State v. James

978 P.2d 415, 159 Or. App. 502, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 507
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedApril 14, 1999
Docket9703-32435; CA A97659
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 978 P.2d 415 (State v. James) 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. James, 978 P.2d 415, 159 Or. App. 502, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 507 (Or. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

*504 DE MUNIZ, P. J.

Defendant was charged with possession of a controlled substance, ORS 475.992(4), and the trial court dismissed the case before trial on the ground that defendant had been put in jeopardy twice for the same offense, in violation of Article I, section 12, of the Oregon Constitution, and the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The state appeals from the order of dismissal. We reverse and remand.

In March 1997, defendant was arrested for possession of a controlled substance within an area of the City of Portland that had been designated by ordinance as a “drug free zone.” Portland City Code (PCC) 14.100.070. As a result of being arrested for a drug crime in a drug free zone, defendant was issued a 90-day exclusion order by the arresting officer. After defendant was indicted for the crime of possession of a controlled substance, he moved to dismiss the charge on double jeopardy grounds, contending that the exclusion was “punishment” for purposes of double jeopardy analysis and that he could not be subjected to multiple punishments for the same offense in separate proceedings. The trial court agreed and dismissed the case. The state appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in dismissing the case on double jeopardy grounds.

In the usual course, we would address all state constitutional issues before turning to the federal constitutional issue. State v. Kennedy, 295 Or 260, 261, 666 P2d 1316 (1983). In the present case, however, the trial court reached its conclusion under the jeopardy provisions of both the state and federal constitutions, but applied only federal law, stating that, in several cases, this court had proceeded on the assumption that state and federal double jeopardy analyses were the same. See Umatilla County v. $18,005 in U.S. Currency, 142 Or App 513, 913 P2d 426, rev den 324 Or 395 (1996); City of Lake Oswego v. $23,232.23, 140 Or App 520, 916 P2d 865, rev den 324 Or 322 (1996). On appeal, defendant renews the arguments made below but makes a new argument under the state constitution as an alternative ground for affirmance of the trial court’s decision. Under these circumstances, we first address the state/federal combined analysis on which the court based its decision before *505 turning to defendant’s alternative argument under a different state constitutional analysis.

The background and content of the drug free zone exclusion ordinances is pertinent to our inquiry. The drug free zones in Portland are designated by the City Council based on the number of drug arrests made in an area in the previous 12 months and are reevaluated every few years. PCC 14.100.010-.020. If a person is arrested for a drug crime, not occurring in a private residence, within a designated drug free zone, the person is issued a 90-day civil exclusion order. If the person is later convicted of the drug crime, the person is issued an additional one-year exclusion order. PCC 14.100.030. 1 The exclusion pertains to all drug free zones in the city. PCC 14.100.050. An individual issued an exclusion order under these ordinances may file an administrative appeal within seven days of the issuance of the order, and the exclusion does not go into effect during the pendency of the appeal. PCC 14.100.060. At the hearing, the city must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the exclusion is based on the commission of one of the listed drug crimes within a drug free zone. Id. At the hearing, the city may make a prima facie case that the drug crime was committed either by showing that a court having jurisdiction made a determination that probable cause existed for the arrest or by showing that the arrested person was indicted for the crime. Id. Persons excluded from drug free zones may obtain variances from the police to enter the zones if they live there, if they are employed there, or if they require access to service providers there. Id. Variances for other purposes are available as well. Id.

In enacting the ordinances described above, the City Council made numerous findings regarding the need for such ordinances: that the designated zones had a significantly higher incidence of drug trafficking than other areas in the city; that the drug activity contributed to the degradation of the areas and adversely affected the quality of life for the *506 areas’ residents, businesses and visitors; that people arrested for drug crimes frequently resume their drug activities in the same location either because it is lucrative or because it is attractive for using controlled substances; that the city had a compelling interest in restoring the quality of life and protecting the health, safety and welfare of citizens using the public ways in the designated zones, and in allowing citizens to use facilities in the designated zones without interference arising from drug activity; that arrest and prosecution for drug crimes had not proven adequate to control the drug activities in the designated zones; and that the city’s health, safety and welfare would best be served by temporary exclusion of people arrested for drug crimes from the designated zones. Portland City Ord. No. 170913.

Defendant moved to dismiss the criminal charge against him on the ground that his prosecution would violate the double jeopardy provisions of the state and federal constitutions. 2 See generally ORS 135.470 (dismissal based on former jeopardy). Defendant did not challenge the constitutionality of the exclusion ordinances themselves. He argued that the exclusions were “punishment” for purposes of double jeopardy analysis and that prosecution based on the same conduct that the exclusion had been based on violated the double jeopardy provisions of the state and federal constitutions.

The trial court agreed with defendant. Quoting United States v. Halper, 490 US 435, 446, 109 S Ct 1892, 104 L Ed 2d 487 (1989), the court found that the city intended the ordinances to be remedial in nature but that the civil sanction of exclusion nonetheless was “so extreme and so divorced from the government’s damages and expenses as to constitute punishment” for purposes of double jeopardy analysis. The court’s primary reason for determining that the exclusions were punitive was the geographical locations of the zones. Although the zones are relatively small, covering less than two percent of the city, they cover a great deal of the *507 downtown area of Portland, and the court was concerned that exclusion from those zones effectively prohibited free movement through the city. The court therefore determined that, because the 90-day exclusions were punitive, criminal prosecution for the underlying drug crime that triggered the exclusion put defendant in jeopardy twice for the same offense.

On appeal, the state argues that the trial court’s analysis is flawed in its expansive reading of

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
978 P.2d 415, 159 Or. App. 502, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 507, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-james-orctapp-1999.