Oregon Supreme Court

State of Oregon, Respondent v. Matthew Dwight Thompson, Appellant

February 4, 1999328 Or. 248

Summary

The court affirmed the convictions and death sentences after rejecting all preserved claims of guilt-phase and penalty-phase error. It held that the defendant was not entitled to substitute appointed counsel, that the homicide-related charges were properly joined, and that the evidence supported the burglary-based convictions and aggravated felony-murder conviction. The court also upheld the evidentiary rulings, supplemental jury instructions, verdicts, denial of a mistrial, and admission of the penalty-phase letter, while declining to reach several unpreserved constitutional claims.