Clark v. Gladden

432 P.2d 182, 247 Or. 629, 1967 Ore. LEXIS 532
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 4, 1967
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 432 P.2d 182 (Clark v. Gladden) 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
Clark v. Gladden, 432 P.2d 182, 247 Or. 629, 1967 Ore. LEXIS 532 (Or. 1967).

Opinions

GOODWIN, J.

A prisoner serving an enhanced sentence as a habitual criminal appeals from a judgment which denied postconviction relief. The court sustained a demurrer to a petition alleging that the Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas convictions which the sentencing court had considered in applying the Oregon recidivist law were invalid because of denial of counsel and other constitutional defects.

As a preliminary question, we must decide whether the prisoner has lost his right to challenge his foreign convictions by not raising his questions at the hearing in which he was found to be a habitual criminal.

When the prisoner appeared for resentencing under ORS 168.015 to 168.085, he did not see fit to challenge any of his foreign convictions. Five foreign convictions were alleged against him, and he admitted that he had been convicted in each of the cases. He was represented by counsel at the time of the hearing, and counsel raised no question concerning alleged constitutional deficiencies. The state now argues that by failing to raise the constitutional questions at the time of his sentencing under ORS 168.085 and by failing to appeal he waived his right to raise these questions at a later time. While it would have been better procedure to have made a timely objection in the court which was considering the prisoner’s status as a habitual criminal instead of bringing these new proceedings before another circuit court, the question of waiver is controlled by statute.

[633]*633The only statutory provision concerning a waiver of defenses to former convictions is the following:

ORS 168.075. “Unless the proof shows the exception of a former conviction under subsection (1) or (4) of OES 168.015, the defendant waives the exception by failure to claim it at the hearing on the allegations of the information.”

The two subsections referred to provide:

ORS 168.015. “(1) ‘Conviction’ means an adjudication of guilt upon a’ plea, verdict or finding in a criminal proceeding in a court of competent jurisdiction, but ‘conviction’ does not include an adjudication which has been expunged by pardon, reversed, set aside or otherwise rendered nugatory.
“ (4) Except under OES 166.230 and 167.050, a conviction is not a ‘former conviction of a felony’ if:
“(a) The offense was committed when the defendant was under 16 years of age;
“(b) That conviction was rendered after the commission of the principal felony;
“(c) It is the defendant’s most recent conviction described in subsection (3) of this section, and the defendant was finally and unconditionally discharged from all resulting imprisonment, probation or parole more than seven years before the commission of the principal felony; or
“(d) That conviction was by court-martial of an offense denounced only by military law and triable only by court-martial.”

The statutory language relevant to this case is that of the definition of a “conviction” which excludes “an adjudication which has been expunged by pardon, reversed, set aside, or otherwise rendered nugatory.” [634]*634The prisoner would have us construe the words “or otherwise rendered nugatory” as meaning “or otherwise adjudicated to be nugatory.” The state apparently would have us read the words as meaning “or otherwise deemed nugatory.”

Difficulty of the kind created by the ambiguity in our statute has been obviated in New York by a specific amendment in 1964, which reads:

“* * * provided however, that no previous conviction in this or any other state shall be utilized as a predicate for multiple offender treatment pursuant to * * * this article if such conviction was obtained in violation of the rights of the person accused under the applicable provisions of the constitution of the United States.
“An objection that a previous conviction was unconstitutionally obtained may be raised at this time and the court shall so inform the person accused. Such an objection shall be entered in the record and shall be determined by the court, without empanelling a jury. The failure of the person accused to challenge the previous conviction in the manner provided herein shall constitute a waiver on his part of any allegation of unconstitutionality .unless good cause be shown for his failure to make timely challenge * * *.” N Y Sess Laws 1964, ch 446, § 1.

Until our Legislative Assembly provides such clear statutory direction as has been provided in New York, we construe our present statutory language “or otherwise rendered nugatory,” in light of the terms “has been” “expunged,” “reversed,” and “set aside,” as requiring an accomplished act to relieve the prisoner of the unconstitutional judgment. The alternative would be to disregard the words “has been,” and hold that the mere failure of the prisoner to challenge a [635]*635former conviction on grounds other than those spelled out in OES 168.015 (1) and (4) is itself a waiver of the right to raise such questions. Since such an intent could have been expressed in a very few words, and was not, we do not believe such an intent can be inferred. Our construction of the statutory language is fortified by the fact that our Legislative Assembly has provided elsewhere in the code a comprehensive postconviction remedy which, on its face, appears to apply to the kind of problem now before us.

Under ORS 138.510(1)

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Related

State v. Graves
947 P.2d 209 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1997)
Palmer v. State of Oregon
867 P.2d 1368 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1994)
Ray v. State
532 S.W.2d 478 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1975)
Lerch v. Cupp
497 P.2d 379 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1972)
State v. Goddard
485 P.2d 650 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1971)
Wheeler v. Cupp
470 P.2d 957 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1970)
State v. Capitan
468 P.2d 533 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1970)
Lundgren v. Cupp
462 P.2d 447 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1969)
North v. Cupp
461 P.2d 271 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1969)
State v. Miller
458 P.2d 1017 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1969)
Simmons v. Gladden
446 P.2d 675 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1968)
Clark v. Gladden
432 P.2d 182 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
432 P.2d 182, 247 Or. 629, 1967 Ore. LEXIS 532, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-gladden-or-1967.