City of Salem v. Guillen

FILED: December 30, 2009

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF OREGON

CITY OF SALEM,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

LAUREL GUILLEN,

Defendant-Respondent.

Marion County Circuit Court
07C40078
A136956

Albin W. Norblad, Judge.

Argued and submitted on October 27, 2009.

Sean T. Brady, Assistant City Attorney, argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant.

Kevin T. Lafky argued the cause for respondent.  With him on the brief was Leslie D. Gomez.

Before Landau, Presiding Judge, and Schuman, Judge, and Ortega, Judge.

PER CURIAM

Affirmed.

PER CURIAM

Defendant was convicted in Salem Municipal Court of one count of prohibited touching.  Salem Revised Code (SRC) 96.300(a).  She appealed to Marion County Circuit Court for trial de novo, as authorized by ORS 221.359 and ORS 221.360, and moved to dismiss the charges on the ground (among others) that the code provision violates Article I, section 8, of the Oregon Constitution, the state's free expression guarantee.  The court agreed and dismissed the charges.  The city appeals.

City of Salem v. Lawrow, ___ Or App ___, ___ P3d ___ (Dec 30, 2009), is identical to this case except for the identity of the defendant.  In Lawrow, we held that SRC 96.300(a) violated Article I, section 8.  That decision controls here.

Affirmed.