180.070 Power
of Attorney General to conduct investigations and prosecutions; duties of
district attorneys unaffected.
(1) The Attorney General may, when directed to do so by the Governor, take full
charge of any investigation or prosecution of violation of law in which the
circuit court has jurisdiction.
(2) When acting
under this section, the Attorney General shall have all the powers of a
district attorney, including the power to issue or cause to be issued subpoenas
or other process. The Attorney General may, when the Attorney General considers
the public interest requires, with or without the concurrence of the district
attorney, direct the county grand jury to convene for the investigation and
consideration of such matters of a criminal nature as the Attorney General
desires to submit to it. The Attorney General may take full charge of the
presentation of such matters to the grand jury, issue subpoenas, prepare
indictments, and do all other things incident thereto to the same extent as the
district attorney may do.
(3) All costs,
fees and other expense shall be paid by the county in which the investigation
takes place, to the same extent as if conducted by the district attorney of
that county.
(4) The power
conferred by this section, ORS 180.060, 180.220 or 180.240 does not deprive the
district attorneys of any of their authority, or relieve them from any of their
duties to prosecute criminal violations of law and advise the officers of the
counties composing their districts.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
9
cases (
2 in the last 5 years), 1957–2025 · leading case:
Marteeny v. Brown, 517 P.3d 343 (Or. Ct. App. 2022).
Marteeny v. Brown, 517 P.3d 343 (Or. Ct. App. 2022).
· cites it 3× “ORS 180.070 provides, as follows: “(1) The Attorney General may, when directed to do so by the Governor, take full charge of any investigation or prosecution of violation of law in which the circuit court has jurisdiction.”
Cushman v. Edgar, 605 P.2d 1210 (Or. Ct. App. 1980).
· cites it 3× “) First Cause of Action We conclude that defendant Edgar’s letter to Governor Straub requesting an investigation into the incident by the state Attorney General, was absolutely privileged as a report to a proper officer of government concerning alleged law violations; Or Const,…”
State ex rel Rosenblum v. Nisley, 473 P.3d 46 (Or. 2020).
“”1 1 ORS 180.070 permits the Attorney General, when directed by the Governor, to take full charge of investigations and prosecutions over which the circuit court has jurisdiction.”
State Ex Rel. Thornton v. Williams, 336 P.2d 68 (Or. 1959).
· cites it 3× “) And then only in such special investigatory proceedings in the circuit court as the governor is authorized to initiate under ORS 148.”
Burks v. Lane Cnty., 695 P.2d 1373 (Or. Ct. App. 1985).
“Thornton, 210 Or 666 , 313 P2d 776 (1957), where the court held that the county was required by ORS 180.070 to pay certain costs for an Attorney General’s investigation and that the Local Budget Law did not apply to those costs.”
State v. Coleman, 886 P.2d 28 (Or. Ct. App. 1994).
“The Attorney General “may” also be directed by the Governor to perform the duties of a district attorney, ORS 180.070, and upon such request, the Attorney General “shall” appear.”
GLEASON v. Thornton, 313 P.2d 776 (Or. 1957).
· cites it 7× “The order of April 25, 1956 provided: “Now, Therefore, pursuant to the provisions of ORS 180.070 and 180.080, I hereby direct you to attend in person or by your assistant or assistants the present or any succeeding term of the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon, and appear…”
Subasic v. State of Oregon (D. Or. 2025).
“§ 180.070(1) (“The Attorney General may, when directed to do so by the Governor, take full charge of any investigation or prosecution of violation of law[.”
— Or. Rev. Stat. § 180.070(1) — 2 cases
Subasic v. State of Oregon (D. Or. 2025).
“§ 180.070(1) (“The Attorney General may, when directed to do so by the Governor, take full charge of any investigation or prosecution of violation of law[.”
— Or. Rev. Stat. § 180.070(4) — 2 cases
Marteeny v. Brown, 517 P.3d 343 (Or. Ct. App. 2022).
“ORS 180.070 provides, as follows: “(1) The Attorney General may, when directed to do so by the Governor, take full charge of any investigation or prosecution of violation of law in which the circuit court has jurisdiction.”
State Ex Rel. Thornton v. Williams, 336 P.2d 68 (Or. 1959).
“) And then only in such special investigatory proceedings in the circuit court as the governor is authorized to initiate under ORS 148.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.