State v. Benton

505 P.3d 975, 317 Or. App. 384
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedFebruary 9, 2022
DocketA164057
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 505 P.3d 975 (State v. Benton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Benton, 505 P.3d 975, 317 Or. App. 384 (Or. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

Argued and submitted December 20, 2019; conviction on Count 8 reversed, conviction on Counts 1, 2, 6, and 7 reversed and remanded, otherwise affirmed February 9, 2022

STATE OF OREGON, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. LYNN EDWARD BENTON, Defendant-Appellant. Clackamas County Circuit Court CR1201792; A164057 505 P3d 975

Defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction for aggravated murder and attempted murder, raising 31 assignments of error. The Court of Appeals addressed three categories of claimed error and did not reach defendant’s remaining assignments of error. Those three categories are (1) defendant’s assignments of error to the trial court’s denials of defendant’s demurrers, motions to dismiss, and motions for judgment of acquittal based on an alleged variance in proof between the indictment and the evidence presented at trial, (2) defendant’s assignments of error to the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress statements defendant made to a jailhouse informant on the ground that the informant was a state agent, and (3) defendant’s assignment of error to the trial court’s refusal to conduct an in camera review of the records of Dr. Guyton, who was hired by the attorney for the jailhouse informant to perform a psycholog- ical evaluation of him. Held: (1) The trial court did not err in denying defendant’s demurrers, motions to dismiss, and motions for judgment of acquittal, because the alleged variances in proof were neither material nor prejudicial. (2) The jail- house informant was acting as a state agent after July 2, 2015, triggering the state constitutional protections of the exclusionary rule. The trial court erred when it denied defendant’s motion to suppress statements made by defendant to the informant after that date, requiring reversal and remand of defendant’s convictions. (3) The trial court did not err in refusing to conduct an in camera review of Guyton’s records, because defendant did not make a sufficient thresh- old showing for such a review. (4) Additionally, the attempted murder conviction was reversed for the trial court to enter a judgment reflecting its post-judgment dismissal of that count. Conviction on Count 8 reversed; conviction on Counts 1, 2, 6, and 7 reversed and remanded; otherwise affirmed.

Kathie F. Steele, Judge. David Sherbo-Huggins, Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant. Also on the briefs was Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender, Criminal Appellate Section, Office of Public Defense Services. Cite as 317 Or App 384 (2022) 385

Michael A. Casper, Assistant Attorney General, and Christopher A. Perdue, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. Also on the brief were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General. Before Ortega, Presiding Judge, and Shorr, Judge, and Powers, Judge. ORTEGA, P. J. Conviction on Count 8 reversed; conviction on Counts 1, 2, 6, and 7 reversed and remanded; otherwise affirmed. 386 State v. Benton

ORTEGA, P. J. Defendant appeals from a judgment of convic- tion for aggravated murder and attempted murder. A jury found defendant guilty of two counts of aggravated murder (Counts 1 and 2), two counts of conspiracy (Counts 6 and 7), and one count of attempted murder (Count 8), and the trial court merged the guilty verdicts on Counts 2, 6, and 7 into the guilty verdict on Count 1, for a single conviction of aggravated murder.1 Defendant asserts 31 assignments of error on appeal.2 In this opinion, we address only defen- dant’s assignments of error 6 through 17, and, based on our disposition of those assignments, we need not reach defen- dant’s remaining assignments of error. In assignments of error 11 through 17, defendant challenges the trial court’s denials of defendant’s demur- rers, motions to dismiss, and motions for judgment of acquittal based on an alleged variance in proof between the indictment and the evidence presented at trial for Counts 6 through 8. Although, as explained below, we reverse Count 8 because the trial court ultimately dismissed that count based on defendant’s post-judgment motion, we consider defendant’s assignments with respect to Count 8, as well as with respect to Counts 6 and 7, because he argues that the trial court’s failure to dismiss Count 8 earlier in the

1 The trial court granted defendant’s motions for judgment of acquittal on three counts of solicitation (Counts 3, 4, and 5). We “otherwise affirm” those acquittals in our disposition of this case. 2 In supplemental briefing, defendant also brings challenges under Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 US ___, 140 S Ct 1390, 206 L Ed 2d 583 (2020), which we reject with respect to Counts 6 and 7 and which we do not reach with respect to Count 8. Here, the trial court instructed the jury that it could find defendant guilty of aggravated murder only by a unanimous verdict (Counts 1 and 2). The court also instructed the jury that it could find defendant guilty of the remaining counts (Counts 6, 7, and 8) by a nonunanimous vote of 10 jurors, which was error under Ramos. The jury’s guilty verdict on Count 8, attempted murder, was nonunan- imous. As a result, ordinarily we would reverse and remand Count 8. State v. Flores Ramos, 367 Or 292, 297, 478 P3d 515 (2020). However, as discussed below, because the trial court granted defendant’s post-judgment motion to dis- miss Count 8, but did not enter a corrected judgment dismissing that count, we instead reverse Count 8, without remand, on that basis. The jury returned a unanimous verdict on both Counts 6 and 7. Thus, we conclude that any error in giving a nonunanimous jury instruction on Counts 6 and 7 was harmless as to those counts. Id. at 333-34. Cite as 317 Or App 384 (2022) 387

proceedings prejudiced his trial. We conclude that the trial court did not err. In assignments of error 7 through 10, defendant challenges the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress statements defendant made to a jailhouse informant on the ground that the informant was a state agent. We conclude that the jailhouse informant was acting as a state agent after July 2, 2015, triggering the state constitutional pro- tections of the exclusionary rule. Thus, the trial court erred when it denied defendant’s motion to suppress statements made by defendant to the informant after that date. We also conclude that that error was not harmless and reverse and remand Counts 1, 2, 6, and 7 on that basis. We also reverse Count 8, but without a remand. The trial court granted defendant’s post-judgment motion and dismissed Count 8, which ruling is not challenged on appeal; however, the trial court did not enter a corrected judgment dismissing Count 8. Thus, we reverse defendant’s conviction on Count 8 for the trial court to enter a judgment reflecting its dismissal of that count. Finally, we also address defendant’s sixth assign- ment of error, because it raises an issue of law that will likely arise on remand and we determine that it is appro- priate to address the merits of that issue in this opinion. In that assignment, defendant argues that the trial court erred when it refused to conduct an in camera review of the records of Dr. Guyton, who was hired by the attorney for the jailhouse informant to perform a psychological evaluation of him in 2014. We conclude that the trial court did not err in refusing to conduct an in camera review, because defen- dant did not make a sufficient threshold showing that those records contain Brady material. I. BACKGROUND FACTS Because of the complexity of this case and the var- ied assignments of error that we address, we discuss many facts, both historical and procedural, only in the sections pertaining to specific assignments of error. The following recites only the most pertinent trial testimony to provide context for the more specific discussions in our analysis. 388 State v. Benton

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Related

State v. Ainsworth
347 Or. App. 616 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2026)
State v. Johnson
342 Or. App. 278 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2025)
State v. Benton
534 P.3d 724 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2023)
State v. Zielinski
515 P.3d 397 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2022)

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Bluebook (online)
505 P.3d 975, 317 Or. App. 384, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-benton-orctapp-2022.