State v. Civil

388 P.3d 1185, 283 Or. App. 395, 2017 Ore. App. LEXIS 44
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJanuary 11, 2017
DocketCR1401001; A158212
StatusPublished
Cited by113 cases

This text of 388 P.3d 1185 (State v. Civil) 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. Civil, 388 P.3d 1185, 283 Or. App. 395, 2017 Ore. App. LEXIS 44 (Or. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

HASELTON, S. J.

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction of one count of unauthorized use of a vehicle (UUV), ORS 164.135, entered after a bench trial. He asserts that, although he was charged with UUV solely under ORS 164.135(l)(a), the evidence at trial related only to ORS 164.135(l)(c)—and, because of that asymmetry, he was entitled to acquittal.1 Central to defendant’s challenge is his assertion that State v. Cox, 96 Or App 473, 772 P2d 1385, rev den, 308 Or 315 (1989), in which we construed the scope of ORS 164.135(1)(a), “was wrongly decided and should be overruled.” For the reasons that follow, we conclude that our essential reasoning in Cox was so fundamentally flawed as to render that holding “plainly wrong.” Accord Farmers Ins. Co. v. Mowry, 350 Or 686, 697-98, 261 P3d 1 (2011) (addressing considerations pertaining to adherence to stare decisis with respect to statutory construction); State v. Olive, 259 Or App 104, 107-08, 312 P3d 588 (2013) (applying “plainly wrong” standard with respect to court’s precedent construing statute). Accordingly, we reverse.

Defendant’s challenge, as raised during closing argument in a trial to the court, was, albeit not explicitly so denominated, in the nature of a motion for judgment of acquittal. See, e.g., State v. Hawkins, 280 Or App 26, 29, 380 P3d 979 (2016); State v. Habibullah, 278 Or App 239, 242 n 1, 373 P3d 1259 (2016). Consequently, we state the material facts in the light most favorable to the state. State v. Markwell, 281 Or App 196, 197, 383 P3d 285 (2016).

In early January 2014, defendant started working as a “driver” for Farm Fresh Foods, which was in the [397]*397business of door-to-door meat sales.2 According to Farm Fresh’s local warehouse manager, Talsma, “product is given to drivers on consignment, and * * * they pay a daily truck charge [of $20], like a sublease on the vehicles.” Typically, drivers would come to the warehouse in Milwaukie in the morning, inventory would be loaded into freezers in the vehicles (either trucks or vans), and invoices would be issued. Vehicles were scheduled to be returned to the warehouse at the end of the day, between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m.—and, in all events, “no later than 10 [p.m.], and definitely not overnight.”

On the morning of April 15, 2014, defendant contacted Talsma about the possibility of working as a driver that day. Another driver, McClure, had just called to tell Talsma that his vehicle had broken down, so Talsma told defendant that he “could work with [McClure] that day.” Specifically, Talsma had a vehicle (a van) fully loaded at the Milwaukie warehouse and released the van to defendant with instructions, and on the understanding, that defendant would pick up McClure at his home in Northeast Portland and that he and McClure would work together that day. Defendant was aware that he was to return that van to the warehouse that evening.

Defendant did not, however, pick up McClure, much less work with him in making meat sales that day. Nor did defendant return the van that night. Instead, the van was found abandoned, but undamaged, five days later, in a parking lot in Happy Valley, several miles from the Milwaukie warehouse. Most of the meat inside was spoiled and unsalvageable.

Defendant was charged by indictment with one count of UUV and one count of theft in the second degree, ORS 164.045. The UUV count (Count 1) alleged:

“The defendant, on or about April 15, 2014, in Clackamas County, Oregon, did unlawfully and knowingly [398]*398take, operate, ride in, and/or exercise control over a vehicle, without the consent of the owner, Farm Fresh Foods.”

The operative allegation replicates the applicable text of ORS 164.135(1)(a). See 283 Or App at 396 n 1.

The matter was tried to the court. After the submission of the evidence, substantiating the facts recounted above, the prosecutor, in his initial closing argument, summarized the state’s theory of “unauthorized use”:

“[T]he sole authorization for [defendant] was to use the vehicle to go pick up a coworker. He’s driving all over town that day * * * and obviously never returns the vehicle.
«*** The vehicle’s only discovered several days later. His initial use beyond not picking up the coworker was unauthorized, but his unauthorized use continued.”

The prosecutor explicitly referred to Cox, describing its facts, and concluded:

“I think [the circumstances in Cox] are clearly analogous to this. And like I said, I think his use was technically unauthorized the moment he didn’t pick up [McClure], but then he continued to go about possession of the vehicle.”

Defense counsel, in closing, asserted, inter alia, that defendant must be acquitted because the evidence established, at most, unauthorized use under ORS 164.135(1) (c) (emphasis added)—which had not been pleaded in the indictment:

“[T]aking the case most favorable to the State, the State has * * * mispled.
«⅜ ‡ ⅜ ⅜ ‡
“Subsection (c) is saying, having * * * custody of a vehicle * * * pursuant to an agreement with the owner * * * whereby such vehicle is to be returned to the owner at a specified time, the person knowingly retains or withholds possession thereof without consent of the owner for so lengthy a period beyond the specified time as to render such retention or possession a gross deviation from the agreement.
«⅝ * * * ⅜
“And the State has pled it under (l)(a). So even if this Court does believe that there was some sort of criminal conduct on behalf of [defendant], the charging instrument [399]*399doesn’t address what subsection that conduct would come under.”

Defense counsel concluded by reiterating that subsection (l)(c) was the pertinent provision but that “the State hasn’t pled it in that manner.” The court then observed, “True. They’re stuck with what they pled.” Defense counsel did not address Cox in closing.

Finally, in rebuttal closing, the prosecutor characterized defendant’s contention as “simply a red herring.” Instead, he reiterated that “[defendant] clearly used the vehicle or operated it, or exercised control over it without consent of the owner in this case in a number of ways over a number of days.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
388 P.3d 1185, 283 Or. App. 395, 2017 Ore. App. LEXIS 44, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-civil-orctapp-2017.