Lindsey Burrows wins two Oregon Supreme Court cases!

O'Connor Weber attorney Lindsey Burrows won two significant Oregon Supreme Court cases in the same day on October 4, 2018, a rare accomplishment for an Oregon appellate attorney.

In one case, Lindsey and O'Connor Weber represented Dante Famer, a man convicted of murder who has maintained his innocence throughout his appeals. The Oregon Supreme Court ruled in Mr. Farmer’s favor. Farmer v. Premo, 363 Or 679 (2018). In a unanimous opinion authored by Chief Justice Martha Walters, the court determined that Mr. Farmer’s criminal defense trial attorney rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel when she failed to offer exculpatory expert testimony that indicated that a different suspect possessed the murder weapon. The Supreme Court’s opinion highlights the need for criminal defense attorneys to adequately investigate and accurately understand the results of the investigation before making strategic decisions about the case. Lindsey has been invited to give a presentation about the case at the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association Winter Conference, and she is hopeful that Mr. Farmer will be out of prison and able to join her.

In the other case, State v. Madden, 363 Or 703 (2018), the Supreme Court determined that police officers violated Mr. Madden’s rights under the Oregon Constitution when they unlawfully seized and questioned him. The unanimous Supreme Court opinion offers guidance about the limits of the officer safety exception to the warrant requirement, and it represents an important victory for civil liberties under the Oregon Constitution.