State v. Berndt

386 P.3d 196, 282 Or. App. 73, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1403
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 9, 2016
Docket120230889; A154683
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 386 P.3d 196 (State v. Berndt) 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. Berndt, 386 P.3d 196, 282 Or. App. 73, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1403 (Or. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

ARMSTRONG, P. J.

On multiple occasions, defendant, who was a member of Bally’s gym, went into the men’s locker room at different Bally’s facilities in the Portland area, broke into lockers belonging to other Bally’s members, and stole various pieces of identification, including driver licenses, credit cards, and checkbooks from the lockers. He later—often the same day—made fraudulent purchases with the stolen items. Defendant also stole some members’ car keys out of their lockers, and he stole one member’s car. For that conduct, he was tried and convicted in Multnomah County of six counts of burglary in the second degree, ORS 164.215 (Counts 1, 15, 35, 47, 59, 71),1 34 counts of identity theft, ORS 165.800 (Counts 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 23, 26, 29, 32, 34, 37, 40, 43, 46, 48, 49, 52, 55, 58, 61, 63, 64, 69, 70, 72, 75, 78, 81, 84, 87, 90, 93, and 95), and a variety of other crimes, including first-, second-, and third-degree theft, fraudulent use of a credit card, second-degree forgery, unauthorized use of a vehicle, and aggravated identity-theft. He appeals the resulting judgment, raising 46 assignments of error, all of which relate to his second-degree burglary and identity-theft convictions. In a pro se supplemental brief, defendant raises an additional assignment of error, which we reject without discussion.2 As explained below, we reverse as to the burglary counts (Counts 1, 15, 35, 47, 59, and 71) and four of the identify-theft counts (Counts 34, 61, 63, and 64), and remand for resentencing; otherwise, we affirm.

We begin with second-degree burglary. In his first through eighth assignments of error, defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal (MJOA) on the second-degree burglary charges [76]*76for which he was found guilty because, contrary to the state’s theory of prosecution, he “[did] not lose his license or privilege to remain on [Bally’s] premises merely by forming an intent to commit a crime” (boldface omitted), and, therefore, the state did not prove that element of the offenses.3

In reviewing the denial of an MJOA, “[w]e view the evidence in the light most favorable to the state to determine whether a rational trier of fact, making reasonable inferences, could have found the essential elements of the crime proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Hall, 327 Or 568, 570, 966 P2d 208 (1998). Here, there is no dispute about the facts; the question is purely a legal one.

Each of the second-degree burglary charges alleged that defendant “did unlawfully and knowingly enter and remain in a building located at [referencing the address of the relevant Bally’s gym] with the intent to commit the crime of Theft therein [.] ” At the close of the state’s case at trial, defendant moved for an MJOA on those charges, arguing that the evidence demonstrated that he was not on Bally’s premises unlawfully, that he “wasn’t otherwise trespassing,” but had permission to be there, and, consequently, the state failed to prove the elements of second-degree burglary. The state’s theory in response was that defendant was unlawfully present in the Bally’s men’s locker rooms because he exceeded the scope of his license to be there, granted by Bally’s as a consequence of his gym membership, when he broke into other members’ lockers.4 The trial court agreed with the state and denied defendant’s MJOA on that basis. On appeal, the parties essentially reprise their arguments.

ORS 164.215(1) provides that a person commits the crime of second-degree burglary “if the person enters or remains unlawfully in a building with intent to commit a crime there in.” It is an aggravated form of criminal trespass (ORS 164.245; ORS 164.255), which is committed by entering or remaining unlawfully on premises. State v. Werner, 281 Or App 154, 162, 383 P3d 875 (2016); State v. [77]*77Sanchez-Alfonso, 224 Or App 556, 561, 198 P3d 946 (2008), rev den, 346 Or 258 (2009) (“First-degree criminal trespass becomes second-degree burglary, ORS 164.215, *** if the premises entered is a building and the person enters or remains in it with the intent to commit a crime therein.”). The phrase “enter or remain unlawfully,” for purposes of ORS 164.215(1), and as pertinent here, is defined to mean “[t]o enter or remain in or upon premises when the premises, at the time of such entry or remaining, are not open to the public and when the entrant is not otherwise licensed or privileged to do so” ORS 164.205(3)(a) (emphasis added).5

In 'Werner, decided after trial and appellate briefing in this case, the state argued that, “if a person with permission to be in a building commits an unauthorized crime in the building, the person is guilty not only of the crime, but also of burglary,” 281 Or App at 163-64, in other words, that the defendant was guilty of burglary when he committed another crime while licensed to be in the building. We rejected that theory, concluding that it was inconsistent with the legislature’s definition of burglary in that “ [i] t fails to treat burglary as a separate, earlier crime than the crime intended to be committed in the building * * * even though the legislature intended burglary to be separate from (and not dependent upon) the subsequent commission of the intended crime.” Id. at 164. As we explained, “[i]f, as the state argues, the commission of a crime is what causes a person who is otherwise licensed to be present in a building to become a trespasser, then the person is not trespassing with the intent to commit that crime.” Id. The state makes the same argument here; in light of our holding in Werner, we reject it.

The state also argues that defendant did not exceed the scope of his license to be on the Bally’s premises “solely ” because he formed the intention to commit a crime inside the facilities, but that “he became a trespasser once he acted outside the scope of his license, regardless of the criminality of his subsequent conduct.” (Emphasis in original.) [78]*78According to the state, a rational juror could find that defendant’s membership agreement permitted him to use the facilities for physical exercise—and, as we understand the state’s point, anything outside of that would exceed the scope of his license, making him a trespasser.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
386 P.3d 196, 282 Or. App. 73, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-berndt-orctapp-2016.