Plea discussions and plea agreements
Source:
Section 135.405 — Plea discussions and plea agreements, https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors135.html.
Notes of Decisions
District Attorney was without authority under this section to promise in plea negotiations that Board of Parole would treat crime as Subcategory 2 murder rather than Subcategory 1 murder. Rise v. Bd. of Parole, 304 Or 385, 745 P2d 1210 (1987)
Where prosecutor did not offer defendant same plea agreement as co-defendant and defendant was convicted for murder and robbery in first degree, legislative history of this statute demonstrates that district attorneys are not mandated to offer equal plea agreement opportunities to similarly situated defendants. State v. Buchholz, 97 Or App 221, 775 P2d 896 (1989) aff’d 309 Or 442, 788 P2d 998 (1990)
Where prosecutor improperly allowed victim’s parents’ wishes to control his decision not to enter into plea agreement and record did not reveal what prosecutor independently would have decided, case remanded to trial court for evidentiary hearing to determine how prosecutor would have exercised his judgment and discretion on basis of proper criteria and facts that existed at time he declined to enter into plea agreement. State v. McDonnell, 310 Or 98, 794 P2d 780 (1990); 313 Or 478, 837 P2d 941 (1992)
Record reflected ample justification for prosecutor to treat defendant differently than other individual with whom prosecutor negotiated plea agreement, considering defendant’s role in commission of murders. State v. Guzek, 310 Or 299, 797 P2d 1031 (1990)
Defendant and codefendant were not “similarly situated” when defendant personally committed murders, defendant was charged with aggravated murder while codefendant was charged with felony murder, defendant had extensive criminal record but codefendant did not and state had number of witnesses who would testify about character and propensity of defendant but found no witness who would testify similarly about codefendant. State v. Tucker, 315 Or 321, 845 P2d 904 (1993)
Prosecutor must disclose in plea negotiations or plea agreement that state reserves right to reprosecute defendant for death of victim in criminal assault if victim’s death is reasonably foreseeable to prosecutor. State v. King, 361 Or 646, 398 P3d 336 (2017)
Law Review Citations
74 OLR 1365 (1995)
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