State v. Moore

390 P.3d 1010, 361 Or. 205, 2017 Ore. LEXIS 169
Oregon Supreme Court·Decided March 9, 2017·No. CC 14CR12536, SC S063946·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

*207 BALDWIN, J.

In this original proceeding, relator (defendant), who is a defendant in the underlying criminal case, seeks a writ of mandamus directing the trial court to dismiss the indictment against him with prejudice, based on former or double jeopardy under state and federal law. After a jury was impaneled and several witnesses for the state had testified, the trial court declared a mistrial. When the state sought a retrial, defendant moved to dismiss the indictment on jeopardy grounds, and the trial court denied his motion. The issue before us now is whether, under Article I, section 12, of the Oregon Constitution, there was “manifest necessity” for the trial court’s mistrial order. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the state has not met its burden of demonstrating that the trial court’s mistrial was consistent with the “manifest necessity” standard. We therefore direct the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandamus requiring the trial court to dismiss the indictment with prejudice.

BACKGROUND

This petition arises out of criminal charges involving defendant, codefendant Golden, and a third defendant, Richardson. All three men allegedly played a role in the arson-related death of the victim. Defendant and codefen-dant Golden presently face retrial, after the trial court declared a mistrial over defendant’s objection and dismissed the charges against both men without prejudice. The state sought to proceed with a retrial against both defendants on multiple counts of murder and first-degree arson. Prior to the first trial, Richardson, the third defendant, pleaded guilty to a single count of third-degree assault as part of an agreement to cooperate with police authorities and testify against the codefendants.

In February 2011, Richardson was living—with the owner’s consent—in a small detached garage located next to a house. Unbeknownst to the owner, however, Richardson had allowed the victim, Purcell, to stay in the garage as well. One night, a fire broke out in the garage with the victim inside. Firefighters arrived, removed Purcell from the burning structure, and put the fire out. Purcell, however, died of smoke inhalation some time later.

*208 In the fire investigation that followed, state fire authorities found blood on the floor of the garage, along with numerous syringes, discoveries that subsequently prompted the intervention of Portland homicide investigators. An autopsy revealed that Purcell had died of asphyxia from inhaling smoke and carbon monoxide, but the state investigators who examined the fire scene were not able to find any arson-related indicators. One investigator and his acceler-ant-sniffing K-9 partner searched in vain for evidence that an accelerant had been used to start the fire. Instead, what the investigator found was a structure that he concluded was a “firetrap,” a space littered with combustible materials, multiple plugged-in extension cords, and several locations where a fire could have started accidentally.

Shortly after the fire, Richardson recounted the events of that evening to investigators and stated that the fire had apparently been an accident. Two months later, however, Richardson—who had been jailed on charges not specified on this record—confessed to police that he had entered the garage and beaten up the victim on the night of the fire. According to Richardson’s new account, defendant and codefendant Golden arrived at the garage and started the fire after Richardson had left the area. Defendant and Golden were subsequently indicted on murder and arson charges; Richardson was released from jail and charged with third-degree assault.

According to defendant, at the beginning of trial, he was confident about his trial strategy. In opening statements, defendant’s trial counsel had asked the jury to carefully consider the “pros and cons” of the evidence that would come before it in determining whether the fire that had killed the victim was arson or an accident. The “pros” were the state fire investigators who had examined the burned-out garage in the wake of the victim’s death. Counsel indicated that they would uniformly testify that the cause of the fire was undetermined, that there was no physical evidence linking defendant to the victim’s death, and that there would be no expert testimony indicating that the fire was the result of arson. The “cons,” in contrast, constituted many of the prosecutor’s other witnesses—incarcerated individuals who, burdened with lengthy criminal histories and pending *209 criminal charges, were highly motivated to provide favorable testimony for the state in exchange for certain considerations regarding their sentences and the charges against them.

The state called its first eight witnesses, among them, the firefighting personnel who had been at the crime scene, and local a resident, Thomas. At one point, Thomas testified that she had seen defendant and codefendant Golden leaving the garage shortly before it caught fire, but made other statements that conflicted with that testimony. Ultimately, Thomas acknowledged that, at the time of the fire, she had been awake on crystal methamphetamine for approximately 24 hours and that the drug affected her memory.

At the end of the first day of trial, the prosecutor stated that he was “still trying to track down information on the arson—the fire investigation from the insurance company.” On the next day of trial, the prosecutor stated that he had discovered a new witness and new evidence that he now wished to present as part of the state’s case-in-chief:

“[A]s you recall, last week, Thursday, the state apprised the Court and defense counsel that it had become aware that there is potentially information from the insurance company that an investigator, a fire investigator, did a complete investigation and made a determination as to the source and cause of the fire, and that’s all we knew at that time.”

According to the prosecutor, he was still awaiting the recently subpoenaed insurance file but had, in the interim, spoken with insurance investigator Gunsolly and procured the investigator’s notes. The handwritten notes, which the prosecutor gave to the trial court and opposing counsel, contained the names of different fire and police officials involved with the post-fire investigation, along with the names of various potential witnesses. The prosecutor stated that, during his conversation with the insurance investigator, the investigator

“had ruled out that this was a fire that was caused by electrical purposes and that he believe that a handheld, open source flame was used to light some materials in the garage *210 to start the fire. In essence, my interpretation of that is he believed that somebody intentionally started the fire, that it was not accidental.”

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State v. Moore, 390 P.3d 1010, 361 Or. 205, 2017 Ore. LEXIS 169 (Or. 2017).

390 P.3d 1010 (State v. Moore) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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