State v. ClevengerState v. Clevenger
Lead Opinion
The issue is whether on appeal from a judgment of conviction on a plea of no contest the Court of Appeals may “consider” a claim that the judgment was entered in violation of
“After accepting a plea of guilty or no contest the court shall not enter judgment without making such inquiry as may satisfy the court that there is a factual basis for the plea.”
Both in the Court of Appeals and in this court defendant specifically proceeds under
“A defendant who has pleaded guilty or no contest may take an appeal from ajudgment on conviction where it imposes a sentence that is cruel, unusual or excessive in light of the nature and background of the offender or the facts and circumstances of the offense. If the judgment of conviction is in the circuit court or the district court, the appeal shall be taken to the Court of Appeals; if it is in the justice of the peace court or municipal court or city recorder’s court, the appeal shall be taken to the circuit court of the county in which such court is located. On such appeal, the appellate court shall only consider the question whether an excessive, cruel or unusual punishment has been imposed. If in the judgment of the appellate court the punishment imposed is excessive, unusual or cruel, it shall direct the court from which the appeal is taken to impose the punishment which should be administered.”
We hold that the claim cannot be addressed on this appeal.
On November 8, 1981, the defendant injured another’s ear and was thereafter charged with assault in the second degree. On December 10, 1981, defendant entered a negotiated plea of no contest to that charge. At that time both the prosecutor and defendant’s counsel agreed that the victim had suffered serious physical injury.
On December 18,1981, prior to entry of judgment and sentencing, the victim was reexamined.
On January 27, 1982, defendant moved to withdraw his plea of no contest and to enter a not guilty plea and to go to trial thereon. He argued that the information as to the degree of injury resulting from the December 18 reexamination demonstrated that there was not a “serious” physical injury and, consequently, there was no factual basis for a plea of no contest. He cited
“The court may at any time before judgment, upon a plea of guilty or no contest, permit it to be withdrawn and a plea of not guilty substituted therefor.”
The trial court considered the motion on February 2, 1982, prior to pronouncing sentence and stated:
“The no contest plea basically is saying that Mr. Clevenger agrees that the facts are as stated, and the facts stated to me at the time were that she had suffered a broken eardrum that might not heal. I think the facts could be well within the defendant’s knowledge that eardrums, from research or whatever, can be repaired and that it may or may not be serious physical injury. By pleading no contest, he accepted the facts as stated. They were all known to him at the time he did that. In fact, as I recall, we went specifically over the facts. He wasaware of those at the time, so I will deny that.” 5
On appeal defendant assigned as error the denial of the motion. He argued that:
“The only judgment to be made is whether under the facts there was still a factual basis for the plea remaining at the time of sentencing.”
The state argued that the trial court did not err in denying the motion and that the issue could not be considered on direct appeal. The state contended that the defendant’s only remedy was under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act,
The Court of Appeals, per curiam, dismissed the appeal, holding:
“This court is not authorized to consider on direct appeal defendant’s claim that the trial court abused its discretion by denying his motion to withdraw his pleas.ORS 138.050 ; State v. Lugo,48 Or App 919 ,618 P2d 986 (1980); State v. Slopak,3 Or App 532 ,475 P2d 421 (1970). Only matters relating to the sentence may be considered unless, as a matter of law, there has been no valid guilty plea underORS 135.380(2) and, therefore, no conviction. State v. Reichert,39 Or App 905 , 593 P2d 1298 (1979). If defendant has a remedy, it is under the Post Conviction Act.” (Footnote omitted)
We allowed the defendant’s petition for review because it appears that there are conflicting decisions concerning whether rulings on motions of this kind may be addressed on direct appeal from a judgment on a plea of guilty or no contest.
The statute which is now
“The objection that the defendant cannot appeal because of his plea of guilty cannot be sustained.”
The court disposed of the case by holding that the only issue was whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion and that it did not.
