Opinion ID: 1368663
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Ex parte contact by prosecuting attorney.

Text: Petitioner's evidence, in the light most favorable to him, on this issue is that the presentence investigator was allowed unlimited access to the prosecuting attorney's (and the district attorney's office) files concerning petitioner. Petitioner argues: [T]he district attorney committed prosecutorial misconduct by communication through his file to the presentence writer without making the content of those communications known to Petitioner, and as a result, accomplishing ex parte contact with the sentencing court while Petitioner was awaiting sentencing. It must be recalled that ORS 138.530(1)(a) does not provide for post-conviction relief except for denial of constitutional rights resulting in conviction. This claim raises the question of when conviction is accomplished for the purpose of the statute. Prior to the preparation of the presentence investigation report, petitioner had been found guilty by the factfinder, but, of course, sentence had not yet been pronounced. ORS 138.040 (as does ORS 138.050) speaks to a judgment on conviction, which may imply that conviction takes place prior to entry of a judgment. We assume, without deciding, that conviction for the purpose of ORS 138.530(1) did not take place until there was a judgment on conviction. On that assumption we examine this claim. Nowhere does petitioner advise us by citation to constitutional text or court decision what constitutional right was denied to him by the district attorney's communications to the presentence investigator. In this proceeding petitioner expressly admitted that there was no inaccuracy in the presentence investigation report. There were no errors that could have been corrected under the procedure afforded by ORS 137.079(4). [5] Assuming that this was indeed an ex parte communication by the district attorney (and we do not so hold), it produced no information to the court other than the truth, as admitted by petitioner.