The opinion
No. 59 January 31, 2024 505
This is a nonprecedential memorandum opinion
pursuant to ORAP 10.30 and may not be cited
except as provided in ORAP 10.30(1).
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE
STATE OF OREGON
NATHAN L. LORENGEL,
Petitioner,
v.
BOARD OF PAROLE AND POST-PRISON
SUPERVISION,
Respondent.
Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision
A175020
Submitted December 7, 2022.
Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender, Criminal Appellate
Section, and Stephanie Hortsch, Deputy Public Defender,
Office of Public Defense Services, filed the briefs for
appellant.
Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, Benjamin Gutman,
Solicitor General, and Colm Moore, Assistant Attorney
General, filed the brief for respondent.
Before Shorr, Presiding Judge, Mooney, Judge, and
Pagán, Judge.
SHORR, P. J.
Reversed and remanded.
506 Lorengel v. Board of Parole
SHORR, P. J.
Petitioner seeks judicial review of a September 30,
2020, order of the Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision
that, pursuant to ORS 163A.100 and OAR 255-085-0020
(Apr 29, 2020), set his sex offender notification level (SONL)
at Level III (High). Petitioner contends that the board vio-
lated its own rule when it failed to adequately account for
sex-offense-free time in the community in setting his SONL.
We recently held that, under the same version of
OAR 255-085-0020 at issue in this case, the board erred in
failing to account for sex-offense-free time in the commu-
nity in setting an offender’s risk level, given the attending
rules and research accompanying the assessment methodol-
ogy adopted by the board. Sohappy v. Board of Parole, 329
Or App 28, 540 P3d 568 (2023). In another case decided the
same day, we concluded that even though the petitioner in
that case had not preserved the same issue before the board,
it was a situation where we would relax or set aside the
administrative exhaustion requirements. Watson v. Board of
Parole, 329 Or App 13, 20-21, 540 P3d 20 (2023). Assuming
without deciding that plain error review applied, we exer-
cised our discretion to correct a plain error and reversed
based on the clear state of the law under Sohappy. Id. at
21-25.
As this case presents the same substantive issues
raised in those cases, and arises under the same proce-
dural posture as Watson, we reverse and remand for further
proceedings.
Reversed and remanded.