State v. DuBois

191 P.3d 670, 221 Or. App. 644, 2008 Ore. App. LEXIS 1132
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 13, 2008
Docket0300061CR; A127939
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 191 P.3d 670 (State v. DuBois) 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. DuBois, 191 P.3d 670, 221 Or. App. 644, 2008 Ore. App. LEXIS 1132 (Or. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

*646 SERCOMBE, J.

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for unauthorized use of a vehicle, ORS 164.135, and criminal conspiracy, ORS 161.450. On appeal, defendant asserts five assignments of error, the first three of which pertain to her convictions; her fourth and fifth assignments of error challenge the trial court’s award of restitution. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Because defendant was convicted by a jury, we state the facts in the light most favorable to the state. State v. Johnson, 342 Or 596, 598, 157 P3d 198 (2007), cert den, 128 S Ct 906 (2008). At the center of this case is a 1975 Chevy Camaro. In early 2001, the car was registered to defendant but was being driven by her husband, Dubois. In May 2001, defendant discovered that Dubois was having an affair with her friend, Howe. Defendant obtained a restraining order against Dubois that prevented him from going near defendant and her property, including the Camaro. On May 15, 2001, after an altercation with defendant, Dubois drove the Camaro to Howe’s address. The following day, Dubois was arrested, but the Camaro disappeared. Defendant reported to police that the car had been stolen.

On July 25, 2001, Dubois and Howe took the car to the Department of Transportation, Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division (DMV), and attempted to register the Camaro in Howe’s name. They presented a title to the Camaro that contained defendant’s signature releasing her interest in it. Nonetheless, because the car had been previously reported stolen, DMV notified the police department and delayed transferring title to Howe pending the investigation.

As part of the investigation, a police officer contacted defendant about the Camaro. Defendant denied that she had ever signed a document transferring title to the car. Rather, defendant told the officer that her signature was forged. The police officer concluded that the dispute over ownership of the car was essentially civil in nature and was best resolved through civil rather than criminal proceedings.

*647 In the meantime, Dubois was sentenced to prison for charges stemming from his earlier arrest, and he left the car with Howe. Dubois and Howe then corresponded from prison regarding the fate of the Camaro. Howe suggested that the Camaro be given to her mother, O’Neal, to whom Dubois and Howe owed rent. Dubois, however, sought the assistance of his friend Zanotto, and asked her to take his belongings, including the Camaro, to his own mother’s home instead.

Howe did not approve of the plan to drive the Camaro to Dubois’s mother’s house, and she refused to cooperate with Zanotto. At that point, Zanotto went to DMV and determined that defendant was the registered owner of the vehicle because the title transfer processing had been delayed by defendant’s earlier report that the car was stolen. Zanotto then contacted defendant, and the two of them agreed to retrieve the car from Howe based on the fact that it was registered in defendant’s name. Defendant and Zanotto then went to the police station and persuaded the police to assist them in retrieving the Camaro, based on defendant’s representation that she was the registered owner of the car.

Zanotto and defendant drove to Howe’s property on October 31, 2001, to take possession of the Camaro; they were accompanied by a police officer. When they arrived at Howe’s property, Zanotto and the officer approached Howe. Defendant remained at the edge of the property because, by all accounts, she was not welcome on Howe’s property. In fact, according to defendant, Howe had previously “sicced her Rottweilers on” defendant.

When Zanotto told Howe that she was taking the Camaro, Howe and O’Neal, who was also present, both “threw a fit in the driveway,” including “screaming and throwing papers around [.]” The officer then proposed that the car be stored at Zanotto’s house while the issue of ownership was resolved; Zanotto represented to Howe that she would not charge a fee for the storage. Believing that she had no choice in the matter, Howe allowed Zanotto to drive the Camaro to her house for storage, pending the resolution of defendant’s claim of ownership.

From her vantage point, defendant did not hear the conversation that occurred between Zanotto, Howe, and the *648 officer, but she watched Zanotto drive the Camaro off of Howe’s property. Defendant then left in Zanotto’s car. Once they had driven a few blocks away from Howe’s property, defendant and Zanotto switched cars, and defendant drove the Camaro to Zanotto’s house. The unauthorized use of a vehicle charge against defendant is based on that use of the Camaro.

Sometime thereafter — and despite her assurance to Howe that there would be no fee for holding the Camaro— Zanotto entered into an agreement with defendant to store the car for $75 per month. The November 3, 2001, written agreement made specific reference to the possibility of a lien on the Camaro: “If for any reason payments are not made we also agree that a lien for storage fees will be filed on vehicle and all fees must be paid in full.”

While the car was being held at Zanotto’s, a handwriting analysis on the Camaro’s title was completed. It revealed that defendant had, in fact, signed the title, thereby releasing her interest in the car; defendant ultimately admitted as much to one of the investigating officers. 1 At that point, the police informed Howe that the ownership issue had been resolved and that she could retrieve the Camaro from Zanotto’s storage. Howe and O’Neal, sometimes accompanied by police, repeatedly attempted to recover the Camaro, but Zanotto consistently made excuses as to why she could not produce the car. Finally, in March 2002, threatened with arrest if she continued to stall, Zanotto turned over the Camaro to Howe.

That, however, was not the end of the road for the Camaro. After recovering the Camaro, Howe gave the car to O’Neal as payment for rent owed, and the car was taken to O’Neal’s house. On May 10, 2002, O’Neal discovered that the car was missing and reported it as stolen. After making the report, O’Neal discovered that Zanotto had placed a storage lien on the Camaro — based on unpaid bills that were provided to defendant pursuant to the “storage agreement”— and had followed the statutory process to foreclose on the lien and acquire title to the Camaro. The police then investigated *649 Zanotto’s actions in connection with the lien, but O’Neal never recovered the Camaro after it disappeared from her carport. 2

Eventually, defendant and Zanotto were charged with crimes arising out of their involvement with the Camaro. Defendant, for her part, was charged with one count of unauthorized use of a vehicle (UUV), ORS 164.135

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Related

State v. Lasky
314 P.3d 304 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
191 P.3d 670, 221 Or. App. 644, 2008 Ore. App. LEXIS 1132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dubois-orctapp-2008.