Ogle v. Nooth

Under ORS 138.580, documentation attached to a post-conviction petition are sufficient as long as they verify, corroborate, or substantiate the claims made in the petition that the petitioner aims to prove.

Ogle appealed from the dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. The State sought to have Ogle’s petition dismissed, alleging that Ogle failed to attach certain affidavits or other documents to the petition as required by ORS 138.580. In response, Ogle attached two affidavits, signed by himself. The trial court dismissed the petition for failure to comply with ORS 138.580, stating that Ogle did not attach enough documentation to support his petition. On appeal, Ogle argued that he submitted sufficient documentation to support the allegations in the petition. The Court of Appeals determined that the language of ORS 138.580 only required that the documentation attached to a petition “verify, corroborate, or substantiate” the claims that a petitioner sets out to prove. The Court held the trial court erred in dismissing Ogle’s petition under ORS 138.580 because the attached documents supported the claims made in the petition. Reversed and remanded.