State ex rel. City of Portland v. Keys
State ex rel. City of Portland v. Keys
Opinion of the Court
In this mandamus proceeding, the City of Portland (City) and Paresi appeal from an order of the circuit court directing a district court judge to enter an order in a criminal case that the Portland Police Bureau Internal Investigation Unit (IIU) and Paresi, the custodian of records, provide a criminal defendant and his attorney with all statements of witnesses in an IIU file.
The defendant in the criminal case moved to compel production of the IIU file and served a subpena on Paresi, requiring him to present it. City filed a motion to quash the subpena.
City argues that the file is protected from disclosure under ORS 192.501(13) as confidential documentation of a personnel discipline action. As in City of Portland v. Rice, 94 Or App 292, 765 P2d 228 (1988), rev allowed 307 Or 514 (1989), no discipline was recommended or imposed as a result of the IIU investigation and, consequently, the materials are not exempt from disclosure.
In State ex rel Wilson v. Thomas, 74 Or App 137, 700 P2d 1045, rev den 300 Or 64 (1985), we held that, pursuant to ORS 135.815(1), records of an arresting officer’s statements contained in an IIU file are subject to disclosure and are discoverable by a criminal defendant.
Reversed and remanded with instructions to dismiss the petition.
We refer to both appellants as “City.”
We decline City’s invitation to overturn that decision.
In view of this holding, we do not address City’s other assignments. However, assuming that mandamus would otherwise have been appropriate, we do not suggest that the district court could have issued the order that it did.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.