Court Opinion

ID: 9534442
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:39:46.609487+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:30:40.123062
License: Public Domain

*121HASELTON, J.,
concurring.
I agree that the express “if taken previously” language of OEC 407 compels our holding. The obvious, and unfortunate, consequence is that public entities — including, particularly, law enforcement agencies — may forgo discretionary internal investigative processes so as to avoid generating inculpatory evidence. That, in turn, will subvert, not promote, public safety. Compare OEC 407 Commentary (1981) (noting that rule is based, in part, on “a social policy of encouraging people to take, or at least not discouraging them from taking, steps in furtherance of added safety”).
Still, the rule’s text admits of no other construction. The answer, if any, lies in legislative action, not judicial artifice. Cf. Abbotts v. Bacon, 133 Or App 315, 323, 891 P2d 1321 (1995) (Haselton, J., dissenting).