A Harney County judge on Friday denied former Portland police Chief Larry O'Dea's motion to dismiss his negligent wounding charge on the basis that it was vague and unconstitutional, according to the court's record of the hearing.

Circuit Court Judge William D. Cramer said the misdemeanor charge stands, and his ruling is based on the law, according to a court account of the 25-minute hearing in Burns. Cramer said he reviewed each side's legal briefs and oral arguments made in court Friday.

O'Dea, who resigned in late June while facing a state criminal investigation, is accused of negligently wounding a friend in an off-duty April 21 shooting near Fields in Harney County.

After the judge's ruling Friday, O'Dea's lawyer Derek Ashton told the court he'll be filing a motion to dismiss the criminal charge and seek a civil compromise. He also said he plans to file a motion on evidence discovery issues.

The judge scheduled two hearings for early next year: A hearing on Ashton's civil compromise motion is set for Jan. 13. A judge would have to approve a civil compromise before dismissing the charge. A hearing on evidence discovery matters is set for Feb. 8.

O'Dea is accused of "failing to use ordinary care'' in shooting his friend Robert Dempsey on April 21, the indictment said. The men were part of a group camping and shooting at ground squirrels when O'Dea shot Dempsey in the back with his .22-caliber rifle. Dempsey was airlifted to a trauma hospital in Boise, Idaho, where he was treated and released, according to dispatch and sheriff's reports.

Ashton had asked that the charge be dismissed as "unconstitutionally vague,'' and argued that the negligent wounding statute is "too open-ended.'' He also contended that the indictment against O'Dea -- and the pretrial evidence obtained from the Oregon Department of Justice -- doesn't explain how O'Dea allegedly acted negligently or failed to use "ordinary care under the circumstances,'' as the language of the statute sets out.

Assistant Attorney General Colin Benson countered that the "indictment is explicit."

"Mr. O'Dea wounded Mr. Robert Dempsey with a bullet fired from a gun. This is the act stated as plainly as possible," Benson said in court papers. "The culpability is his failing to act with ordinary care."

In a new motion for a civil compromise, Ashton urged the court to dismiss the charge and provided a statement by O'Dea's friend, Dempsey, who does not wish to pursue a criminal prosecution.

"Dempsey has never wanted to pursue prosecution,'' Ashton told The Oregonian/OregonLive Friday night.

Dempsey, who testified before the grand jury that returned an indictment against O'Dea, wrote in the statement that he does not wish his longtime friend to be prosecuted for the shooting, saying he considered it an "accident'' and O'Dea was not impaired by alcohol. Dempsey also wrote that he's "received full satisfaction for my damages and injuries,'' as a result of the shooting accident.

"Larry O'Dea has long been a friend of mine,'' Dempsey's declaration says. "Larry O'Dea was not intoxicated nor was he impaired by alcohol on April 21, 2016. I have told the prosecuting attorneys this. I have also told the prosecuting attorneys that I do not want to be part of this prosecution.''

Ashton wrote in the motion, "Given the fact that this case arises from an accident and the alleged victim does not (and never did) want Mr. O'Dea to face criminal charges for the accident, the interest of justice supports dismissing the charge against Mr. O'Dea pursuant to a civil compromise.''

The Oregon Department of Justice, which investigated the case and is prosecuting O'Dea, can continue to pursue prosecution, even if the victim in the case doesn't support a criminal prosecution, according to current and former prosecutors. The state can rely on medical records to prove an injury occurred, deputy sheriff reports, and statements from O'Dea, the victim and other witness accounts.

When a Harney County deputy responded to a 911 call after the shooting, O'Dea suggested that the injury had been self-inflicted, according to sheriff's office reports. O'Dea told the deputy that his friend, Dempsey, may have accidentally shot himself while putting his pistol in his shoulder holster while they were shooting squirrels, the reports show. He didn't identify himself as Portland's police chief.

The deputy, according to his report, said he smelled alcohol on O'Dea's breath. O'Dea told the deputy that he didn't have his rifle in his hand at the time but was reaching for a drink out of a cooler and heard his friend scream.

But O'Dea sometime later called Dempsey to apologize for shooting him.

After his release from the hospital, Dempsey was interviewed by the deputy and disclosed for the first time that it was O'Dea who had shot him. He told the sheriff's office that O'Dea had been having trouble with his rifle all day, that it was jamming and misfiring. Dempsey told the deputy that O'Dea said he went back to his chair and when he picked up his rifle, it accidentally went off, according to the deputy's report.

On May 20, in response to reporters' questions, O'Dea first acknowledged publicly through a Portland police spokesman that he had a "negligent discharge" of his rifle and shot his friend. At that time, O'Dea hadn't told the agency investigating the shooting that he was the shooter, according to the Harney County sheriff.

"Mr. O'Dea did not knowingly discharge his weapon, and was unaware until some time after the accident that the shot came from his firearm,'' Ashton wrote in his motion for a civil compromise.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian