Court Opinion

ID: 9597907
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:03:54.927238+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:27:41.999478
License: Public Domain

WARDEN, J. pro tempore,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority that defendant may appeal from the documents by which the trial court revoked his probation and either sentenced him to prison or required him to begin serving the sentence that the court had previously imposed. I disagree, however, with the majority’s conclusion that ORS 138.050 so limits the scope of our review on direct appeal that we may not consider the validity of the probation revocation. That conclusion is inconsistent with our previous practice and incorrectly construes the statute. If the majority is right as a matter of statutory construction, ORS 138.040 unconstitutionally grants a privilege to defendants who plead not guilty that ORS 138.050 denies to those who plead guilty or no contest, and the distinction violates Article I, section 20, of the Oregon Constitution. We must, therefore, consider the merits of the probation revocation at this time. Because on those merits I would hold that the revocation may have been improper and would remand for further proceedings, I dissent.
ORS 138.050 provides that, on an appeal from a conviction based on a plea of guilty or no contest, we may consider only “whether a sentence has been imposed that exceeds the maximum sentence allowable by law or is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual.” The majority treats that provision as limiting our review to whether the imprisonment imposed is longer than the maximum that the statute permits. That is too narrow a reading of the statute. For one thing, a sentence may include sanctions other than imprisonment, such as a fine, restitution pursuant to ORS 137.106, an assessment under ORS 137.015 and an order that the defendant repay the costs of prosecution. ORS 161.665. A judgment that imposed an *469assessment that was greater than authorized or that included in its award of costs an item that was not a legitimate expense of prosecution would certainly exceed the maximum sentence allowed by law. See, e.g., State v. Haynes, 53 Or App 850, 633 P2d 38, rev den 292 Or 108 (1981).
The fundamental problem with the majority’s approach, however, is that it fails to consider the criminal appeal statutes together, as the Supreme Court has held that we should do. See State v. Martin, 282 Or 583, 587, 580 P2d 536 (1978). Both ORS 138.050, which, because defendant pled guilty, is the source of his right to appeal, and ORS 138.040, which provides for appeals by defendants who are convicted after pleading not guilty, are part of a single criminal appellate scheme. We must, therefore, read the limitations that ORS 138.050 places on the scope of our review in the light of our review of cases of defendants whose right to appeal comes from ORS 138.040.
ORS 138.040 provides, in pertinent part:
“Upon an appeal [by a defendant other than one who pled guilty or no contest] * * * any decision of the court in an intermediate order or proceeding may be reviewed, and any sentence of the court may be reviewed as to whether it exceeds the maximum sentence allowable by law or is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual. A judgment suspending imposition or execution of sentence or placing a defendant on probation shall be deemed a judgment on a conviction * *
ORS 138.040 specifically permits an appeal from an order imposing probation. Although there is no similar provision in ORS 138.050, the Supreme Court in State v. Martin, supra, found no clear legislative intent to restrict such an appeal to those defendants whose right to appeal arose under ORS 138.040. It therefore held that any defendant could appeal from an order imposing probation, no matter which statute was the foundation for the right to appeal.1 It necessarily *470follows that we should take a similar approach to other portions of ORS 138.040 that could appropriately also apply to ORS 138.050.
ORS 138.040 provides that, on an appeal from a conviction, the appellate court may review any intermediate order or proceeding. Such orders would include rulings on motions to suppress, evidentiary rulings during trial and all other actions whose ultimate result is a determination of the guilt or innocence of the defendant. Because a guilty plea is a conclusive admission of every element of the charged offense, Huffman v. Alexander, 197 Or 283, 325, 251 P2d 87, 253 P2d 289 (1953), and because a plea of no contest leads directly to a judgment of conviction, ORS 135.345, intermediate orders of that sort are irrelevant to the appeal of a defendant who pleads guilty or no contest, and they would not be within the scope of our review.
