State v. Sarria

• Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
• Area(s) of Law: Criminal Procedure
• Date Filed: 09-25-2024
• Case #: A180013
• Judge(s)/Court Below: Before Tookey, P.J., Egan, J., and Kamins, J.
• Full Text Opinion

“ [T]o allow a ‘motion to dismiss’ to be used pretrial to ‘challenge the sufficiency of the state’s anticipated proof of a charge’ . . . would ‘contradict and subvert the principle expressed’ . . . that it is error for a trial court to sustain a defendant’s demurrer on the basis of facts not alleged in the complaint.”

Defendant was convicted of failing to appear. He appeals the denial of his motion to dismiss, arguing that the citation he received was invalid as it was not issued by a “peace officer.” Respondent argues that his motion to dismiss concerned the pre-trial sufficiency of proof, and therefore, not a basis to dismiss a case pre-trial. A mischaracterization of a MJOA as a motion to dismiss will be permitted if the defendant is challenging the sufficiency of an indictment. Here, Defendant was challenging the sufficiency of evidence, not the pleading. The court found the trial court could not procedurally grant Defendant the remedy sought, and affirmed.

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