Ryan v. Ohm

Plaintiff appeals, assigning as error the trial court’s exclusion from evidence, as an admission against interest, of defendant’s prior plea of guilty to a charge of Violation of the Basic Rule, ORS 487.465.1 The resolution of this case requires that we reconcile two seemingly contradictory statutes: ORS 41.905(2), which on its face permits the admission of the guilty plea for the purpose sought; and ORS 484.395(2), which requires the exclusion of the guilty plea.2

ORS 41.905(2) provides:

"A plea of guilty by a person to a traffic offense may be admitted as evidence in the trial of a subsequent…