State v. Aydiner, 040130321.

• Decision Date: 13 May 2009
• Docket Number: 040130321.,A132546.
• Citation: 228 Or. App. 282,208 P.3d 515
• Parties: STATE of Oregon, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Deniz Cinar AYDINER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Oregon Court of Appeals

208 P.3d 515

228 Or. App. 282

STATE of Oregon, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Deniz Cinar AYDINER, Defendant-Appellant.

040130321.

A132546.

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted August 6, 2008.

Decided May 13, 2009.

Stephen A. Houze, Portland, argued the cause and filed the brief for appellant.

Rolf C. Moan, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Hardy Myers, Attorney General, and Mary H. Williams, Solicitor General.

Before LANDAU, Presiding Judge, and SCHUMAN, Judge, and ORTEGA, Judge.

LANDAU, P.J.

Defendant, a Turkish citizen, appeals a judgment of conviction for, among other things, 10 counts of aggravated murder. His primary argument on appeal is that the use of "trickery and deceit" by law enforcement authorities to secure his presence in the United States to face criminal prosecution violated this country's extradition treaty with Turkey. Accordingly, he argues, the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction and, thus, his convictions are unlawful. We affirm.

The relevant facts are undisputed. Defendant's crimes stemmed from the murder of a student at the University of Portland in 2001. In 2003, while the investigation was pending, defendant left Oregon and returned to Turkey. Meanwhile, investigators matched DNA that they had obtained from defendant before his departure with evidence from the crime scene; defendant had no knowledge of that development in the investigation, however.

The state indicted defendant, alleging 11 counts of aggravated murder; one count each of kidnapping in the second degree, sexual abuse in the first degree, and attempted rape in the first degree; two counts of sodomy in the first degree; and four counts of burglary in the first degree. The state planned to seek the death penalty. At that point, defendant was still in Turkey and was unaware that he had been charged in connection with the murder.

Defendant wanted to return to Oregon to be with his wife, who is a United States citizen. Because he had overstayed his prior visit, he was denied reentry. The applicable immigration laws prevented him from returning to the United States without a waiver of those laws. The state, having learned that defendant was in Turkey and attempting to return to this country, requested that the federal government permit him to do so in order to facilitate his arrest. Believing that he had been granted the necessary waiver, defendant purchased an airline ticket and flew back to the United States. When he arrived at the Portland International Airport in January 2004, he was immediately arrested.

At no point before his return to this country was defendant aware of the charges against him. The United States authorities had never notified Turkey that it sought defendant for criminal prosecution. Nor did they ever request extradition pursuant to the extradition treaty between the United States and Turkey. It is undisputed that Turkey would not have extradited defendant to be prosecuted for a capital offense.

Defendant moved to dismiss the charges against him, asserting that the court lacked personal jurisdiction. That is so, he argued, because the government's "overarching scheme of trickery and deceit employed to bypass the treaty requirements" violated the extradition treaty, which he contended is the exclusive means by which authorities could secure his presence in this country for a criminal prosecution. Defendant also issued several subpoenas duces tecum, seeking testimony and documents from various City of Portland and federal law enforcement employees at an evidentiary hearing pertaining to the details as to how they tricked him into returning to the United States. He acknowledged that he did not know what documents or testimony those witnesses could provide.

The city and the United States moved to quash the subpoenas and opposed defendant's request for an evidentiary hearing on his motion to dismiss. The state also opposed defendant's request for a hearing, filing a motion in limine to exclude any testimony or production of documents by any of the subpoenaed individuals. In general, the governmental entities argued that such testimony was unnecessary because the prosecution had stipulated to the facts that they deceived defendant about his immigration status and tricked him into returning to the United States. Such actions, they argued, do not violate the extradition treaty, because they are not required to comply with the terms of the treaty unless there is an actual request for extradition. In their view, mere trickery does not constitute a treaty violation.

The trial court quashed the subpoenas and granted the state's motion in limine. The court also declined to hold an evidentiary hearing on defendant's motion to dismiss, which the court denied. In its order denying the motion, the court made numerous factual findings, including that defendant "ha[d] been deceived by the government into thinking that his efforts to obtain a lawful visa had been successful." Defendant filed a motion to reconsider based on a new argument that the government's trickery and deceit violated his rights to due process, thus warranting dismissal of the charges against him. The court also denied that motion.

During the course of the prosecution, several charges were dismissed, and defendant pleaded no contest to the remaining charges. He was ultimately convicted of 10 counts of aggravated murder, one count each of sexual abuse in the first degree and attempted rape in the first degree, two counts of sodomy in the first degree, and four counts of burglary in the first degree.¹

On appeal, defendant assigns error to the aforementioned pretrial rulings and urges this court to vacate his judgment of conviction. Regarding the court's denial of his motion to dismiss, he renews his argument that the government's actions violated the extradition treaty between the United States and Turkey because extradition is the only means by which defendant could be brought back to this country to face criminal prosecution. Regarding the denial of his motion to reconsider, defendant argues that, even if the government's actions did not violate the extradition treaty, they deprived him of due process. Defendant also challenges the court's decisions to quash the subpoenas and exclude witness testimony at an evidentiary hearing, and requests that we remand the case for such a hearing.

We begin with defendant's assertion that the extradition treaty between the United States and Turkey provides the exclusive means by which the state could secure his presence for criminal prosecution. In construing a treaty, we look first to its terms to determine its meaning as intended by the signatories. Air France v. Saks, 470 U.S. 392, 396-97, 105 S.Ct. 1338, 84 L.Ed.2d 289 (1985). If the treaty's wording is clear resort to drafting history to ascertain its meaning is not appropriate. Chan v. Korean Air Lines, Ltd., 490 U.S. 122, 134, 134 n. 5, 109 S.Ct. 1676, 104 L.Ed.2d 113 (1989).

Chapter I, Section I, Article 1 of the treaty at issue in this case—which was signed by President Jimmy Carter and ratified by the United States Senate in 1979—provides, in part:

"(1) The Contracting Parties undertake to surrender to each other, in accordance with the provisions and conditions laid down in this Treaty, all persons who are found within the territory of the Requested Party and who are being prosecuted for or have been charged with an offense, or convicted of an offense, or are sought by the other Party for the enforcement of a judicially pronounced penalty for an offense committed within the territory of the Requesting Party."

(Emphasis added.)

According to defendant, the text of that provision—especially the italicized portion— makes clear the "exclusive character" of the extradition treaty. Relying on the inclusion of the phrases "all persons" and "found within the territory," he argues that, because he "squarely falls within the scope" of the relevant treaty provision, the United States was required to seek extradition and its failure to do so violated the treaty. Defendant asserts that, because "the prosecutorial machinations in the case at bar were precisely an intentional refusal to cooperate with Turkish authorities on this extraordinarily serious criminal matter," the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction because he was brought into the United States in violation of the treaty. According to defendant, the treaty "was intended to provide the sole vehicle for transferring individuals accused of crime between the United States and Turkey." As a result, defendant argues, failing to invoke the extradition process is itself a violation of the treaty.

The state responds that nothing in the treaty prohibits it...