Opinion ID: 836323
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: availability of the true-life sentencing option

Text: During the remand proceeding, the trial court refused to permit the jury, under ORS 163.150(5)(a) (1993) (quoted below), to consider the option of sentencing defendant to life in prison without the possibility of parole and to permit defendant to waive any objection, under the ex post facto provisions of the state and federal constitutions, to the jury's consideration of that option. [3] Defendant assigns error to that refusal. When defendant committed his crimes, ORS 163.150 (1985) provided two sentencing options for aggravated murder: death or life in prison with a 30-year minimum (ordinary life). After the first penalty-phase proceeding, the legislature added a third option: life in prison with no possibility of parole (true life). During the remand proceeding, defendant submitted a motion to accept defendant's waiver of ex post facto issue and to submit life without parole option to jury with appropriate instructions. The state opposed the motion, and the trial court refused to allow the jury to consider the true-life option. Defendant argues that that refusal was erroneous for several reasons, including that criminal defendants may waive any ex post facto challenge. This court addressed a similar issue in State v. McDonnell, 329 Or. 375, 987 P.2d 486 (1999). In McDonnell, the defendant did not object, on an ex post facto ground or otherwise, to the retroactive application of the true-life sentencing option in his remand proceeding and filed a waiver of any ex post facto objection. The trial court nevertheless refused to apply ORS 163.150(5) (1993), which was in effect at the time of the remand proceeding, and instructed the jury only about the two sentencing options that were in effect when the defendant committed his crime. The defendant was sentenced to death. On review, this court concluded that the trial court erred in refusing to apply ORS 163.150(5) (1993), reasoning that the defendant was entitled to, and did, waive the constitutional protection against ex post facto laws by failing to assert a timely objection or to claim that a post-offense sentencing statute is an ex post facto law. 329 Or. at 390, 392, 987 P.2d 486. Defendant argues, as did the defendant in McDonnell, that he was entitled to have ORS 163.150(5) (1993) applied in his remand proceeding. This case, however, presents several variations on McDonnell. First, in this case, the state argues that the legislature did not intend ORS 163.150(5) (1993) to apply in this situation, because, according to the state, defendant's trial[ ] commenc[ed] before July 19, 1989. ORS 163.150(4) (1993). Second, in this case, unlike in McDonnell, the state objected to defendant's waiver of his ex post facto objections to the application to his remand proceeding of ORS 163.150(5) (1993). Third, the state contends that defendant's written motion to accept his waiver of his ex post facto objection was inadequate. For the reasons that follow, we hold that those arguments do not require a different result than in McDonnell. The state first argues that the true-life option should not apply to defendant because, although the legislature intended that ORS 163.150 (1993) would apply retroactively, the legislature, in ORS 163.150(4) (1993), limited that retroactive application to remand proceedings in which the trial had commenced on or after July 19, 1989. The state argues that a trial commences, for purposes of ORS 163.150(4) (1993), at the beginning of the first guilt-phase proceeding and, because defendant's first guilt-phase proceeding began in March 1989, the trial court had no authority to apply the true-life option to defendant. Defendant responds that ORS 163.150(4) (1993) does not control here. Defendant contends that this court remanded his case for a new penalty-phase proceeding and that ORS 163.150(5) (1993) governs that remand proceeding. ORS 163.150(5)(a)(B) (1993) directs that all three sentencing options be available to the jury in remand proceedings. ORS 163.150(5)(e) (1993) provides that [t]he provisions of this section    shall apply to any defendant sentenced to death after December 6, 1984. According to defendant, ORS 163.150(5) (1993) evinces a legislative intention that defendants who are sentenced to death after December 6, 1984, have all three sentencing options available if their cases are remanded for new penalty-phase proceedings. Defendant further contends that, even if the effective date provision in ORS 163.150(4) (1993) applies heremeaning that the legislature intended the true-life option to be available to only those defendants whose trials commenced after July 29, 1989a trial commences not only at the beginning of the first guilt-phase proceeding, but also at the beginning of a new penalty-phase proceeding after remand. According