State v. Albee

847 P.2d 858, 118 Or. App. 212, 1993 Ore. App. LEXIS 192
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedFebruary 17, 1993
Docket89-5321; CA A70830
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 847 P.2d 858 (State v. Albee) 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
State v. Albee, 847 P.2d 858, 118 Or. App. 212, 1993 Ore. App. LEXIS 192 (Or. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

*214 DEITS, J.

Defendant appeals his conviction of involvement in animal fighting. ORS 167.355. He challenges the denial of his motions to dismiss and to suppress. We affirm.

The parties agree on the facts. On May 21, 1989, officers executed a search warrant at the Big Meadow Farm in Columbia County, pursuant to information that they had received from a Humane Society investigator and an unnamed informant. They discovered that part of a barn had been converted into a cockfighting arena. The stands were full of people, and a match was about to begin in the pit area. Behind the barn was a storage area for birds and cockfighting paraphernalia, including spurs and knives. The officers also discovered a number of dead birds in the area. Bird owners paid substantial entry fees to compete for purses, the promoters charged admission to the fights, and a number of people were wagering on the outcome of the fights. Defendant was among the spectators. He was arrested at the site.

Defendant moved pretrial to suppress evidence obtained pursuant to the warrant, arguing that the information in the supporting affidavit was stale and unreliable. Defendant also moved to dismiss the charge, arguing that “the said statute is so vague as to be invalid and incapable of enforcement.” The trial court denied both motions. Defendant assigns error to the denials.

We first consider the denial of the motion to dismiss. Defendant contends that ORS 167.355 1 is void for vagueness *215 and, therefore, violates the federal Due Process Clause, and Article I, sections 20 and 21, of the Oregon Constitution, and that it is overbroad in violation of the First Amendment and Article I, section 26, of the Oregon Constitution. Because vagueness and overbreadth are different concepts, we address them separately. We first consider defendant’s state law challenge.

In State v. Graves, 299 Or 189, 195, 700 P2d 244 (1985), the Supreme Court explained the standard for determining whether a statute is vague:

“The terms of a criminal statute must be sufficiently explicit to inform those who are subject to it of what conduct on their part will render them liable to its penalties. State v. Hodges, 254 Or 21, 27, 457 P2d 491 (1969). In addition to its function of giving fair notice of the forbidden conduct, [a] criminal statute must not be so vague as to permit a judge or jury to exercise uncontrolled discretion in punishing defendants, because this offends the principle against ex post facto laws embodied in Article I, section 21, of the Oregon Constitution. Id. The equal privileges and immunities clause is also implicated when vague laws give unbridled discretion to judges and jurors to decide what is prohibited in a given case, for this results in the unequal application of criminal laws. See State v. Robertson, 293 Or 402,408, 649 P2d 569 (1982). A criminal statute need not define an offense with such precision that a person in every case can determine in advance that a specific conduct will be within the statute’s reach. However, a reasonable degree of certainty is required by Article I, sections 20 and 21.” (Footnote omitted.)

Defendant’s specific contention regarding vagueness is that the provision making it a crime for a person to be *216 “present as a spectator at an exhibition of fighting or preparations thereto” is vague, because “preparations thereto” is not defined by the statute and allows a jury to define it.

We conclude, however, that defendant’s concerns about the general application of the statute are irrelevant to this case, because his conduct clearly comes within the statutory language.

“Where the statute at issue purports to regulate or proscribe First Amendment rights, courts have allowed defendants to challenge the statute as vague and overbroad as it applies to others. Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 US 479, 491-92, 85 S Ct 1116, 14 L Ed2d 22 (1965). However, where, as here, First Amendment rights are not affected, the defendant must show the statute is unconstitutional as applied to him. State v. Drummond, 6 Or App 558, 562, 489 P2d 958 (1971).” (Footnote omitted.)

In State v. Farrar, 309 Or 132, 786 P2d 161 (1990), the defendant made a facial vagueness challenge to the two aggravated murder statutes under which he was convicted. The court rejected the challenge, because the defendant’s conduct

“fell squarely within the statute’s prohibitions. Defendant’s abstract concern about how the statute might be applied to others is irrelevant to the validity of his own conviction. ’ ’309 Or at 183.

As in Farrar, defendant’s argument on this issue does not involve a First Amendment challenge and, thus, our focus is on whether the statute is constitutional as applied to defendant under these circumstances. We conclude that it is. As defendant admits, he was present as a spectator at a farm where a cockfight was about to begin. People were in the stands, admission was being charged, betting was taking place and paraphernalia associated with cockfighting was found on the premises. Under any reasonable interpretation of ORS 167.355, a person of common intelligence would know that those activities were preparations for a cockfight and that the conduct was prohibited by the statute.

Defendant also argues that the statute is vague, because it fails to specify a culpable mental state. Defendant argues that “[o]ne thus can negligently be a spectator to preparations for an animal fight and be subject to criminal *217 penalty.” Defendant is correct that the statute does not specify a required mental state for this crime. Accordingly, pursuant to ORS 161.115(2), the state must prove that a defendant acted intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence. However, again, whether a person could De convicted of this crime based on a negligent mental state is not pertinent here, because the charging instrument in this case alleged that defendant “knowingly” was present as a spectator.

Defendant’s challenge under federal law on this issue is essentially identical to his state law challenge. Therefore, for purposes of this case, we reject his claim for the reasons stated in our state law analysis. See State v. Pyritz, 90 Or App 601, 606, 752 P2d 1310 (1988). The trial court properly denied defendant’s motion to dismiss on the ground of vagueness.

Defendant’s second challenge is that the statute is unconstitutionally overbroad. Overbreadth is different than vagueness.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
847 P.2d 858, 118 Or. App. 212, 1993 Ore. App. LEXIS 192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-albee-orctapp-1993.