State v. Bailey

This is one of two cases that we decide today involving a defendant’s challenge to a conviction under ORS 162.285 for “tampering with a witness.” Both cases involve the same analytical question: Can a person commit the crime of “tampering with a witness,” under ORS 162.285(1)(a), which involves inducing “a witness or a person the person believes may be called as a witness in any official proceeding” to withhold testimony, when no “official proceeding” is pending at the time of the inducement? In this case, the Court of Appeals concluded that ORS 162.285(1)(a) does not require that an official…