State v. Lindquist

917 P.2d 510, 141 Or. App. 84, 1996 Ore. App. LEXIS 702
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMay 15, 1996
DocketCF93-0748; CA A84235
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 917 P.2d 510 (State v. Lindquist) 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. Lindquist, 917 P.2d 510, 141 Or. App. 84, 1996 Ore. App. LEXIS 702 (Or. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

*86 DE MUNIZ, J.

Defendant appeals from his convictions for sexual abuse in the first degree. ORS 163.427. He assigns error to the trial court’s preclusion of a defense witness whom defendant disclosed on the day of trial. We reverse.

In September 1993, the 11-year-old victim and her two siblings stayed overnight in the living room of defendant’s trailer. The victim alleged that five or six times during the night defendant placed his hand inside her panties and touched her vagina. Defendant was indicted for five counts of sexual abuse in the first degree. ORS 163.427. On February 10, 1994, about three weeks before trial, defendant told his attorney that a friend of his was at his home that night, but that he was unsure of the friend’s name or whether he could find him. Defendant had not mentioned his friend’s presence to the deputy investigating the case. On March 2, the day of trial, defendant told his attorney that the night before he had located his friend, Enoch Bass. Bass showed up at court about 9 a.m. This was the first time defense counsel met the witness, and he immediately notified the prosecutor, who interviewed Bass. As an offer of proof, Bass testified that he was in defendant’s living room from about 12:30 to 5:30 a.m. the night in question.

“I * * * had a nephew of mine take me over there from Hermiston. Me and [defendant] sat there and played a new Nintendo game he just got. I left about 5:00, 5:30 that morning. I was there for at least five or six hours playing Nintendo with him.”

Bass testified that he had spent the entire time in defendant’s living room, where the victim was sleeping, and never saw defendant touch her. The trial court ruled that defendant violated the discovery statutes and excluded Bass’s testimony. A jury found defendant guilty of all five counts, and he appeals.

A defendant’s discovery obligations are governed by ORS 135.835, which provides, in part:

“[T]he defendant shall disclose to the district attorney the following material and information within the possession or control of the defendant:
*87 “(1) The names and addresses of persons, including the defendant, whom the defendant intends to call as witnesses at the trial, together with relevant written or recorded statements or memoranda of any oral statements of such persons other than the defendant.”

ORS 135.845 provides, in part:

“(1) The obligations to disclose shall be performed as soon as practicable following the filing of an indictment or information in the circuit court [.]”

The statutory duty to disclose witnesses applies to defendant personally, as well as his attorney. State v. Ben, 310 Or 309, 315, 798 P2d 650 (1990). The trial court here ruled that defendant personally breached his discovery obligations by failing to make information available to his attorney until the day of trial. As part of his ruling, the trial court stated:

“[I]n fundamental fairness to the state, [defendant is] claiming something that is totally unknown to the state of Oregon and they’re entitled to investigate the matter.
“They didn’t get to do so because your client didn’t make information available to you. As a gentleman and officer of the court, you would have made that information available to [the prosecutor]. That would make the discovery statutes meaningless. It just abrogates the whole thing to allow somebody to come in here after the trial is scheduled to start and say, We’ve got a witness that we know about all along. I’ll not allow him to testify.” (Emphasis supplied.)

On appeal, defendant argues that he did not violate the discovery statutes because he could not locate Bass until the day before trial. The trial court, however, apparently did not believe that defendant was unaware of Bass’s name or location and instead found that defendant had intended “all along” to call Bass as a witness.

Defendant’s knowledge and intent are questions of fact. In reviewing discovery rulings, we are bound by the trial court’s factual findings, if supported by evidence in the record. State v. Brown, 310 Or 347, 366, 800 P2d 259 (1990); State v. Addicks, 34 Or App 557, 560, 579 P2d 289, rev den 284 Or 80a (1978) (citing Ball v. Gladden, 250 Or 485, 487, *88 443 P2d 621 (1968)). When findings are not made, and the evidence is such that the facts could be decided more than one way, we conclude that the facts were decided in a manner consistent with the court’s ultimate conclusion. Ball, 250 Or at 487.

Bass’s presence in defendant’s home from approximately midnight until dawn, during which he played video games with defendant, is evidence supporting the trial court’s belief that defendant and Bass were prior acquaintances who knew each other well enough for defendant to have known Bass’s name and address. From defendant’s conversation with his attorney about Bass on February 10, the trial court could have concluded that defendant intended to call Bass as a witness at least as early as three weeks before trial. Because the record supports these factual determinations, we are bound by them.

However, whether those facts add up to a violation of the discovery statutes is a question of law. State v. Cervantes, 130 Or App 147,152, 881 P2d 151 (1994); Addicks, 34 Or App at 560. In Ben, the Supreme Court held that the defendant himself breached his discovery obligations by failing to disclose witness’ names until the morning of trial, where the record indicated that he intended to call at least one witness as early as a few days after the incident. 310 Or at 315. Likewise, we conclude that defendant’s failure to disclose Bass until the day of trial, when the record indicates that he intended to call him as a witness as early as three weeks before, constitutes a violation of ORS 135.835 and 135.845. The trial court did not err in finding that defendant breached his duty to disclose.

We next address whether excluding Bass’s testimony was the proper sanction. ORS 135.865 provides:

“Upon being apprised of any breach of the duty imposed by the provisions of ORS 135.805

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
917 P.2d 510, 141 Or. App. 84, 1996 Ore. App. LEXIS 702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lindquist-orctapp-1996.