Background
Under a plea agreement, Shawn Kenneth Oard pleaded no contest to two counts of fourth-degree assault constituting domestic violence and one count of resisting arrest. The state dismissed other charges.
On the resisting-arrest conviction, the trial court imposed a 90-day jail sentence that was deemed served. Although the court did not announce any fees at sentencing and expressed an intention not to impose fees, the written judgment required Oard to pay “any required per diem fees.” The Court of Appeals initially accepted the state’s concession that the provision was erroneous and remanded for resentencing.
The state sought reconsideration, arguing that the proper remedy was entry of a judgment deleting the erroneous provision rather than resentencing. Oard filed no response.
The Court’s Holding
The Oregon Court of Appeals allowed reconsideration and modified its former opinion and disposition. It held that the trial court erred by including a per-diem-fee requirement in the written judgment when that requirement had not been announced in open court at sentencing.
The court concluded that a full resentencing was unnecessary because the trial court had announced its intention not to impose any fees. It therefore remanded for entry of an amended judgment omitting the per-diem-fee provision and otherwise affirmed the judgment.
Key Takeaways
- A criminal sentence generally must be announced in open court.
- A fee appearing only in the written judgment is erroneous when it was not imposed orally at sentencing.
- When the sentencing court clearly intended to impose no fees, the remedy may be an amended judgment deleting the fee rather than a full resentencing.
Why It Matters
The decision distinguishes between sentencing errors that require a new sentencing proceeding and discrepancies that can be corrected through an amended judgment. A clearly expressed intent not to impose fees permitted the narrower remedy here.
The opinion is a nonprecedential memorandum opinion under ORAP 10.30 and may be cited only as that rule permits.