to defendant, because his penalty-phase proceeding after remand began in March 1994, he is among those persons to whom the court may apply the true-life option. As this court explained in McDonnell, before assessing whether a defendant may or did waive an ex post facto objection to the application of a post-offense statute, we must ascertain whether the legislature intended to adopt retrospective legislation that applies to the situation at hand. 329 Or. at 382-83, 987 P.2d 486. In McDonnell, this court concluded that the legislature intended that all three sentencing options be available in remand proceedings in which a defendant had been sentenced to death after December 6, 1984. Id. at 383, 987 P.2d 486. In essence, the state contends that that conclusion was incorrect because, instead of looking to the effective date in ORS 163.150(5)(e) (1993), the court should have looked to the effective date in ORS 163.150(4) (1993), an argument that the defendant in McDonnell did not raise. Which provision governs is a question of statutory interpretation to which the methodology summarized in PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 317 Or. 606, 610-12, 859 P.2d 1143 (1993), applies. The relevant parts of ORS 163.150 (1993) provide: (1)(a) Upon a finding that the defendant is guilty of aggravated murder, the court    shall conduct a separate sentencing proceeding to determine whether the defendant shall be sentenced to life imprisonment, as described in ORS 163.105(1)(c), life imprisonment without the possibility of release or parole, as described in ORS 163.105(1)(b), or death.    (b) Upon the conclusion of the presentation of the evidence, the court shall submit the following issues to the jury: (A) Whether the conduct of the defendant that caused the death of the deceased was committed deliberately and with the reasonable expectation that death of the deceased or another would result; (B) Whether there is a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society; (C) If raised by the evidence, whether the conduct of the defendant in killing the deceased was unreasonable in response to the provocation, if any, by the deceased; and (D) Whether the defendant should receive a death sentence.      (f) If the jury returns an affirmative finding on each issue considered under paragraph (b) of this subsection, the trial judge shall sentence the defendant to death.      (2)(a) Upon the conclusion of the presentation of the evidence, the court shall    instruct the jury that if it reaches a negative finding on any issue under subsection (1)(b) of this section, the trial court shall sentence the defendant to life imprisonment without the possibility of release or parole, as described in ORS 163.105(1)(b), unless 10 or more members of the jury further find that there are sufficient mitigating circumstances to warrant life imprisonment, in which case the trial court shall sentence the defendant to life imprisonment as described in ORS 163.105(1)(c).      (4)    Subsection (2) of this section shall apply only to trials commencing on or after July 19, 1989. (5) Notwithstanding subsection (1)(a) of this section, the following shall apply: (a) If a reviewing court finds prejudicial error in the sentencing proceeding only, the court may set aside the sentence of death and remand the case to the trial court.    Upon remand and at the election of the state, the trial court shall   .      (B) Impanel a new sentencing jury for the purpose of conducting a new sentencing proceeding to determine if the defendant should be sentenced to: (i) Death; (ii) Imprisonment for life without the possibility of release or parole as provided in ORS 163.105(1)(b); or (iii) Imprisonment for life in the custody of the Department of Corrections as provided in ORS 163.105(1)(c).      (d) The new sentencing proceeding shall be governed by the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of this section.    (e) The provisions of this section are procedural and shall apply to any defendant sentenced to death after December 6, 1984.  (Emphasis added.) The state argues that the statute that provides the application date here is ORS 163.150(4) (1993), which directs retroactive application to trials commencing on or after July 19, 1989. The state contends that ORS 163.150(5) (1993) applies when a reviewing court finds prejudicial error in the sentencing proceeding only and remands the case to the trial court, as provided in ORS 163.150(5)(a) (1993). ORS 163.150(5)(d) (1993) directs that [t]he new sentencing proceeding shall be governed by the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of this section. According to the state, the legislature has expressed in ORS 163.150(5)(d) (1993) an intention that ORS 163.150(2) (1993) shall apply to remand proceedings. However, under ORS 163.150(4) (1993), ORS 163.150(2) (1993) applies only to trials commencing