State v. Hess

In this criminal case, the state appeals from an order of the trial court that prohibited the state from disclosing to the jury during trial the fact that defendant had made a judicial admission that he had previous convictions for public indecency — convictions that could elevate the public indecency charges at issue here to felonies. The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s order. State v. Hess, 189 Or App 325, 75 P3d 469 (2003). For the reasons set out below, we reverse the Court of Appeals and affirm the trial court.

A grand jury indicted defendant for three counts of public…