On the other hand, an order revoking probation is also an intermediate order. It is a necessary predicate to a sentence (or to an order requiring the execution of a previously imposed sentence) for a defendant who was originally placed on probation. It is not, however, related to a determination of guilt or innocence; indeed, the method by which the state achieved a conviction has nothing to do with whether the court should revoke the defendant’s probation. There is no clear legislative intent to foreclose a defendant whose right to appeal comes from ORS 138.050 from challenging a revocation of probation on appeal when a defendant whose right to appeal comes from ORS 138.040 can do so. The Supreme Court has directly reviewed probation revocations of defendants who pled guilty. See, e.g., State v. Ludwig, 218 Or 483, 344 P2d 764 (1959). ORS 138.050 has not undergone any significant change in the intervening years.2 We also have often reviewed revocations of probation imposed after pleas of *471guilty or no contest. See, e.g., State v. Nearing, 78 Or App 72, 714 P2d 630 (1986); State v. Hovater, 37 Or App 557, 588 P2d 56 (1978). I would therefore hold that our scope of review under ORS 138.050 includes the validity of a revocation of probation.
If I am not correct about our statutory scope of review, then ORS 138.040 grants a defendant who is convicted after a plea of not guilty a significant privilege that ORS 138.050 denies to a defendant who pleads guilty or no contest: the right to appellate review of the validity of a revocation of probation. The two groups are true classes for Oregon equal privileges analysis. I can conceive of no rational basis for the distinction between them. For the reasons that Judge Graber states in her dissent in State v. Crocker, supra, n 1, I would hold that the denial of that privilege to this defendant violates his rights under Article I, section 20, of the Oregon Constitution, and I would remedy the unconstitutionality by extending to him the same privilege that ORS 138.040 grants to defendants who are convicted after pleas of not guilty.
Because of my conclusions concerning our scope of review on this appeal, I must consider the validity of the court’s revocation of defendant’s probation. I do not think it necessary, however, to state my reasons at length. In brief, the trial court imposed a condition of probation that required defendant to post signs on the door of his home and on any automobile that he drove that read “Dangerous Sex Offender — No Children Allowed.” Defendant challenged that condition in a direct appeal from the order of probation. He did not comply with that condition of probation pending the appeal, and the trial court revoked his probation on that and other grounds. We thereafter dismissed the direct appeal as moot. State v. Bateman, 94 Or App 449, 765 P2d 249 (1988). He again challenges the constitutionality of that condition on this appeal. See State v. Nearing, supra.
I would hold that requiring defendant to post the portion of the sign that reads “Dangerous Sex Offender” constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under Article I, section 16, of the Oregon Constitution. I would therefore vacate the revocation of probation and remand the case for the trial court to determine if it would revoke defendant’s probation for any violations that he committed that were not related to the *472unconstitutional condition. Because the majority would hold that we may not even consider the merits of the case, I dissent.
Graber, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.

 In State v. Crocker, 95 Or App 260, opinion withdrawn 95 Or App 581 (1989), we held that the specific holding of State v. Martin, supra, is no longer correct because of a change in the statute. 95 Or App at 263 n 4. Regardless of whether that conclusion is correct, the change does not affect the basic principle of Martin, which is that ORS 138.040 and ORS 138.050 are so interrelated that the court should presume that the legislature intended that the relevant provisions of ORS 138.040 be read into ORS 138.050.

 At the time of State v. Ludwig, supra, ORS 138.050 provided, in pertinent part:
“On such appeal, the appellate court shall only consider the question whether an excessive fine or excessive, cruel or unusual punishment not proportionate to the offense has been imposed.”
The Supreme Court nevertheless reviewed the merits of the probation revocation. Aside from the proportionality language, the current version of the statute is essentially identical to that in effect in 1959. Proportionality has nothing to do with whether we may review the validity of a probation revocation. If the Supreme Court was correct in Ludwig, the majority of this court is wrong in this case.