on or after July 19, 1989. The state concludes that, because the application date of ORS 163.150 (2) (1993) is July 19, 1989, and because ORS 163.150(2) (1993) applies to remand proceedings under ORS 163.150(5) (1993), the application date of ORS 163.150 (5) (1993) also must be July 19, 1989. That reasoning is unpersuasive. Although the legislature has expressed an intention that ORS 163.150(2) (1993) apply to remand proceedings, it did not express that intention regarding ORS 163.150(4) (1993). The legislature incorporated the July 19, 1989, application date in ORS 163.150(4) (1993), not in ORS 163.150(2) (1993). The legislature provided a specific application date for ORS 163.150(5) (1993) within that section. We may not insert what the legislature has omitted or omit what it has inserted. ORS 174.010; PGE, 317 Or. at 611, 859 P.2d 1143. The state's proposed construction would require both the insertion into ORS 163.150(5)(d) (1993) of a requirement that the new sentencing proceeding be governed by ORS 163.150(4) (1993) and the omission from ORS 163.150(5) (1993) of the application date that expressly applies to that section. By its terms, ORS 163.150(5)(e) (1993) makes the remand procedure in ORS 163.150(5)(a) (1993)including all three sentencing optionsapplicable to any defendant sentenced to death after December 6, 1984. [4] Unquestionably, defendant's case met that requirement because, at the time of the remand proceeding in 1994, the court had sentenced defendant to death after December 6, 1984. We conclude, in accordance with our reasoning in McDonnell, 329 Or. at 385, 987 P.2d 486, that the legislature intended that ORS 163.150(5)(a) (1993) would apply to the remand proceeding in this case. In McDonnell, this court held that the defendant's decision not to invoke the protection of the ex post facto clauses constituted a waiver of those constitutional protections and that his arguments to the trial court and his written waiver indicated that his decision not to invoke his constitutional protection against ex post facto laws was an intentional relinquishment of a known right. 329 Or. at 389, 392, 987 P.2d 486. Similarly here, defendant intentionally decided not to invoke the protection of the ex post facto clauses. That decision constituted a waiver of the protection afforded by those clauses. That the state objected to defendant's waiver in this case, whereas, in McDonnell, it did not, makes no difference to the result. As this court observed in McDonnell, the claim [that application of ORS 163.150(5) (1993) violated the prohibition against ex post facto laws] was defendant's to assert, and he did not do so. 329 Or. at 390, 987 P.2d 486. Any objection by the state to defendant's waiver of the protection of the ex post facto clauses has no effect. Because defendant did not invoke those constitutional protections in this case, he waived those protections. The state also suggests that defendant's waiver was inadequate because, in his motion to accept his waiver, he did not mention that he was waiving the right to raise ex post facto challenges in post-conviction or federal habeas corpus proceedings or that he waived any challenge to the procedure that could lead to the imposition of a true-life sentence. To be effective, a defendant's waiver of the protection of a pertinent statute or constitutional provision need not follow a set formula: `A waiver is an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege.' State v. Meyrick, [313 Or. 125, 132, 831 P.2d 666 (1992)]. Although a waiver must be intentional, there is no particular formula for determining whether a waiver has occurred. `Whether there has been an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege will depend upon the particular circumstances of each case   .' Ibid.  State v. Hunter, 316 Or. 192, 201, 850 P.2d 366 (1993). In this case, defendant sufficiently indicated that he intentionally was relinquishing his known right to protection against ex post facto laws both in his written motion and in his arguments to the trial court during the hearing on that motion. We conclude that defendant waived his protection against ex post facto laws by choosing not to object to the application of ORS 163.150(5)(a) (1993) in the remand proceeding. The trial court erred in refusing to accept defendant's waiver. The trial court's decision not to apply ORS 163.150(5)(a) (1993) in the remand proceeding was not harmless error. A properly instructed jury might have returned a verdict supporting a sentence other than death. As a consequence, we must vacate the sentence of death and remand the case for further proceedings. See McDonnell, 329 Or. at 392, 987 P.2d 486 (reaching same conclusion). We turn to several other issues raised in defendant's appeal that are likely to recur on remand. See, e.g., State v. Smith, 310 Or. 1, 22, 791 P.2d 836 (1990) (following that methodology).