Birch v. Thompson

Martin Birch was convicted in 1981 and 1989. Prior to a 1993 amendment, Oregon’s parole review statute required an expert diagnosis as a prerequisite to a decision by the Oregon Board of Parole and Post Prison Supervision (“Board”) to postpone a prisoner’s parole date. See Or.Rev.Stat. § 144.125(3) (1981) (1989); see also Newcomb v. Thompson, 176 Or. App. 167, 33 P.3d 319, 320 (2001) (holding that the Board could not make a finding of present severe emotional disturbance absent a “cognizable psychiatric or psychological diagnosis”) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); Weidner v.…