State v. Bowman

980 P.2d 164, 160 Or. App. 8, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 620
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedApril 21, 1999
Docket95-05-33541 CA A91058, (Control), A93454
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 980 P.2d 164 (State v. Bowman) 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. Bowman, 980 P.2d 164, 160 Or. App. 8, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 620 (Or. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

*10 EDMONDS, P. J.

The state appeals from judgments imposing sentences on two felony convictions. Defendant was charged with two counts of first-degree robbery based on crimes committed against two victims on or about May 13, 1995. He was convicted of two counts of second-degree robbery. ORS 164.405(1)(a). At the time of sentencing, the trial court refused to impose the 70-month minimum sentences mandated by Measure 11, which was codified as ORS 137.700(2)(r) (1995). 1 The trial court ruled that the statutes were unconstitutional as applied to defendant under Article I, section 16, of the Oregon Constitution. Instead, the court imposed probationary sentences and entered a final judgment on November 16, 1995. Both parties appealed in December 1995 from that judgment.

On May 8, 1996, defendant stipulated to being in violation of his probation, and, thereafter, the trial court revoked the probationary sentences. At sentencing on May 16, 1996, the court again refused to impose the 70-month minimum sentences prescribed by ORS 137.700(2)(r) (1995) and instead imposed six-month sentences under the sentencing guidelines. The state appeals from the resulting judgment that was entered on May 21, 1996. 2 We dismiss the appeal from the November 16, 1995, judgment as moot, and vacate the sentences imposed in the May 21,1996, judgment, and remand for resentencing.

In arriving at its guilty verdicts, the jury could have found the following facts. David Bowers and Eric Frey were in Portland to undergo physical examinations for admission *11 into the army. They stayed at the Red Lion Inn near the Steel Bridge in Portland. On the evening in question, Bowers and Frey walked from the hotel to downtown Portland, visited some nightclubs, then walked back across the bridge at about 11:45 p.m. toward the Red Lion. As they were almost across the bridge, they were accosted by defendant and two other men. Defendant asked Bowers and Frey for money and drugs and then robbed them by displaying knives when they declined his request. After being robbed, Bowers and Frey reported the robbery to a security guard and then to the police. When defendant was arrested, Bowers and Frey identified him as the robber. When interviewed by the police, defendant admitted that he had asked Bowers and Frey for money, that he had displayed two knives and that they had complied with his request by handing over their money and cigarettes.

Defendant testified at trial that he was 18 years old and had been living under a Portland bridge. He said that, at the time of the incident, he was listening to music over headphones and did not hear what had been said between his companions and Bowers and Frey. He assumed that Bowers and Frey were friends of his companions and that Bowers and Frey were paying off a prior debt by handing over their money and cigarettes. He also denied making the admissions to police that have been previously described.

Before sentencing, defendant filed a sentencing memorandum in which he raised several constitutional challenges to ORS 137.700(2)(r) (1995). 3 The trial court ruled that, as applied to defendant, the mandatory minimum sentences required by ORS 137.700(2)(r) (1995) violated defendant’s constitutional rights under Article I, section 16, of the Oregon Constitution. 4 At the time that the initial sentences were imposed, the trial court explained,

*12 “I am satisfied that under the facts of this case, the sentence required by Ballot Measure 11 violates both Article I, section 16, and Article I, section 15, of the Oregon Constitution, in that it is too disproportional to offenses that although there is not, we don’t have sort of identical or have very closely related offenses, the court, the Oregon Supreme Court analyzed in other cases considering other offenses that were not swept up in Ballot Measure 11 that appear to this court to involve similar or more severe violations against persons and public safety that have lesser sentences than this makes this sentence and the facts of this case disproportionate.
“I am persuaded and I think the state is correct in its argument that it was fortuitous circumstance that the victims had so little property on them or at least in their pockets, a few dollars I believe the testimony was would have been or could have been had but that [defendant] should not necessarily benefit from that peculiarity of circumstance.
“But still given his age, crime-free background, the fact that the harm of loss was less [than] typical, and I say that not focusing on the property obtained but on the degree of the threatened use of force keeping in mind we are talking here about knives strapped to these homemade leather things to the defendant’s arms. However, I think that the * * * more persuasive evidence in trial was these things were strapped to the outside of his arms and were not concealed.
“Anyway, the sentence would be disproportionate and also under the facts of this case given the defendant’s history, his background, his age, the benefit he has obtained while he has been in jail, I think the sentence required by Ballot Measure 11 would * * * serve no purpose of reformation.
“* * * * *
“* * * But I believe that not only * * * a vindictive justice sentence required by Ballot Measure 11 under the circumstances of this case but public safety would not be for reformation of [defendant], In fact, I think public safety would be greatly diminished by subjecting him at this stage in his life given his background, given what he has been through, and going through to spending the next 70 months of his life in *13 prison. Therefore, I find Ballot Measure 11 unconstitutional as applied in this case.”

At the subsequent hearing regarding the sentencing for the probation violation, the prosecutor again recommended that the court impose the 70-month sentences mandated by the statute. The court rejected her argument:

“I believe that I don’t have discretion to impose the sentence called for by Ballot Measure 11 at this time, for a couple of reasons. One is that — my determination that it would be unconstitutional to apply the Ballot Measure 11 sentence was a result of my analysis of the facts and circumstances of the case and of the defendant at the time of sentencing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
980 P.2d 164, 160 Or. App. 8, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 620, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bowman-orctapp-1999.