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ORS 136.608

Known as the Uniform Act

The act spans §§ 136–136 (149 sections).

Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case State v. Fair (2013)

Most recently applied in State v. Morgan (April 2025)

1995 c.657 §14

How often courts cite this section

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citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) The district attorney or the defendant may apply to the court for a material witness order when:

(a) An indictment has been filed, and is pending, against the defendant in a circuit court;

(b) A grand jury proceeding has been commenced against the defendant; or

(c) A complainant’s information or a district attorney’s information alleging that the defendant has committed a felony has been filed, and is pending, in a court of competent jurisdiction.

(2) The application must be in writing and sworn to by the applicant. The request must state facts establishing a reasonable belief that the person the applicant desires to call as a witness:

(a) Possesses information material to the determination of the action against the defendant; and

(b) Will not appear at the time when attendance of the witness is required.

(3) The applicant shall file the application:

(a) If an indictment has been filed, a grand jury proceeding has been commenced or the defendant has been held to answer by any court to await the action of a grand jury, in the circuit court in which the indictment is pending or by which the grand jury has been impaneled; or

(b) If information alleging the commission of a felony is pending in a court authorized to hold a preliminary hearing, in that court or in the circuit court that would have jurisdiction of the case upon holding the defendant to answer to await the action of the grand jury.

(4) As used in this section and ORS 136.612 and 136.614, “material witness order” means an order finding a person to be a material witness in a pending criminal action and fixing a security amount to be posted to secure future attendance of the witness.

Official source: Oregon State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Oregon statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.