State v. Langan

634 P.2d 794, 54 Or. App. 202, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 3353
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedOctober 12, 1981
Docket10-80-00383, CA 19567
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 634 P.2d 794 (State v. Langan) 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. Langan, 634 P.2d 794, 54 Or. App. 202, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 3353 (Or. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

BUTTLER, P. J.

Defendant appeals his convictions of promoting gambling and possession of gambling devices, ORS 167.122 and 167.147, each of which is a Class A misdemeanor. Of the four assignments of error, the first two and part of the third are answered by State v. Wright, 21 Or App 659, 537 P2d 130, rev den (1975),1 which defendant contends should be overruled. We adhere to that decision. The remaining part of defendant’s third contention — that the trial court erred in failing to give his requested instructions explaining the elements of ORS 167.147,2 — is answered by the fact that the instruction given by the court3 sufficiently covered the law and was "but an attenuated version of the requested charge.”4 State v. Forsyth, 20 Or App 624, 634, [205]*205533 P2d 176, rev den (1975). We consider in detail only the fourth assignment of error: that the trial court unlawfully sentenced defendant under ORS 161.635(4). Because we agree with that contention, we affirm in part, reverse in part and remand for sentencing.

Viewed most favorably to the state, the record discloses that defendant was the owner of a tavern which contained 11 "free play” machines, including blackjack and poker video machines and pinball machines.5 A "free play” machine is a game played by inserting a coin for one game,6 or as many as eight coins for eight games, and then trying to "beat” the machine, which entitles the winner to one or more free games. On 10 of the 11 machines in defendant’s tavern, however, a winner could be paid in cash for the accumulated free games instead of playing out the games on the machine.7

During the months of August and September, 1979, undercover police officers visited the defendant’s tavern and played the machines regularly. On August 28, 1979, one of the officers was paid $12.50 in cash by defendant’s employee for winning "in excess of” 50 free games on the blackjack machines. On September 5, 1979, the defendant paid cash to the same officer for winning 140 free games and paid cash to another officer for winning 50 free games. After each winning, the officer observed the defendant or one of his employees jotting down the "pay-off” transaction in a spiral notebook. Subsequently, the 11 machines were seized from the tavern under a valid search warrant, and the defendant was indicted.

[206]*206Defendant’s contention that the sentence imposed by the trial court under ORS 161.635(4) was unlawful presents two questions: (1) whether defendant may be fined based upon gains derived from activity similar to that constituting the offenses of which he was convicted, other than on the date or dates charged in the indictment,8 and (2) what "gain” means as defined in ORS 161.625(4)?

Following defendant’s conviction of both offenses, the trial court held a special hearing preliminary to sentencing defendant under ORS 161.635(4), which allows a court to fine a defendant up to twice the amount of moneys wrongfully "gained” from the commission of the offense in lieu of the maximum fine of $1,000 provided in ORS 161.635(l)(a)9 for Class A misdemeanors. See Oregon Criminal Code, Commentary § 78, at 72.

[207]*207At that hearing, the trial court admitted evidence of moneys received and expenses paid by defendant for the year 1979. From that evidence, the court determined that defendant’s gain exceeded $5,000 and doubled that amount in assessing defendant a fine of $10,000. The state contends the trial court’s assessment was proper, because the legislature intended, by permitting the alternative fine, to insure that a defendant not profit from his unlawful conduct and to deter the repetition of the same offense by making it economically unrewarding. Even accepting the state’s contention, it does not follow that defendant may be fined for offenses with which he was not charged.

The indictment against defendant charged him with two gambling offenses, both of which were alleged to have occurred "on or about the 5th day of September, 1979.” He was found guilty only of these two offenses. Thus, at sentencing, the trial court had the option of fining defendant under ORS 161.635(l)(a) or (4). Under subsection(l)(a), defendant could have been fined up to $1,000 for each offense,10 a total of $2,000. If the state is correct that the trial court could treat the offense as a continuing one for which a fine may be assessed for each violation in the continuum, defendant could be fined $2,000 per day during the period in which the continuing offense was committed. Similarly, under ORS 161.615(1) defendant could be sentenced to imprisonment for one year for each offense — presumably two years here.

We do not believe it can be contended seriously that defendant could have been sentenced to imprisonment, or to a traditional fine, based upon the offenses of which he was convicted, and then the term and fine be multiplied by the number of days during which similar, uncharged, offenses were committed within the statute of limitations. If that could have been done, the state could have saved itself and the trial court a lot of trouble and expense in attempting to establish defendant’s illegal gain and, at the same time, have arrived at a substantially greater fine.

[208]*208However, to allow such a sentencing scheme would not only violate the apparent intention11 of the legislature embodied in the sentencing statutes, but would offend the most basic notions of due process which demand, at the very least, that a person receive fair notice of all the offenses with which he is charged. It seems far more probable that the legislature intended that the alternative fine be available to the sentencing court in circumstances where the traditional liquidated fine is inadequate to penalize the defendant for the offense of which he has been convicted.

The state analogizes ORS 161.635(4) to the statutory provisions permitting the sentencing court to impose restitution as a part of the sentence. ORS 137.106.

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Related

State v. Mays
429 P.3d 1061 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2018)
State v. Choat
284 P.3d 578 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2012)
State v. Langan
652 P.2d 800 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
634 P.2d 794, 54 Or. App. 202, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 3353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-langan-orctapp-1981.