State v. Curry

560 P.3d 694, 336 Or. App. 72
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided November 6, 2024·No. A172629·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

72 November 6, 2024 No. 800

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF OREGON

STATE OF OREGON, Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

ANTHONY LENAIRE CURRY,

aka Anthony L. Curry, aka Levone M. Donavon, aka Michael Lavone Donovan, aka Tony Jackson, Defendant-Appellant.

Multnomah County Circuit Court 14CR25418; A172629

Thomas M. Ryan, Judge. Argued and submitted April 11, 2022. Emily P. Seltzer, 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. Anthony L. Curry filed the supplemental briefs pro se.

Peenesh Shah, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. Also on the briefs were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General.

Before Powers, Presiding Judge, Lagesen, Chief Judge, and Hellman, Judge.

HELLMAN, J. Reversed and remanded.

Cite as 336 Or App 72 (2024) 73 74 State v. Curry

HELLMAN, J. Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him of multiple sex offenses against a minor victim, G. He raises eight assignments of error in his opening brief and seven additional assignments of error in his pro se supplemental brief. Defendant’s first assignment of error challenges the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained from a warranted search of his residence in 2014. We conclude that four of the challenged search categories are insufficiently particular. Because the remedy framework that the Supreme Court established in State v. Turay, 371 Or 128, 532 P3d 57 (2023), applies to all search warrants , we remand to the trial court to apply that framework in this case.

We additionally conclude that the trial court did not err on any of the grounds raised in defendant’s first, second , fourth, and fifth pro se assignments of error. Finally, in light of our disposition, we do not address defendant’s other assignments of error because they depend on a record that is likely to develop differently on remand. State v. Savage, 305 Or App 339, 342, 470 P3d 387 (2020) (“Ordinarily, we will consider issues likely to arise on remand when the trial court or agency has determined a question of law that will still be at issue after the case is remanded.”). I. THE CHARGES AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The charges against defendant followed an investigation by Beaverton Police Detective Opitz in late August 2014 after a strip club employee reached out to police with suspicions that G was working at the club as a dancer under false identification. After confirming that G was 15 years old, police stopped defendant’s car while he was transporting G and arrested him. G told Opitz that defendant had engaged in sexual contact with her multiple times. In September 2014, Opitz obtained and executed a warrant to search defendant’s residence.1 1 The search warrant was issued by a Washington County circuit court for offenses that defendant committed against G in Washington County. Those offenses were similar in nature and during the same timeframe as the Multnomah County offenses for which defendant was tried and convicted in this case.

Cite as 336 Or App 72 (2024) 75

In early October 2014, G went to CARES Northwest for a forensic exam and interview, where she made additional disclosures. A few days after the forensic exam, Opitz obtained a warrant to seize and search defendant’s cell phone, which police had seized incident to his arrest just over one month earlier. Both searches uncovered evidence of criminal activity that, along with G’s statements to law enforcement, led to the Multnomah County indictment on 34 counts, which were based on sex acts he committed against G, advertising G and initiating her into prostitution , and initiating and making money off of her dancing at strip clubs. In 2018, in response to a motion to suppress evidence discovered during the 2014 warranted searches of his residence and cell phone, the state obtained and executed another warrant to search defendant’s cell phone.

A jury convicted defendant in January 2019 of multiple offenses.2 This appeal followed.

II. FIRST ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR: MOTION TO SUPPRESS EVIDENCE FROM WARRANTED RESIDENTIAL SEARCH

Defendant asserts that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained from the warranted search of his residence in September 2014. He argues that the warrant was not sufficiently particular under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution, and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and that the trial court’s error in denying the motion to suppress prejudiced him. A. Standard of Review “We review particularity challenges, as relevant to the denial of a motion to suppress evidence found in a warranted search, for legal error.” State v. Vesa, 324 Or App 674, 680, 527 P3d 786 (2023) (citing State v. Paye, 310 Or App 408, 413, 486 P3d 808 (2021)).

2 Defendant was convicted of one count of compelling prostitution, ORS 167.017; two counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, ORS 163.670; four counts of attempt to commit using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, ORS 161.405(2)(b); eight counts of third-degree rape, ORS 163.355; seven counts of third-degree sodomy, ORS 163.385; and one count of attempt to commit promoting prostitution, ORS 161.405(2)(d).

76 State v. Curry

B. Factual Background “In reviewing whether a search warrant was supported by probable cause, we consider only those facts put before the magistrate in the supporting affidavit, along with reasonable inferences that can be drawn from them.” State v. Cannon, 299 Or App 616, 618, 450 P3d 567 (2019). We recite the facts accordingly.

Opitz submitted the search warrant for defendant’s residence in September 2014. In the affidavit, Opitz discussed his experience and training, as well as his knowledge about sex crimes, cell phones and computers, and then described the investigation in detail, as follows.

Opitz started investigating G’s circumstances in late August 2014 after a manager at a strip club reached out with suspicions that G was working at the club using false identification. The manager informed Opitz that G had danced, fully nude, an estimated five days at the club. Opitz then confirmed that the identification was fake and conducted a records check on G. He learned that she had been reported missing in July 2014, after running away from a substance abuse treatment center.

Opitz’s investigation led him to more strip clubs in Washington County and Multnomah County where G had danced fully nude. A bartender at one of the strip clubs informed him that on one occasion within the past month:

“[A] black male subject came into [the strip club] and [G] told [the bartender] this unidentified black male was holding onto her money and she was trying to get away from him but couldn’t. [G] told [the bartender] that she did not like the way that the black male subject was treating her and mentioned that she ([G]) was working for him.”

In addition, Opitz conducted a Google search of G’s cell phone number and found evidence that G was the victim of sex trafficking. Opitz listed four prostitution advertisements connected with G’s phone number and explained that each advertisement included multiple photographs, although none of them showed the subject’s face.

Cite as 336 Or App 72 (2024) 77

In early September 2014, police conducted a traffic stop of defendant in the parking lot of a strip club where G was scheduled to work after observing G in his vehicle. Police arrested defendant and spoke with G, who informed Opitz that she was there to dance at the club. She had the fake identification and a pre-paid cell phone in her purse. G consented for Opitz to search the phone, and he located a phone contact entry for defendant.

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State v. Curry, 560 P.3d 694, 336 Or. App. 72 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).

560 P.3d 694 (State v. Curry) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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