State v. Marquez, 912 P.2d 390 (Or. Ct. App. 1996)

Cases | State v. Marquez, 912 P.2d 390 (Or. Ct. App. 1996) | 2018

The defendant pleaded guilty to six counts of “computer crime” against Umatilla County and was sentenced to a presumptive 18-month probation on each conviction and was ordered to pay restitution to the county. On appeal, the defendant challenged the order of restitution on the grounds that there was no proof of causation between the criminal activity for which he was convicted and the pecuniary damage suffered by the victim, as required by ORS § 137.106. The state argued that the claim of error is not reviewable because restitution is part of the presumptive sentence; the court of appeals disagreed and decided the case on the merits. The court of appeals held that the record did support a causal nexus between the defendant’s criminal activity and the victim’s pecuniary damage, even though the order of restitution included an accounting for time spent by salaried employees fixing the damage because those employees would otherwise have been working on other county business. The court of appeals affirmed the decision.