State v. Delp

Under Article I, section 16, of the Oregon Constitution, "all penalties shall be proportioned to the offense," and the courts assess this by considering "(1) a comparison of the severity of the penalty and the gravity of the crime; (2) a comparison of the penalties imposed for other, related crimes; and (3) the criminal history of the defendant." State v. Rodriguez/Buck, 347 Or 46, 58, 217 P3d 659 (2009).

Defendant was convicted of ten counts of Encouraging Child Abuse in the First Degree and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release or parole.  Defendant assigned error to the disproportionate sentencing under Article I, Section 16, of the Oregon Constitution. On appeal, Defendant argued that his crimes "exclusively involved the duplication of existing child pornography" and were not violent or forceful crimes proportionally deserving a true life sentence based on the gravity of the crime. In response, the State argued that the underlying child pornography and history of past predatory and criminal behavior was enough to support the sentence.  Under Article I, section 16, of the Oregon Constitution, "all penalties shall be proportioned to the offense," and the courts assess this by considering "(1) a comparison of the severity of the penalty and the gravity of the crime; (2) a comparison of the penalties imposed for other, related crimes; and (3) the criminal history of the defendant." State v. Rodriguez/Buck, 347 Or 46, 58, 217 P3d 659 (2009).  The Court held that the trial court did not err by sentencing Defendant to life in prison without the possibility of release or parole because the Defendant's extensive history of sexually exploiting children, and his danger to the public, made this a case where a legislatively mandated repeat offender sentence did not violate Article I, section 16.  Affirmed.