Opinion ID: 1155832
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: pretrial challenge to penalty provision

Text: The first issue we must address is the City's contention that a pretrial demurrer was not the proper vehicle to challenge the penalty provision of a city ordinance. The written record of the dismissal consists only of the following notation by the trial court on the face of the complaint: preemption invalidated statute [ordinance]. From the tape recording of the oral argument on defendant's motion to dismiss, it is clear that the trial court dismissed the complaint because he believed that state law preempted the City's mandatory minimum penalty provision and that the proscriptive ordinance could not stand without a valid penalty provision. The validity of ordinance provisions can be challenged pretrial. ORS 221.370. Defendant's pretrial motion did not attack solely the penalty provision; defendant's motion also attacked the ordinance prohibiting prostitution on the grounds, inter alia, that (1) the Oregon Criminal Code of 1971 evinces a legislative intent entirely to preempt the field of the prohibition of prostitution; and (2) because the City's mandatory minimum penalty provision is invalid, there can be no prosecution under the prohibiting ordinance, for the reason that the offense carries no penalty. It is beyond dispute that no conviction can be had for the violation of a statute for which no penalty is provided. See, e.g., Smallman v. Gladden, 206 Or. 262, 277, 291 P.2d 749 (1956), overruled on other grounds, State v. Collis, 243 Or. 222, 413 P.2d 53 (1966). A defendant charged under a criminal law for which only an allegedly invalid penalty is provided may challenge the penalty pretrial because, if the challenge is successful, the charge will be dismissed and the defendant will not be made to stand trial. Because defendant's challenge to the penalty provision was linked to her challenge of the prohibitory ordinance under which she was charged, defendant's pretrial challenge of the penalty provision was proper. In these circumstances, because the trial court invalidated the City's prohibitory provision, based upon the court's conclusion that the mandatory minimum penalty provision was displaced by state law, the ruling on the penalty provision was not premature. This case is appropriate for review.