State v. Bloor,
In State v. Burnett, supra, defendant pleaded guilty and appealed, assigning error for denial of his timely motion to withdraw that plea under former
Three months after the decisions in Bloor and Burnett, this court considered State v. Jairl,
“We believe that the legislature intended to prohibit appellate review of convictions based upon a plea of guilty except to the limited extent granted byORS 138.050. The restrictive language ofORS 138.050 would have no effect if a defendant could appeal alternatively underORS 138.040 and 138.050 or concurrently under both statutes.ORS 138.050 must be held to overrule by implication the interpretation which this court placed onORS 138.040 in State v. Lewis.
“We therefore construeORS 138.050 to restrict the right of appeal of a defendant convicted upon a plea of guilty to the grounds specified in that section and no other. Whatever may have been the state of the law at the timeORS 138.050 was enacted, a defendant now has adequate means, provided by the Post-Conviction Hearing Act, by which to assert rights guaranteed by the state and federal constitutions. He is entitled to no more.
“The appeal is dismissed.”10
State v. Gidley,
Two other decisions of this court can best be described as puzzling. They are State v. Cornelius,
“ ‘We therefore construeORS 138.050 to restrict the right of appeal of a defendant convicted upon a plea of guilty to the grounds specified in that section [excessive, cruel or unusual punishment]and no other. * * * [A] defendant now has adequate means, provided by the Post-Conviction Hearing Act, by which to assert rights guaranteed by the state and federal constitutions. He is entitled to no more.’ (Emphasis supplied.) 229 Or at 541, 542 .”
In State v. Evans, supra, defendant had pleaded guilty and after judgment appealed, assigning as error the failure of the trial court to advise him that conviction could result in deportation if he was an alien. The Court of Appeals decided that the issue could be reached in an appeal pursuant to
We now return to some further consideration of State v. Jairl, supra. In the construction of
The fact remains, however, that Jairl was decided by this court and that the holding is squarely in point. In Jairl this court did not interpret a constitutional provision; it interpreted a statute. Statutory interpretation particularly implicates the rule of stare decisis. When this court interprets a statute, that interpretation becomes “a part of the statute as if written into it at the time of its enactment.” State of Oregon v. Elliott,
“The doctrine of stare decisis, weighty in any context, is especially so in matters ofstatutory construction. For in such cases Congress may cure any error made by the courts. Until it does, the bar and the public are justified in expecting the courts, except in the most egregious cases, neither to depart from previous interpretations of statutes, nor to give them a grudging application.”
At first blush, it seems that our decision in State v. Biles,
“The circuit court erred in failing to state the reasons for the sentence imposed.”
Neither the state nor the defendant in the Court of Appeals raised
We allowed the state’s petition for review. In this court the state challenged appellate jurisdiction, contending that under
“in light of the nature and background of the offender or the facts and circumstances of the offense.”13
We held that the mandate to appellate courts in the amendment required that appellate courts could reach this kind of procedural error. We said that appellate courts
“must necessarily possess the power to require trial court compliance with the procedural statutes that make performance of those duties possible.”
If the legislature has not already provided a remedy other than direct appeal for failure of a trial court to follow the command of
To the extent that State v. Bloor, State v. Burnett, State v. Gidley, State v. Cornelius and State v. Evans, all supra, could be considered to hold contrary to State v. Jairl, supra, and this decision, those decisions are overruled.
The decision of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.
Notes
“The defendant may appeal to the Court of Appeals from a judgment on a conviction in a district or circuit court, including a judgment where the court imposes a sentence which is cruel, unusual or excessive in light of the nature and background of the offender or the facts and circumstances of the offense, and may cross-appeal when the state appeals pursuant toORS 138.060(3) . Upon an appeal, or cross-appeal, any decision of the court in an intermediate order or proceeding may be reviewed. A judgment suspending imposition or execution of sentence or placing a defendant on probation shall be deemed a judgment on a conviction and shall not be subject to appeal after expiration of the time specified inORS 138.071 except as may be provided inORS 138.050 and 138.510 to 138.680. If in the judgment of the appellate court the punishment imposed by the sentence appealed from is cruel, unusual or excessive, the appellate court shall direct the court from which the appeal is taken to impose the punishment that should be administered.”
