State v. McColly

435 P.3d 715, 364 Or. 464
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 28, 2019
DocketCC 14CR03429 (SC S065089)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 435 P.3d 715 (State v. McColly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. McColly, 435 P.3d 715, 364 Or. 464 (Or. 2019).

Opinion

NELSON, J.

*716**466This criminal case concerns a conviction for second-degree "failure to appear," which involves the failure to appear on a misdemeanor charge after having been "released from custody" by court order, under a release agreement and upon a condition of future appearance. ORS 162.195(1)(a) ; see also ORS 162.135(4) ("[c]ustody" means "the imposition of actual or constructive restraint by a peace officer pursuant to an arrest or court order * * *"). Defendant failed to appear for a scheduled trial call, but, before that date, she had not been released following arrest, detention, or confinement. Instead, as part of a voluntary arraignment appearance, the trial court had ordered that she be conditionally released and also officially fingerprinted and photographed pursuant to a "book-and-release" process; defendant also had signed a release agreement stating that she had "been released" and agreed to personally appear at future court appearances. In response to a motion for judgment of acquittal at defendant's trial on the failure-to-appear charge, the court concluded that the previously ordered book-and-release process satisfied the statutory "custody" requirement. A jury convicted defendant, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. State v. McColly , 286 Or. App. 168, 399 P.3d 1045 (2017). We conclude that the statutes required the state to prove that, prior to defendant's failure to appear, (1) a peace officer had imposed actual or constructive restraint, pursuant to an arrest or court order, amounting to "custody"; and, then, (2) the trial court had released her from that custody, under a release agreement and upon an appearance condition. We further conclude that the state's evidence did not satisfy those requirements, and we therefore reverse defendant's judgment of conviction.1

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

We set out the facts in the light most favorable to the state. State v. Makin , 360 Or. 238, 240, 381 P.3d 799 (2016). Defendant was charged by a District Attorney's complaint with menacing and harassment, both misdemeanors. The complaint included a letter directing defendant to appear **467in court for a scheduled arraignment, and she voluntarily appeared as directed.2 On the same day as her arraignment, the trial court issued an order that directed defendant to complete-also on the same day-a "book-and-release" process, and it further ordered that she be conditionally "released" on her own recognizance. Also that day, defendant signed a release agreement, in which she stated her understanding that she had "been released" by the court, instead of being held in jail, because she "agree[d] to submit to all orders and process of the court"; "to personally appear at all court appearances," trial, and sentencing; and to comply with other conditions. Defendant further agreed to personally appear in court at an upcoming scheduled hearing "and all other times ordered *717by the [c]ourt." The agreement acknowledged her understanding that violation of that or any other condition could result in revocation of release.

Defendant later appeared at a scheduled hearing, but she did not appear at a subsequent trial call. The trial court revoked her release and issued a bench warrant, and defendant was arrested. The state moved to dismiss the menacing and harassment charges-and the trial court did so-but the state filed a new charge alleging second-degree failure to appear, which proceeded to trial.

During its case in chief, the state introduced the trial court's arraignment order directing completion of the book-and-release process, as well as defendant's release agreement. The state also introduced testimony from the trial court administrator, to the effect that the book-and-release process was "the official process of being fingerprinted and [photographed] by the deputies[.]" At the close of the state's case, defendant moved for judgment of acquittal, arguing **468that the state had failed to prove that she had been released from custody by court order before she failed to appear. ORS 162.195(1)(a). The trial court denied defendant's motion, a jury found her guilty of second-degree failure to appear, and the Court of Appeals affirmed her conviction. McColly , 288 Or. App. at 172, 177, 404 P.3d 1004. We allowed defendant's petition for review.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Statutory Provisions and Parties' Arguments

This case involves the application of two statutes. The second-degree failure-to-appear statute, ORS 162.195, makes it a crime to knowingly fail to appear

"after * * * [h]aving by court order been released from custody or a correctional facility under a release agreement or security release upon the condition that the person will subsequently appear personally in connection with a charge against the person of having committed a misdemeanor[.]"

ORS 162.195(1)(a) (emphasis added).3 Another statute, ORS 162.135(4), defines "custody" for purposes of failure to appear as "the imposition of actual or constructive restraint by a peace officer pursuant to an arrest or court order, but does not include detention in a correctional facility[.]"4

The parties focus on the statutory requirement for "custody," for purposes of defendant having been "released from custody" before failing to appear. ORS 162.195(1)(a). The state argues that the trial court's arraignment order-coupled with the book-and-release process that the order directed defendant to complete-satisfied that requirement. Defendant disagrees and contends that the state did not **469

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
435 P.3d 715, 364 Or. 464, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mccolly-or-2019.