which may extend beyond compensatory damages. It may employ licenses—in effect, exemptions from a prohibition— conditioned upon prescribed qualifications and upon adherence to prescribed standards of conduct. It may take custody of persons in involuntary commitment or juvenile proceedings. Since the state has plenary power to devise its laws limited only by the state and federal constitutions,6 School Dist. No. 12 v. Wasco County, 270 Or 622, 627, 529 P2d 386 (1974); Wright v. Blue Mt. Hospital Dist, 214 Or 141, 145, 328 P2d 314 (1958) and cases there cited, it may decide to repeal criminal prohibitions, to define civil obligations enforceable by the state and its agencies, and to replace one with the other, so long as constitutional limits are observed.

The Oregon Vehicle Code represents a systematic [101]*101effort to match legal sanctions and procedures with the types of conduct to be regulated. In some respects it is a hybrid of elements drawn from civil, criminal, and administrative law models.7

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
570 P.2d 52, 280 Or. 95, 1977 Ore. LEXIS 653, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-multnomah-county-district-court-or-1977.