FILED: January 5, 2000
CARL BATY,
Appellant,
v.
DEBRA SLATER, Superintendent,
Powder River Correctional Facility,
Respondent.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Baker County.
Milo Pope, Judge.
On respondent's petition for reconsideration filed August 18, 1999, of opinion on motion for reconsideration filed July 7, 1999, 161 Or App 653, 984 P2d 342.
Hardy Myers, Attorney General, Michael D. Reynolds, Solicitor General, Kelly Knivila, Assistant Attorney General, and Kathleen M. Cegla, Assistant Attorney General, for petition.
Daniel L. Cronin contra.
Andy Simrin for Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyer's Association amicus curiae.
Before Haselton, Presiding Judge, and Armstrong and Brewer, Judges.
BREWER, J.
Petition for reconsideration allowed; former opinion adhered to.
BREWER, J.
Defendant petitions for reconsideration of our decision denying her motion
to dismiss plaintiff's appeal.(1) We allow that petition and adhere to our former opinion.
We write briefly to explain our reasons for doing so.
Defendant argues that, even if plaintiff's release from imprisonment was
unlawfully delayed, plaintiff's appeal is moot because the court cannot retroactively
change plaintiff's actual release date nor adjust the required term of post-prison
supervision. Defendant assumes that a post-prison supervision term must begin on
actual release from prison and that the term of imprisonment continues until that event
occurs. That assumption is incorrect. Plaintiff's "term of imprisonment" is not simply
whatever defendant determines it should be; instead, it is the term to which plaintiff was
sentenced, subject to any adjustments required by law.(2)
OAR 213-005-0002(3) provides that "[t]he term of post-prison supervision
shall begin upon completion of the offender's prison term * * *." Based on that rule, we
held that plaintiff's appeal was not moot because a decision on the merits of his appeal
will determine when his term of imprisonment was legally completed. Plaintiff's term of
post-prison supervision commenced at that time.
Defendant argues that our construction of the rule is erroneous in light of
OAR 213-005-0003, which provides:
"When a term of post-prison supervision is imposed as part of a
sentence, the offender shall serve the term of supervision in the community
under the supervision of the Department of Corrections or a corrections
agency designated by the Department."
Defendant asserts that post-prison supervision must be served in the community and
advances policy reasons supporting that directive. Those reasons, however, are not at
issue here. OAR 213-005-0003 does not purport to determine the commencement date
of a post-prison supervision term but, instead, establishes post-prison supervision
administrative responsibilities. OAR 213-005-0002 is the rule that does determine the
commencement date for post-prison supervision terms. That date is not altered merely
because the Department of Corrections may, as the result of an erroneous calculation of
the term of imprisonment, fail to timely release an offender for service of the post-prison
term in the community.
Although defendant's petition makes other arguments, only one of those
justifies brief discussion. Citing White v. Gladden, 209 Or 53, 303 P2d 226 (1956), and
other cases, defendant asserts that habeas corpus relief is not available to an offender
who has been released from custody. Although defendant correctly states the general
rule, as we observed in our original opinion, a habeas corpus petition is not moot if there
are collateral consequences to resolution of the dispute that may result in plaintiff
obtaining relief from a restraint of his liberty. Based on that construct, we held that
plaintiff's appeal was not moot because a decision on the merits of his appeal will
determine when his term of imprisonment is legally completed, when his term of post-prison supervision will begin and, therefore, when his term of post-prison supervision
will end. We adhere to that holding.
Petition for reconsideration allowed; former opinion adhered to.
1. Baty v. Slater, 161 Or App 653, 984 P2d 342 (1999). In making that
decision, we reconsidered and vacated our previous order granting plaintiff's motion to
dismiss.
Return to previous location.
2. See, e.g., ORS 161.505 ("An offense is conduct for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment * * * is provided by any law of this state * * *.") (Emphasis added.)
Return to previous location.
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