Court Opinion

ID: 9553174
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:24:36.896518+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:30:07.326263
License: Public Domain

ROSSMAN, J.,
specially concurring.
Without subscribing to the belief expressed in at least one of the decisions quoted in the opinion written by Mr. Justice Lusk that when a plea of guilty has been withdrawn “it ceased to be evidence”, I concur in the opinion. Much material which has evidentiary value is rendered inadmissible by the rules of evidence. Hearsay is an example. Various rules of policy have shaped the rules of evidence. A withdrawn plea of guilty may possess genuine evidentiary value, but the fact that it, unlike a superseded pleading (Powers v. Coos Bay Lumber Co., 200 Or 329, 263 P2d 913), may induce the jury to become reckless in its consideration of the other evidence renders it inadmissible.
I do not believe that the error which occurred when the erroneous ruling was made was nonprejudicial. See the dissenting opinion in State v. Folkes, 171 Or 568, 150 P2d 17.