State v. Enyeart

340 P.3d 57, 266 Or. App. 763, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1550
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 13, 2014
DocketC101857CR; A147684
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 340 P.3d 57 (State v. Enyeart) 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. Enyeart, 340 P.3d 57, 266 Or. App. 763, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1550 (Or. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

ARMSTRONG, R J.

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for interfering with a peace officer, ORS 162.247(l)(b). While defendant was stopped at a red light, a police officer approached defendant and ordered her to turn off her car’s engine. When the stoplight turned green, defendant drove off. The state subsequently charged defendant with attempting to elude a police officer, ORS 811.540(l)(b)(A). The trial court did not convict her of that charge but, instead, convicted her of interfering with a peace officer as a lesser-included offense. Defendant contends that the trial court erred in convicting her of the latter crime. She argues that the crime of interfering with a peace officer required the state to prove that she had acted intentionally, and, because the crime for which she had been charged, viz., attempting to elude a police officer, required the state to prove only that she had acted knowingly, the former crime was not a lesser-included offense of the latter crime. We agree with defendant and, accordingly, reverse her conviction.

The facts are undisputed. A police officer noticed two cars driving close together and believed that they might be chasing each other. When the two cars stopped at a stoplight, the officer drove his patrol vehicle between them, got out of his car, and instructed both drivers to turn off their cars’ engines. The officer repeated those instructions several times when defendant did not comply. The stoplight turned green, and defendant drove away. The officer remained at the stoplight to investigate the driver of the other car for driving under the influence of intoxicants. The officer did not pursue defendant.

Defendant was charged with attempting to elude a police officer, ORS 811.540(l)(b)(A).1 The indictment alleged [765]*765that defendant “unlawfully and knowingly” attempted to elude a police officer. The trial court did not convict defendant of attempting to elude a police officer but, instead, convicted her of interfering with a peace officer, ORS 162.247(l)(b), as a lesser-included offense. 2

On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court erred in convicting her of interfering with a peace officer, ORS 162.247(l)(b), because the offense is not a lesser-included offense of attempting to elude a police officer. The state responds that the arguments that defendant makes on appeal were not presented to the trial court and, hence, are unpreserved. It further contends that, to the extent that defendant’s arguments were preserved, they fail on their merits.

As we will explain, we conclude that one of the arguments that defendant makes on appeal — viz., that interfering with a peace officer requires the state to prove a higher culpable mental state than the mental state for the crime charged in the indictment, and, therefore, that interfering with a peace officer is not a lesser-included offense of attempting to elude a police officer — was preserved and is correct. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court erred in convicting defendant of the crime of interfering with a peace officer.

We begin by addressing the state’s contention that defendant’s arguments are unpreserved. At the close of the state’s case, defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal, arguing that the crime of attempting to elude a police officer requires pursuit by an officer and that, here, the officer did not pursue defendant. The trial court suggested that the crime of interfering with a peace officer “might fit this [766]*766situation better.” Defendant responded that that “clearly that has [not] been charged and is [not] a lesser-included offense.” The court denied defendant’s motion.

During closing arguments, the court invited the parties to address anew whether interfering with a peace officer was a lesser-included offense of attempting to elude a police officer. After initial confusion about the offense to which the trial court was referring,3 defendant argued that interfering with a peace officer was not a lesser-included offense because it required proof that defendant had acted intentionally, which is a higher culpable mental state than the mental state that applied to the charged offense, which required the state to prove only that defendant had acted knowingly. The trial court rejected defendant’s argument and entered a judgment of conviction for interfering with a peace officer. Defendant reprises that same argument on appeal. Thus, defendant preserved the argument.

We turn to the merits. The statute defining the crime of interfering with a peace officer is quoted in footnote 2 above. 266 Or App at 765 n 2. It provides that the offense can be committed in one of two ways: viz., by intentionally interfering with a peace officer, ORS 162.247(l)(a), or by refusing to obey a peace officer’s lawful order, ORS 162.247(l)(b). While the first of the two provisions expressly states the mental state that applies to it — viz., an intentional mental state — the second does not. In State v. Ruggles, 238 Or App 86, 91, 242 P3d 643 (2010), rev den, 349 Or 601 (2011), we held that the crime specified in ORS 162.247(l)(b) is not a strict liability crime, suggesting that the state had to prove both that the defendant knew that the person issuing the order was a peace officer and that the defendant intended to violate the order. However, our suggestion in Ruggles that the verb “refuse” implies an intention to violate the order is not dispositive. See Ruggles, 238 Or App at 91. Nonetheless, as we will explain, we conclude that ORS 162.247(l)(b) requires the state to prove an intentional mental state for the “refuse to obey” element of the crime.

[767]*767Of the four culpable mental states that can apply to the elements of a crime in Oregon, only the knowing and intentional mental states could apply to the “refuses to obey” element in ORS 162.247(l)(b), because refusing to obey an order is a form of conduct. Cf. ORS 161.085 (defining both intentional and knowing culpable mental states as mental states that apply to conduct crimes). A person acts with an intentional mental state when the person acts “with a conscious objective to cause the result or to engage in the conduct so described.” ORS 161.085(7).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
340 P.3d 57, 266 Or. App. 763, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-enyeart-orctapp-2014.