State v. Lavert

991 P.2d 1067, 164 Or. App. 280, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 2040
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 8, 1999
Docket9706-34576; CA A100298, A101037
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 991 P.2d 1067 (State v. Lavert) 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. Lavert, 991 P.2d 1067, 164 Or. App. 280, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 2040 (Or. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

EDMONDS, P. J.

The state appeals from a judgment imposing sentence on a felony conviction. Defendant was charged with two counts of robbery in the second degree involving the same victim and incident. ORS 164.405.1 Defendant was acquitted by a jury verdict on the first count, ORS 164.405(l)(a) (dangerous or deadly weapon), and convicted on the second count, ORS 164.405(l)(b) (aided by another). At the time of sentencing, the trial court refused to impose the 70-month minimum sentence mandated by Measure 11, which has been codified as ORS 137.707(4)(a)(R). The trial court ruled that the statute was unconstitutional as applied to defendant under Article I, section 15, and Article I, section 16, of the Oregon Constitution. Accordingly, the court imposed a probationary sentence and entered a final judgment on November 10, 1997. The state appealed in December 1997 from that judgment.

On February 6, 1998, defendant stipulated to being in violation of his probation, and, thereafter, the trial court revoked the probationary sentence. At the sentencing hearing on February 12, 1998, the court again refused to impose the 70-month minimum sentence prescribed by ORS 137.707(4)(a)(R) and instead imposed a six-month sentence [283]*283under the sentencing guidelines. The state also appeals from the resulting judgment.

As an initial matter, we dismiss the appeal from the November 10,1997, judgment as moot. State v. Bowman, 160 Or App 8, 14, 980 P2d 164 (1999). Therefore, we turn to the state’s assignment of error as it relates to the remaining judgment.

The state argues that Measure 11 is not unconstitutional as applied to defendant because “in light of defendant’s crimes and his particular circumstances” a 70-month sentence does not “shock the moral sense of all reasonable men as to what is right and proper under the circumstances.” The state contends that “nothing about the factual circumstances of this crime warrants a less severe punishment” and that nothing about “defendant’s particular personal circumstances” supports the proposition that he is constitutionally entitled to less severe punishment. (Emphasis in original.)

Defendant first asserts that the state’s arguments cannot be reviewed by this court “because the state has failed to designate relevant portions of the record necessary for this court to review the trial court’s ruling.” Defendant criticizes the state’s reliance on the presentence investigation report in setting forth the facts of the crime and points to disagreements between the prosecutor and trial court during the sentencing hearing over the court’s interpretation of the evidence produced at trial:2 Defendant concludes that “[sjince there were disputes concerning the facts at trial, this court is in no position to properly evaluate the trial court’s conclusion * * * without reviewing the transcript of the trial. * * * It is the state’s burden to present this court with a record that is adequate to resolve the claim of error.” The state responds that the basic facts about the crime are not in dispute, although it concedes that “[tjhere is some dispute about how it happened.”

It is the state’s burden as appellant to furnish a sufficient record to demonstrate that the trial court’s ruling was incorrect. State v. Burns/Sundquist, 15 Or App 590, 516 P2d [284]*284479 (1973); see also Reeves v. National Hydraulics Co., 53 Or App 639, 642, 632 P2d 1306 (1981). In State v. Bonner, 66 Or App 1, 6, 672 P2d 1333 (1983), we said,

“If the appeal is only to be or will include a challenge to the sentence imposed, a full transcript of the evidentiary portions of the trial must be provided, as well as testimony presented on pretrial motions, if requested and if those matters were considered by the same judge who heard the trial.”

In this case, the trial court record indicates that a jury trial took place and that the jury returned its verdict on August 5, 1997. Although it is not absolutely clear from the trial court record, enough indications appear in the trial court file and in the order to support the conclusion that sentence-related hearings took place on October 16 and 22. In addition, further proceedings took place on November 10, and on that date the trial court signed a “temporary sentencing order.” That order was followed by a “judgment of conviction and sentence” signed on December 12 with a nunc pro tunc date of November 10. As stated above, a sentencing hearing also took place on February 12, 1998, following the revocation of defendant’s probationary sentence.

In Cannon v. Gladden, 203 Or 629, 632, 281 P2d 233 (1955), the court said that, in an Article I, section 16, challenge,

“[t]he question presented is whether the penalty * * * is * * * so disproportioned to the offense as to shock the moral sense of all reasonable men as to what is right and proper!.]”

In reviewing trial courts’ sentencing determinations in recent “as applied” challenges to Measure 11, this court has considered the evidence presented at trial and the evidence contained in the presentence investigation report and adduced during the sentencing phase. See, e.g., Bowman, 160 Or App at 10-11 (referring to testimony at trial and facts the jury could have found after trial); State v. Silverman, 159 Or App 524, 527-31, 977 P2d 1186 (1999) (referring repeatedly to the record before the sentencing court); State v. Rhodes, 149 Or App 118, 121, 123, 941 P2d 1072 (1997), rev den 326 [285]*285Or 390 (1998) (referring to evidence at trial, information contained in the presentence investigation report, and evidence taken during the sentencing phase). Thus, the record on appeal must be sufficient to permit us “to step into the shoes” of the trial court and to view the same record that was before it.3

The state designated as the record: (1) “the record of the sentencing hearing, including the trial court file, all exhibits, and transcripts of the hearing held on November 10, 1997”; (2) “the record of PROBATION VIOLATION HEARING, including the trial court file, all exhibits, and transcripts of the hearing held on February 12, 1998”; and the presentence investigation report. Neither the transcript from the trial nor transcripts from the hearings held in October were designated as part of the record on appeal, even though the trial court had the benefit of information relating to the offense and defendant from those proceedings. The judgment states,

“[a]fter the jury verdict, the court reviewed the pre-sentence report, reviewed motions and memoranda by defense counsel and the State and heard arguments on two occasions from defense counsel and the State regarding the applicability of Ballot Measure 11 to this case.” (Emphasis added.)

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
991 P.2d 1067, 164 Or. App. 280, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 2040, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lavert-orctapp-1999.