State v. Suttles

This is a criminal case in which defendant appealed from his conviction for sodomy upon his nine-year-old stepson. Defendant’s sole assignment of error was that a letter he wrote to his wife while in jail awaiting trial was improperly admitted into evidence. The Court of Appeals agreed, reversing the judgment of conviction and remanding the case for a new trial. 37 Or App 695, 588 P2d 635 (1978). We granted review because of our concern with the question whether the Court of Appeals was correct in its holding that the letter was privileged as a "confidential communication” in a criminal…