Timothy M. Bowman, a Portland Criminal Defense Attorney, is providing information on criminal law court cases decided on by the Oregon Court of Appeals.
People interested in keeping up with these court cases can follow his Facebook page.
Portland, Oregon (PRWEB) November 09, 2013
Tim Bowman, a Portland criminal defense attorney, has a new website where he is informing people on recent court cases concerning criminal law. The site's blog posts focus specifically on the Oregon Court of Appeals rulings which overturn the decisions of the trial court. People interested in keeping up with these court cases can follow his Facebook page to be updated when new blogs are posted.
One case that has received attention both in the news media and on Bowman’s website is State v. Olive (Multnomah County Circuit Court Case #091254415) - the case of a Multnomah County man who had been found guilty of resisting arrest and interfering with a peace officer. This happened during a 2009 “altercation” with several Portland Police officers.
The defense successfully argued that the defendant hadn’t known he was under arrest and so he lacked the necessary intent to “resist” arrest. On October 23, 2013, the Oregon Court of Appeals issued a decision stating that people cannot commit the crime of resisting arrest if they didn’t know they were under arrest.
This ruling reverses the 1984 opinion of State v. Toelaer, in which the appeals court said Oregon law does not require prosecutors to prove the defendant knew he or she was under arrest to win a conviction for resisting arrest.
Another case, State v. Cadger (Douglas County Circuit Court Case #10CR1731FE), was reversed by the Court of Appeals and is discussed on Bowman’s criminal defense website.
This case involved an inmate, Cadger, who was serving a 60 day sentence for probation violation. During this time, Cadger left his group without permission while working at the Douglas County fairgrounds for an "outside inmate worker program." He fled the fairgrounds with a girlfriend who picked him up and they did not return.
He was caught and charged with escape in the second degree which is a felony. It is defined as an individual escaping from a "correctional facility." Cadger argued instead that he should have been charged with "unauthorized departure" since his escape was from the fairgrounds as opposed to an actual "correctional facility."
According to Oregon law a correctional facility is “any place used for confinement of persons charged with or convicted of a crime or otherwise confined under a court order.”
The appeals court agreed with the defense that the fairgrounds that the group was at during the "outside inmate workers program" was not a "correctional facility" and thereby Cadger could not be charged with escape in the second degree.
There are many more reversed decisions discussed on Tim Bowman's website. If you are interested in reading more cases from the Court of Appeals of the State of Oregon they can be found there.