State v. Prew

161 P.3d 323, 213 Or. App. 336, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 842
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 13, 2007
Docket210503719; A130433
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 161 P.3d 323 (State v. Prew) 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. Prew, 161 P.3d 323, 213 Or. App. 336, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 842 (Or. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

*338 SCHUMAN, J.

Defendant appeals from his conviction for driving under the influence of intoxicants. He assigns error to the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence of the arrest captured on an audiotape. The prosecution stipulated that the arresting officer did not inform defendant that the encounter was being recorded; according to defendant, that fact alone required suppression of the tape containing the recorded information as well as the arresting officer’s testimony regarding the contents of the tape. The state maintains that, because the officer both recorded the conversation and participated in it, suppression of his testimony was not required. We affirm.

The following facts are undisputed. Oregon State Trooper Glass stopped defendant because his license plate light was not working and because the officer saw defendant’s car drift across the center line several times. After detecting the smell of alcohol on defendant’s breath, Glass asked defendant to perform field sobriety tests. He agreed to the testing and failed. Glass then informed defendant of his Miranda rights, after which defendant made inculpatory statements in response to Glass’s questioning. The entire encounter was recorded by Glass, but Glass did not inform defendant of that fact.

Defendant moved to suppress the tape recording and any testimony by Glass about the recording’s content. In support of the motion, defendant’s counsel submitted an affidavit stating that, in a telephone conversation, Glass informed him that he had “relied in part upon the video/audio tape in preparation to write his police report in this case,” and that he “sat and watched and listened to the video/audio tape with [the prosecutor] as they prepared for the hearing on the motion to suppress.” The state agreed not to offer the tape itself, but opposed the motion with respect to the trooper’s testimony. The court found as fact that Glass “reviewed the video and audio recording before preparing his police report, and later in preparation for his testimony at the suppression hearing.” The court also found as fact that “[t]he recording was not the sole source of the information obtained by the *339 police officer.” Based primarily on those facts, the court concluded that the testimony was admissible. Defendant was subsequently tried and convicted; the record before us, however, does not contain the trial transcript.

Defendant has two theories to support his argument for suppression. The first relies entirely on ORS 165.540. That statute prohibits recording a conversation without the knowledge of all participants, using that recording, and divulging its contents:

“(1) Except as otherwise provided * * * a person may not:
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“(c) Obtain or attempt to obtain the whole or any part of a conversation by means of any device, contrivance, machine or apparatus, whether electrical, mechanical, manual or otherwise, if not all participants in the conversation are specifically informed that their conversation is being obtained.
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“(e) Use or attempt to use, or divulge to others, any conversation, telecommunication or radio communication obtained by any means prohibited by this section.”

In State v. Carston, 323 Or 75, 85, 913 P2d 709 (1996), the Supreme Court held that paragraph (e) required suppression of “all the evidence that was derived, directly or indirectly, from the information” obtained in violation of paragraph (c); according to the court, the legislature’s intent to require suppression is “clear.” Thus, defendant argues, ORS 165.540(1)(e), especially as construed by Carston, unambiguously requires suppression.

The state disagrees. It argues that, under ORS 136.432(1) to (3), which became effective after Carston, we are powerless to suppress relevant evidence unless suppression is required by the United States or Oregon constitutions, the “rules of evidence governing privileges and the admissions of hearsay,” or the rights of the press. However, we held in State v. Thompson-Seed, 162 Or App 483, 489, 986 P2d 732 (1999), that ORS 136.432 did not repeal existing exclusionary statutes; rather, it only “constrains the courts from creating *340 rules of exclusion where the legislature itself has not created them.” Further, in State v. Chipman, 176 Or App 284, 294, 31 P3d 478 (2001), we held that the legislative creation of exclusionary rules did not need to be express; if, as a matter of statutory interpretation, the court concludes that the legislature intended that violation of a statute result in suppression, courts have to give effect to that intention notwithstanding ORS 136.432. The Supreme Court held in Carston that the legislature clearly intended the suppression of information “derived directly or indirectly” from a violation of ORS 165.540. 323 Or at 85. That statute and its suppression remedy therefore survive ORS 136.432. We therefore reject the state’s first argument.

The state also argues that, under State v. Jones, 339 Or 438, 121 P3d 657 (2005), even if the trooper violated ORS 165.540(1)(c) — which the state does not concede — and even if, for that reason, the recording itself and information derived from it are inadmissible, the trooper’s testimony, to the extent that it derives not from the recording itself but from the trooper’s independent recollection of the recorded events, is not. We agree. In Jones, police violated ORS 165.540(1)(c) by recording part of an interview with the defendant without his knowledge. The court held that the recording of that part of the interview had to be suppressed, but not the testimony of the officers who conducted the interview. That information, the court explained, did not derive from unlawful action:

“[T]he interviewing officers’ testimony concerned their own knowledge of defendant’s identity and statements. The officers did not acquire their knowledge of defendant’s identity through videotaping him; neither did they hear defendant’s statements through the use of any device.

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Related

State v. Sells
339 Or. App. 299 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2025)
State v. Evensen
447 P.3d 23 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2019)
State v. Eskie
370 P.3d 1266 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
161 P.3d 323, 213 Or. App. 336, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 842, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-prew-orctapp-2007.