State v. Beck

295 P.3d 169, 254 Or. App. 609, 2013 WL 174408, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 20
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJanuary 16, 2013
DocketC0030; A147713
StatusPublished

This text of 295 P.3d 169 (State v. Beck) 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. Beck, 295 P.3d 169, 254 Or. App. 609, 2013 WL 174408, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 20 (Or. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

DUNCAN, J.

Defendant appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion to set aside his record of conviction for negligent homicide under former ORS 163.091 (1957), repealed by Or Laws 1971, ch 743, § 432.1 For the reasons explained below, we conclude that ORS 135.225(7) — which provides that convictions for criminally negligent homicide as defined by ORS 163.145 cannot be set aside — also applies to convictions, like defendant’s, for negligent homicide under former ORS 163.091. Therefore, the trial court correctly denied defendant’s motion to set aside his conviction, and we affirm.

In 1961, defendant was convicted of negligent homicide, as defined by former ORS 163.091. That statute provided, in pertinent part, that a person committed the crime of negligent homicide if the person caused the death of another person by driving a motor vehicle in a grossly negligent manner. It also provided that the crime was punishable by “imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or in the state penitentiary for not more than three years, or by a fine of not to exceed $2,500, or by both such fine and imprisonment.” Thus, negligent homicide was punishable as either a felony or a misdemeanor. Former ORS 161.030 (1957) (originally enacted as General Laws of Oregon, Crim Code, ch I, §§ 2-4, pp 441-42 (Deady 1845-1864)), repealed by Or Laws 1971, ch 743, § 432; State v. Hammond, 34 Or App 893, 898, 580 P2d 556 (1978).

In 1971, as part of the creation of the Criminal Code, the legislature repealed former ORS 163.091 and created the crime of criminally negligent homicide, which was [611]*611codified as ORS 163.145.2 As described below, the drafters of ORS 163.145 intended criminally negligent homicide to "encompass” negligent homicide under former ORS 163.091. 254 Or App at 614-15. The legislature classified criminally negligent homicide as a Class C felony. Or Laws 1971, ch 743, § 91. In 2003, the legislature reclassified it as a Class B felony. Or Laws 2003, ch 815, § 2.

In 2010, defendant filed a motion to set aside his conviction for negligent homicide. ORS 137.225 (2009) governs motions to set aside convictions.3 Generally speaking, subsection (1) of ORS 137.225 identifies the basic requirements and processes for setting aside a conviction, subsection (5) identifies categories of convictions that can be set aside, and subsections (6) and (7) identify exceptions to those categories. As relevant here, the statute provides:

“(l)(a) At any time after the lapse of three years from the date of pronouncement of judgment, any defendant who has fully complied with and performed the sentence of the court and whose conviction is described in subsection (5) of this section by motion may apply to the court where the conviction was entered for entry of an order setting aside the conviction [.] * * *
* * * *
“(3) * * * Except as otherwise provided in subsection (12) of this section, if the court determines that the circumstances and behavior of the applicant from the date of conviction * * * to the date of the hearing on the motion warrant setting aside the conviction * * * the court shall enter an appropriate order ***.*** Upon the entry of the order, the applicant for purposes of the law shall be deemed not to have been previously convicted * * * and the court shall issue an order sealing the record of conviction and other official records in the case[.]”
[612]*612* * * *
“(5) The provisions of subsection (l)(a) of this section apply to a conviction of:
“(a) A Class C felony [with certain inapplicable
exceptions].
* * * *
“(c) A crime punishable as either a felony or a misdemeanor, in the discretion of the court [with certain inapplicable exceptions].
“(d) A misdemeanor [with certain inapplicable
exceptions].
“(e) A violation * * *.
“(f) An offense committed before January 1,1972, that if committed after that date would be:
“(A) A Class C felony [with certain inapplicable
exceptions].
“(B) A crime punishable as either a felony or a misdemeanor, in the discretion of the court [with certain inapplicable exceptions].
“(C) A misdemeanor [with certain inapplicable
exceptions].
“(D) A violation.
“(6) Notwithstanding subsection (5) of this section, the provisions of subsection (1) of this section do not apply to:
“(a) A conviction for a state or municipal traffic offense.
* * * *
“(7) Notwithstanding subsection (5) of this section, the provisions of subsection (l)(a) of this section do not apply to criminally negligent homicide under ORS 163.145, when that offense was punishable as a Class C felony.”

Thus, ORS 137.225(l)(a) provides that a person can apply to have a conviction set aside if more than three years have passed since the date of the pronouncement of judgment, the person has fully complied with and performed the sentence of the court, and the conviction is described [613]*613in ORS 137.225(5). In turn, ORS 137.225

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Related

State v. Seay
347 Or. App. 180 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2026)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
295 P.3d 169, 254 Or. App. 609, 2013 WL 174408, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 20, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-beck-orctapp-2013.