Opinion ID: 1122950
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: EX POST FACTO and DUE PROCESS CLAIMS

Text: Defendant argues that, in three respects, the trial court retroactively applied several post-crime amendments to Oregon's capital sentencing scheme to his penalty-phase proceeding in violation of the state and federal ex post facto clauses and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. [9] For the reasons that follow, we conclude that defendant's ex post facto arguments are not well taken. We first address defendant's state constitutional argument before addressing his federal constitutional argument. See State v. Charboneau, 323 Or. 38, 53, 913 P.2d 308 (1996) (stating principle). First, defendant argues that the trial court, in the second penalty-phase proceeding, retroactively applied 1989 and 1991 amendments to ORS 163.150 that created a fourth question for jury consideration in capital cases. Or Laws 1989, ch 790, § 135b; Or Laws 1991, ch 885, § 2. Montez I and Wagner II dispose of that argument. In Montez I, this court remanded defendant's case for a new penalty-phase proceeding because, as this court explained in Wagner II, defendant was entitled to an instruction requiring the jury to consider mitigating circumstances that might justify imposition of a life sentence. Montez I, 309 Or. at 610, 789 P.2d 1352; Wagner II, 309 Or. at 15-16, 786 P.2d 93. Under the rationale of Wagner II, the trial court had the authority and the responsibility to instruct the jury to consider mitigating circumstances in the penalty phase. In carrying out that responsibility, the trial court, in accordance with Wagner II, applied Oregon law in effect on the date of defendant's crime, not the 1989 amendment to ORS 163.150. See Wagner II, 309 Or. at 20, 786 P.2d 93 (remanding for resentencing, including administration of a mitigating circumstances instruction, for capital crime committed in 1985). Accordingly, the trial court's instruction did not violate the ex post facto clauses. Second, defendant argues that the trial court violated the ex post facto clauses by applying the 1989 statutory amendments that allowed resentencing before a new jury and authorized admission in the second penalty-phase proceeding of all evidence that was properly admitted in prior guilt-phase and penalty-phase proceedings. Or Laws 1989, ch 790, § 135b. In Wagner II, this court held that a defendant convicted of a capital crime, whose sentence is reversed on appeal, may be resentenced before a new jury. Wagner II, 309 Or. at 18, 786 P.2d 93. In addition, under existing case law, a post-offense statutory change allowing the admission of previously inadmissible evidence is not an ex post facto law, because it does not punish any act that was legal at the time it occurred, change the punishment for those acts, or deprive the defendant of a defense for those acts. See State v. Gallant, 307 Or. 152, 155, 764 P.2d 920 (1988) (post-offense change in evidence code, which rendered admissible certain impeachment evidence, was not an ex post facto law). Consequently, the trial court did not apply an ex post facto law by sentencing defendant before a new jury and by admitting evidence that was properly excluded in earlier proceedings. Third, defendant contends that the trial court violated the ex post facto clauses by applying, in the second penalty-phase proceeding, a number of other post-offense statutory amendments to ORS 163.105 and 163.150. [10] We have examined the record and conclude that the trial court did not apply, in the second penalty-phase proceeding, the statutory amendments on which defendant relies. From the foregoing, it follows that the trial court did not violate state or federal constitutional provisions that prohibit ex post facto laws. Finally, defendant argues that, if his ex post facto claims fail, the trial court's application of the resentencing amendments violates due process. He relies on Coleman v. McCormick, 874 F.2d 1280 (9th Cir.1989), in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Montana's application of certain new statutory procedures in a capital resentencing proceeding deprived the defendant of due process, because he did not receive adequate notice of the consequences that his trial level decisions would have at the sentencing hearing. Defendant's due process argument fails because his premise is incorrect. Under the rationale of Wagner II, the trial court did not apply any post-offense statutory amendments to Oregon's capital sentencing scheme. Accordingly, we reject defendant's due process argument.