State v. Alvey

Defendant was indicted on 10 counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the second degree, a Class C felony. ORS 163.686. Defendant moved to dismiss on the ground that the statute under which he was charged contains the same substantive elements as ORS 163.687, a Class A misdemeanor. According to defendant, the two statutes thus impermissibly conferred on the district attorney discretion to charge the same conduct as either a felony or a misdemeanor, in violation of state and federal constitutional guarantees of equal treatment. The trial court agreed and dismissed the indictment. The state…