TIP OF THE MONTH ARCHIVES

These tips are intended to educate the reader about areas of the law that make up my practice. This information may be helpful to do-it-yourselfers or may simply increase the reader’s knowledge and understanding of the legal system.

Civil Compromise of a Criminal Case

What if I told you that you could have the criminal charges pending against you dismissed without being acquitted at trial? This is what occurs after the “civil compromise” of a criminal case.

A civil compromise occurs when the defendant reaches an agreement with the victim of the crime to ask the court to dismiss the case if the defendant does something that the victim wants the defendant to do. The most common “something” that a defendant does is to pay the victim an agreed upon sum of money. However, paying money to the victim is not the only thing that a defendant could do; a defendant could also write a letter of apology, seek counseling related to the alleged criminal conduct or do virtually anything else that might satisfy the victim.

ORS 135.703 through ORS 135.709 are the statutes authorizing the civil compromise of a criminal case. A civil compromise is generally applicable to “crimes punishable as a misdemeanor.” Since the law allows most C felonies to be reduced to a misdemeanor at sentencing, the civil compromise statutes generally apply to misdemeanors and C felonies, but not to A or B felonies (with exceptions for some B felonies involving marijuana and the A felony of racketeering).

If a crime or crimes can be civilly compromised, your criminal defense attorney should explore with the alleged victim the possibility of doing so. This is a delicate thing to negotiate and in many cases it would be unwise for a defendant to try to do on his or her own. Also, the court may have ordered the defendant to have no contact with the victim as part of a release agreement. It is highly advised that criminal defendants only attempt to civilly compromise a case through the use of an attorney (or investigator supervised by an attorney) as an intermediary.

There are a few crimes however, even though they can be sentenced as misdemeanors, are not subject to being civilly compromised. For instance, crimes where the victim is the public at large instead of a distinct individual, such as reckless driving, public indecency or driving under the influence of intoxicants, cannot be compromised. In addition, the following cannot be civilly compromised: crimes committed against or by peace officers on duty; crimes riotously committed; crimes committed with an intent to commit a crime punishable only as a felony; assault IV, assault III, menacing, reckless endangerment, harassment, or strangulation and the crime is committed by one family or household member on another family or household member or upon an elderly or disabled person.

Once an agreement to civilly compromise a case has been reached, a motion, order, agreement, satisfaction and release need to be drafted by the defense attorney and signed by the parties to the agreement. In addition, the defendant’s attorney will schedule a hearing before the court to have the charge(s) dismissed. The court can choose to allow or to not allow the civil compromise. Generally, the deputy district attorney representing the State will object, but often the court will allow the civil compromise over the State’s objection. Once a charge has been civilly compromised, that charge is dismissed and cannot be brought again by the State.

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