In the presence of the defendant the prosecutor stated that the victim had suffered a puncture of her eardrum and a substantial loss of hearing. Defendant’s counsel stated that that was his understanding of the facts and that he felt that the described injury would support a verdict of guilty. The defendant stated that he did not wish to contest the truth of the facts stated by the prosecutor and thereupon entered his plea of no contest.
“ ‘Serious physical injury’ means physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious and protracted disfigurement, protracted impairment of health or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ.”
“(1) A person commits the crime of assault in the second degree if he:
“(a) Intentionally or knowingly causes serious physical injury to another;
“(2) Assault in the second degree is a Class B felony.”
The hospital record discloses that the victim had been examined on the day of injury and was found to have suffered a perforation of the eardrum and loss of hearing. She was reexamined on November 19,1981, at which time she was “hearing fine.”
We assume, arguendo, that the “inquiry” made by the trial court was not sufficient to satisfy
“The scope of the inquiry would be left to the court’s discretion and the section is not intended to require a ‘mini-trial’ on the facts of the case.”
Neither in the written motion nor in the oral argument thereon did the defendant cite
As stated in the text of this opinion, the state argues that defendant’s remedy is under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act. In State v. Gidley,
In addition to the cases from this court discussed in the body of this opinion, we note what appear to be not entirely consistent decisions of the Court of Appeals. In State v. Slopak,
In State v. Reichert,
Oregon Laws 1945, chapter 62, section 1 provided:
“An appeal may be taken by the defendant who has plead guilty from a judgment on conviction, where the judgment of conviction imposes an excessive fine, or imposes excessive, cruel or unusual punishment. If the judgment of conviction is in the circuit court, the appeal shall be taken to the supreme court; if in the district court or the justice of the peace court, or municipal or city recorder’s court, the appeal shall be taken to the circuit court of the county in which such court is located. On such appeal, the appellate court shall only consider the question as to whether an excessive fine has been imposed, or excessive, cruel or unusual punishment has been inflicted which is not proportionate to the offense. If, in the judgment of the appellate court, the fine imposed or the punishment inflicted is excessive, unusual or cruel and not proportionate to the offense, it shall direct the court from which the appeal is taken to impose the punishment which should be administered.”
The section has been amended several times in particulars not important to this opinion. A 1977 amendment has importance and will be discussed in the text of this opinion in connection with our review of State v. Biles,
Former
“The court may at any time before judgment, upon a plea of guilty, permit it to be withdrawn and a plea of not guilty substituted therefor.”
See State v. Dixon,
Article IV, section 20, of the Oregon Constitution provides that the subject of every legislative Act shall be expressed in the title. For what it may be worth in construing legislative intent, the title to the 1945 Act was:
“Authorizing an appeal from a sentence on a plea of guilty where the fine imposed is excessive, or the punishment inflicted is excessive, cruel or unusual.”
The Court of Appeals implicitly rejected the state’s claim that the defendant could, and did, waive a presentence report, holding that the legislature had commanded that the trial court should have the benefit of such a report in order properly to advise the court to pronounce sentence.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring.
I agree that defendant’s claim in this case, an asserted error in accepting a guilty plea, cannot be raised in an appeal under
The Court observes that such an appeal was understood to be the law before the predecessor of
Acceptance of a guilty plea may be improper for a number of reasons, at least some' of which would go to the essence of the plea and of the supposed guilt that it is taken to establish. There might even he a claim that the purported plea was not made, or made to a different offense, or when the defendant was incompetent to make an intelligent plea. The notion that, once a trial court enters a plea of guilty, the validity of the court’s action cannot thereafter be reviewed is so improbable that I would expect the legislature to make such a change only explicitly.
In short, I think that State v. Jairl,
It is impossible to reconstruct the intention of the 1945 Legislative Assembly now, and the Court considers itself bound by State v. Jairl. It puts off the incongruous possibility that there might be no forum to review an allegedly invalid plea of guilty or no contest by noting the State’s repeated contention that the proper remedy is post-conviction relief under
Because I agree that once this court has considered and decided on the interpretation of a statute, the interpretation should be considered settled, cf. State v. Newton,