State v. Flores

482 P.3d 220, 309 Or. App. 445

• Court: Court of Appeals of Oregon
• Decided: February 24, 2021
• Docket: A171160
• Status: Published

Opinion

Submitted December 22, 2020, affirmed February 24, 2021

STATE OF OREGON, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. JUAN JOSE FLORES, Defendant-Appellant. Washington County Circuit Court 19CR00086; A171160 482 P3d 220

Beth L. Roberts, Judge. Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender, Criminal Appellate Section, and Brett J. Allin, Deputy Public Defender, Office of Public Defense Services, filed the brief for appellant. Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General, and Jon Zunkel-deCoursey, Assistant Attorney General, filed the brief for respondent. Before Ortega, Presiding Judge, and Shorr, Judge, and Powers, Judge. PER CURIAM Affirmed. 446 State v. Flores

PER CURIAM A jury unanimously found defendant guilty of first- degree theft, ORS 164.055, for shoplifting more than $1,400 worth of merchandise from a Beaverton Fred Meyer. On appeal, defendant raises six assignments of error. We reject without extended discussion the first five assignments of error that focus on the prosecutor’s closing argument. The trial court did not plainly err by failing to declare, sua sponte, a mistrial or failing to strike, sua sponte, portions of the prosecutor’s closing argument. In his sixth assignment of error, defendant contends that the trial court erred when it instructed the jury that it could reach a nonunanimous guilty verdict and that the error requires reversal under a structural-error theory, notwithstanding that the jury returned a unanimous verdict. We reject that argument for the reasons set forth in State v. Flores Ramos, 367 Or 292, 294, 334, 478 P3d 515 (2020) (holding that error in instruct- ing the jury that it could return nonunanimous guilty ver- dicts did not require reversal of convictions rendered by unanimous guilty verdicts), and State v. Kincheloe, 367 Or 335, 339, 478 P3d 507 (2020) (same). Affirmed.