State v. Camacho-Garcia

341 P.3d 888, 268 Or. App. 75, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1806
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 31, 2014
Docket11P3538; A151781
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 341 P.3d 888 (State v. Camacho-Garcia) 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. Camacho-Garcia, 341 P.3d 888, 268 Or. App. 75, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1806 (Or. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

SERCOMBE, P. J.

This case concerns whether the imposed sentence is unconstitutionally disproportionate to defendant’s offense. Defendant, who lived with his girlfriend and her daughter— the victim — touched the victim’s breasts on two occasions, once over and once under her clothes. The victim was 12 or 13 years old at those times. Defendant made comments related to the victim’s sexual development during both incidents. The trial court convicted defendant of one count of sexual abuse in the first degree and sentenced him to the mandatory 75-month term of incarceration required by ORS 137.700(2)(a)(P), part of the mandatory minimum sentences adopted by Ballot Measure 11 (1994). We conclude that the sentence is not disproportionate and, accordingly, affirm.

We draw the following from the transcripts of the plea hearing and sentencing hearing. On the first occasion, defendant hugged the victim from behind and touched her breast over her clothes. He commented that she was developing and “starting to look like a quite good-looking young woman.” According to defense counsel, defendant came into contact with the victim’s breast inadvertently and this surprised him. On the second, later occasion, defendant commented to the victim that the dress she was wearing was tight and that she looked good. He then reached down under the front of her dress and touched her breasts. According to defense counsel, defendant’s intention on this occasion was to “joke with” the victim. Defendant denied that he had any sexual intent in touching the victim, and he acknowledged that his actions were “immature,” “dumb and rude.”

Defendant was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual abuse under ORS 163.427.1 The charges identically pleaded that defendant had touched the victim’s breasts between December 31, 2009 and October 21, 2011. (Given the victim’s date of birth as pleaded in the indictment, she would have been 12 or 13 during that time period.) The [77]*77second count additionally pleaded that the conduct occurred in a separate criminal episode. Defendant pleaded no contest to Count One, and the state agreed to dismiss Count Two. However, defendant admitted at the plea hearing and during sentencing that both incidents occurred in the manner in which we describe them.

At sentencing, the state recommended that the court impose the mandatory minimum sentence of 75 months’ incarceration required by Measure 11. Relying on State v. Rodriguez/Buck, 347 Or 46, 217 P3d 659 (2009) — which also involved convictions of first-degree sexual abuse involving victims less than 14 years old — defendant argued that imposing that sentence would be disproportionate in comparison with his offense, in violation of Article I, section 16, of the Oregon Constitution.2 Defendant and the state agreed that, if not for Measure 11, in light of defendant’s offense and lack of criminal history, he would fall under block 8-1 of the sentencing guidelines grid, which carries a presumptive sentence of 16 to 18 months’ incarceration. Defendant contended that probation was a more appropriate sanction in his circumstances. The victim spoke at the sentencing hearing. In her view, the time defendant already had spent in jail was enough because she and defendant had discussed what had happened, he sounded like he regretted it, and he never abused her again during the year he lived with her after she reported the touching. The trial court concluded that defendant’s offense was significantly different from those in Rodriguez ¡Buck because of the statements that defendant had made and because defendant had engaged in “skin-to-skin” contact. As a result, the trial court imposed the 75-month Measure 11 sentence.

Defendant appeals, renewing his argument that his sentence is disproportionate. On review for legal error, State v. Berry, 261 Or App 824, 835, 322 P3d 607, rev den, 356 Or 163 (2014), we conclude that defendant’s case is not one of those rare instances in which the constitution requires us to override a statutory penalty determination.

[78]*78As noted, under Article I, section 16, “all penalties shall be proportioned to the offense.” See also State v. Wheeler, 343 Or 652, 667, 175 P3d 438 (2007) (the Oregon framers’ concern embodied in Article I, section 16, was “that the penalty imposed on a criminal defendant be ‘proportioned’ to the specific offense for which the defendant was convicted — that it bear the appropriate ‘comparative relation’ to the severity of that crime”). The proportionality of a penalty is evaluated by considering whether the imposition of the sentence would “shock the moral sense” of reasonable people. Rodriguez/Buck, 347 Or at 58. In Rodriguez/Buck, the Supreme Court identified “at least three factors that bear upon [the] ultimate conclusion” whether a sentence would shock the moral sense of reasonable people. Id. at 58. Those three factors are “(1) a comparison of the severity of the penalty and the gravity of the crime; (2) a comparison of the penalties imposed for other, related crimes; and (3) the criminal history of the defendant.” Id. at 58. As to the first factor, the Rodriguez/Buck court observed that the primary determinant of the severity of the penalty is the amount of time the offender must spend in prison or jail. Id. at 60. Assessing the gravity of the offense involves “the specific defendant’s particular conduct toward the victim that constituted the crime, as well as the general definition of the crime in the statute.” Id. at 62. In making that assessment,

“a court may consider, among other things, the specific circumstances and facts of the defendant’s conduct that come within the statutory definition of the offense, as well as other case-specific factors, such as characteristics of the defendant and the victim, the harm to the victim, and the relationship between the defendant and the victim.”

Id. Finally, to determine whether the penalty is proportioned to the gravity of the offense, it is appropriate to consider the gravity of the instant conduct in comparison with other criminal conduct in light of relative harm to victims and society and relative culpability. Id. at 63 (citing Solem v. Helm, 463 US 277, 292-93, 103 S Ct 3001, 77 L Ed 2d 637 (1983)).

The parties focus on the first Rodriguez lBuck factor, and particularly the gravity of defendant’s offense. In defendant’s view, his offense was at most no more grave that [79]*79those in Rodriguez/Buck, because all three defendants had no previous criminal convictions and were convicted of one count of first-degree sexual abuse for a brief and “non-egregious” touching of an intimate body part. Defendant further contends that some circumstances surrounding his conduct suggest that his offense was less “egregious” than those of the Rodriguez/Buck defendants. For its part, the state focuses on the ways in which this case differs from the Rodriguez/Buck cases, contending that the circumstances of defendant’s offense make it more grave than the Rodriguez! Buck offenses and so support the conclusion that defendant’s sentence is not disproportionate.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
341 P.3d 888, 268 Or. App. 75, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-camacho-garcia-orctapp-2014.