State v. Pohle

505 P.3d 475, 317 Or. App. 76
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided January 20, 2022·No. A174028·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

Submitted August 20, 2021, reversed and remanded January 20, 2022

STATE OF OREGON, Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

JEREMY DAVID POHLE,

Defendant-Appellant.

Deschutes County Circuit Court 05FE2005AB; A174028

505 P3d 475

Defendant appeals an order denying his motion to set aside convictions for one count of third-degree assault and three counts of recklessly endangering another person. The trial court concluded that each of those convictions was not eligible to be set aside because each was a conviction for a “traffic offense,” as that term is used in ORS 137.225(7)(a). The trial court so concluded because each of those convictions resulted from the operation of a motor vehicle. On appeal, defendant assigns error to the trial court’s denial of his motion to set aside his convictions. Held: The Court of Appeals concluded that neither third-degree assault nor recklessly endangering another person is a “traffic offense” as that term is used in ORS 137.225(7)(a), even when those offenses result from the operation of a motor vehicle. The trial court erred when it concluded otherwise.

Reversed and remanded.

Alicia N. Sykora, Judge. Shawn A. Kollie and Kollie Law Group, P.C. filed the brief for appellant.

Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General, and Timothy A. Sylwester, Assistant Attorney General, filed the brief for respondent.

Before Tookey, Presiding Judge, and James, Judge, and Aoyagi, Judge.

TOOKEY, P. J. Reversed and remanded.

Cite as 317 Or App 76 (2022) 77

TOOKEY, P. J. Defendant appeals an order denying his motion to set aside a conviction for one count of third-degree assault, ORS 163.165, and three counts of recklessly endangering another person, ORS 163.195. The trial court concluded that each of those convictions was not eligible to be set aside under ORS 137.225(1), because they were each a “traffic offense” as that term is used in ORS 137.225(7)(a).1 The trial court so concluded because defendant’s convictions for those offenses “result[ed] from the operation of a motor vehicle,” and, therefore , upon conviction for those offenses, defendant’s driving privileges were suspended pursuant to ORS 809.411(2) and (9)(a). In reaching that conclusion, the trial court relied upon the definition of “traffic offense” found in ORS 801.555(2), a section of the Vehicle Code, and determined that defendant’s convictions fell within that definition, because, in its view, a suspension of driving privileges was either a “criminal penalty ” or “traffic violation penalty,” as those terms are used in ORS 801.555(2).2 On appeal, defendant assigns error to the trial court’s ruling on his motion to set aside his convictions. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the trial court erred, and we reverse and remand.

I. BACKGROUND

The relevant facts are undisputed. In 2006, defendant pleaded guilty to, among other offenses, one count of third-degree assault, a felony, and three counts of recklessly endangering another person, each a misdemeanor. Each offense “result[ed] from the operation of a motor vehicle” within the meaning of ORS 809.411(2) and (9)(a). Consequently, the sentencing court was required to, and did, suspend defendant’s driving privileges—or, colloquially , his driver’s license—for a period of five years on the conviction for third-degree assault and for 90 days on each 1 ORS 137.225 has been amended since the trial court’s decision in this case.

Because that amendment does not affect our analysis, we refer to the current version of the statute in this opinion.

2 ORS 801.010(1) provides that the Oregon Vehicle Code consists of ORS chapters 801 to 826. In this opinion, we refer to the Oregon Vehicle Code as the “Vehicle Code.”

78 State v. Pohle

conviction for recklessly endangering another person. See ORS 809.411(2) (requiring Department of Transportation to suspend driving privileges “upon receipt of a record of conviction of any degree of recklessly endangering another person * * * resulting from the operation of a motor vehicle ”); ORS 809.428 (setting forth period for suspension of driving privileges for conviction for recklessly endangering another person); ORS 809.411(9) (requiring Department of Transportation to suspend driving privileges “upon receipt of a record of conviction of assault in the * * * third * * * degree resulting from the operation of a motor vehicle” and setting forth suspension period); ORS 809.240(1) (requiring that, when “a person is convicted of an offense that will result in mandatory suspension or revocation under” ORS 809.411, the trial judge shall order “the revocation or suspension at the time of conviction for the required period”).

Over 13 years later, defendant moved to have his convictions for third-degree assault and recklessly endangering another person set aside pursuant to ORS 137.225(1). The state opposed the motion, arguing that those offenses were not eligible to be set aside under ORS 137.225(1), because they were for “traffic offenses,” and “traffic offenses” are not eligible for set aside pursuant to ORS 137.225(7)(a). See ORS 137.225(7)(a) (providing ORS 137.225(1) does not apply to “[a] conviction for a state or municipal traffic offense”).

The trial court agreed with the state. It reasoned that ORS 137.225(7)(a) provides that a set aside under ORS 137.225(1) is unavailable for a “conviction for a state or municipal traffic offense,” that a “traffic offense” is defined in the Vehicle Code at ORS 801.555 as any “provision of law for which a criminal or traffic violation penalty is provided in the vehicle code,” and that “defendant’s legislatively mandated license suspensions, based on his convictions for reckless endangerment and third-degree assault, committed with a motor vehicle, are criminal or traffic violation penalties and therefore are ‘traffic offenses.’ They cannot be set aside under ORS 137.225(7)(a) and ORS 801.555.”

The trial court then entered an order denying defendant’s motion to set aside his convictions for third-degree assault

Cite as 317 Or App 76 (2022) 79

and recklessly endangering another person. Defendant appeals that order.

II. ANALYSIS

A. The Statutory Scheme To provide context for our explanation of the parties ’ arguments and analysis, we begin by broadly outlining the contours of the statutory scheme governing motions to set aside convictions, as well as relevant provisions of the Vehicle Code, including those requiring suspension of driving privileges upon conviction for certain offenses.

“Under ORS 137.225(1)(a), a defendant who is convicted of a crime and fully serves the sentence imposed can apply to the trial court for an order setting aside the records of that conviction if the defendant meets several requirements .” State v. McVein, 305 Or App 525, 527, 471 P3d 796 (2020). “The legislature intended ORS 137.225 to combat the stigma associated with the public nature of a record of arrest or conviction by providing individuals with such a record the opportunity to purge it and start fresh.” Id. at 529.

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State v. Pohle, 505 P.3d 475, 317 Or. App. 76 (Or. Ct. App. 2022).

505 P.3d 475 (State v. Pohle) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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