State v. Eggers

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in State v. Eggers. Read the opinion of the Court — 326 Or. App. 337
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided June 14, 2023·No. A175078·Published

Opinion

No. 296 June 14, 2023 337

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF OREGON

STATE OF OREGON, Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

RICHARD DARREL EGGERS,

Defendant-Appellant. Lane County Circuit Court 20CR55734; A175078

Charles D. Carlson, Judge. Submitted August 23, 2022. Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender, Criminal Appellate Section, and Mark Kimbrell, Deputy Public Defender, Office of Public Defense Services, filed the briefs for appellant.

Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General, and Colm Moore, Assistant Attorney General, filed the brief for respondent.

Before Shorr, Presiding Judge, and Mooney, Judge, and Pagán, Judge.

SHORR, P. J. Remanded for entry of a corrected judgment omitting provision prohibiting defendant from possessing firearms or ammunition pursuant to ORS 166.255 and ORS 166.250; otherwise affirmed.

338 State v. Eggers

Cite as 326 Or App 337 (2023) 339

SHORR, P. J. Defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction for one count of harassment “constituting domestic violence ,” ORS 166.065(3), assigning error to the trial court’s imposition at sentencing of a prohibition against “possessing firearms or ammunition pursuant to ORS 166.255 and 166.250.”1 Defendant contends that the Class B misdemeanor of harassment is not a conviction that triggers the firearm prohibition in ORS 166.255 because it is not a “qualifying misdemeanor” or “a misdemeanor that has, as an element of the offense, the use or attempted use of physical force or the threatened use of a deadly weapon.” ORS 166.255(1)(b), (3)(e). We agree and therefore reverse that aspect of defendant ’s sentence.2 The relevant facts at issue in this case are purely procedural. In October of 2020, defendant was charged by information with one count of fourth-degree assault constituting domestic violence after an incident with his brother. The following month, the state filed an amended information that reduced the charge to harassment constituting domestic violence, alleging that defendant “did unlawfully and intentionally harass and annoy [his brother] by subjecting [his brother] to offensive physical contact” and further alleging “that the foregoing crime constituted domestic violence.” Defendant subsequently pleaded guilty to the offense, and the parties jointly recommended a sentence of “36 months of court probation with credit for time served considered served for jail days, no contact with the named victim, and no weapons.”

Following the entry of the plea and a recitation of the factual basis for the conviction, the trial court asked the parties to state their positions “with regard to the application of [ORS] 166.255,” the firearm prohibition statute, opining that harassment was a “specified provision.” Defendant

1 Defendant does not challenge the special condition of his probation that provides that he is not to “own, possess or have access to weapons.” Our decision is limited to defendant’s argument regarding the imposition of the restriction entered “pursuant to ORS 166.255 and 166.250.”

2 Defendant also raised a second assignment of error that he subsequently withdrew and that we do not consider.

340 State v. Eggers

argued that the prohibition did not apply and the state contended that it did apply. Defense counsel specifically argued that the “statute requires the Court to find that [defendant] represents a credible threat to the physical safety of a family or household member,” and stated:

“I don’t believe that that applies in this case at all.

“There * * * are hundreds of miles separating these parties now. This is a very low-level misdemeanor. We resolved it this way because from my perspective, I believe the State would have proof issues on an Assault at trial, and I think that it’s disproportionate punishment to revoke [defendant ’s] gun rights based on this class B misdemeanor.” The prosecutor, in turn, argued that “the statute applies. He—his brother—regardless of how close they are, is a family member, and it seems that this is domestic violence. It certainly is a family member.

“This is a qualifying misdemeanor, it includes the use or attempted use of physical force that despite the disputes of fact, this is offensive physical contact which I think qualifies as physical force.”

Following those arguments, the court stated its ruling:

“[Defense counsel], I hear what you’re saying, and maybe this will be the appeal which will correct this, but I think on its face the firearm provision does apply.

“So, Sir, pursuant to ORS 166.255, as a result of this conviction, you are no longer allowed to knowingly possess firearms or ammunition.” The court subsequently entered a judgment consistent with that ruling, and this timely appeal followed. As explained above, defendant assigns error to the trial court’s imposition of the firearm prohibition in ORS 166.255, contending that the crime of harassment is not a “qualifying misdemeanor ” that “has, as an element of the offense, the use or attempted use of physical force or the threatened use of a deadly weapon.” ORS 166.255(1)(b), (3)(e).

We first address the state’s contention that defendant ’s argument is unpreserved. Specifically, the state

Cite as 326 Or App 337 (2023) 341

contends that defendant’s trial argument against the imposition of the firearm prohibition referenced ORS 166.255 (1)(a), which makes it unlawful for a person to knowingly possess a firearm if the person is the subject of an order that “[r]estrains the person from stalking, intimidating, molesting or menacing a family or household member of the person ” and “[i]ncludes a finding that the person represents a credible threat to the physical safety” of that person. The state notes that defendant was not subject to a restraining order and did not raise any argument in the trial court that relied on ORS 166.255(1)(b).

“Although the preservation requirement is not something that can be explained by a neat verbal formula, the essential goal is straightforward: A party must provide the trial court with an explanation of his or her objection that is specific enough to ensure that the court can identify its alleged error with enough clarity to permit it to consider and correct the error immediately.”

State v. Vanornum, 354 Or 614, 632, 317 P3d 889 (2013) (internal quotation marks, citations, and brackets omitted). That requirement is intended to “ensure that trial courts have an opportunity to understand and correct their own possible errors and that the parties are not taken by surprise , misled, or denied opportunities to meet an argument.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). The Supreme Court has counseled “attention to the purposes of the rule and the practicalities it serves.” State v. Walker, 350 Or 540, 548, 258 P3d 1228 (2011). As it explained in State v. Parkins, 346 Or 333, 341, 211 P3d 262 (2009), “[u]ltimately, the preservation rule is a practical one, and close calls * * * inevitably will turn on whether, given the particular record of a case, the court concludes that the policies underlying the rule have been sufficiently served.”

Here, we conclude that the purposes of preservation were met. First, defendant’s objection to the imposition of ORS 166.255 was specific and clear enough to provide the trial court with an opportunity to identify, understand, and consider the issue defendant now presses. In alerting the court and the state that he objected to the imposition of the firearm prohibition in ORS 166.255, defendant sufficiently raised the issue of the applicability of the firearm prohibition 342 State v. Eggers

under ORS 166.255 even if he did not explicitly address the specific subparagraph now at issue on appeal. “The fact that the level of detail or thoroughness with which a party articulates a position may leave something to be desired does not mean that it was insufficient to serve the rule of preservation ’s pragmatic purposes.” Walker, 350 Or at 550.

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