State v. Foote

960 P.2d 900, 154 Or. App. 227, 1998 Ore. App. LEXIS 753
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 3, 1998
Docket957069; CA A92963
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 960 P.2d 900 (State v. Foote) 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. Foote, 960 P.2d 900, 154 Or. App. 227, 1998 Ore. App. LEXIS 753 (Or. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

LANDAU, J.

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for failure to perform the duties of a driver when property is damaged. ORS 811.700(l)(b). He asserts that the trial court committed two errors: (1) failing to grant his motion for judgment of acquittal on the ground that the state failed to prove that he damaged another vehicle; and (2) giving a jury instruction that listed as an element of the crime that defendant knew he had been involved in a collision that likely resulted in damage to an unattended vehicle. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

We state the facts in the light most favorable to the state, which prevailed at trial. State v. Brown, 310 Or 347, 367, 800 P2d 259 (1990). Late in the evening, defendant backed his pickup truck into the front end of a parked Chevrolet Blazer. On impact, the Blazer “jumped,” and there was a loud noise. Defendant drove away. Dale Walters witnessed the incident, inspected the Blazer and noticed some damage at the point of impact, the area around one of the Blazer’s headlights. Walters reported the incident to police. Defendant was charged with failure to perform the duties of a driver when property is damaged.

At trial, following the close of the state’s case, defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal on the ground that the state had failed to prove that the collision caused any damage to the Blazer. The state argued that proof of actual damage to the Blazer was not required. The trial court agreed and denied the motion. At the close of the evidence, the trial court delivered Uniform Criminal Jury Instruction No. 2718, which states that, to find a defendant guilty of the crime of failure to perform the duties of a driver when property is damaged, the jury must find that the defendant knew that he was involved in a collision that was “likely to have resulted in damage.” Defendant objected to the instruction on the ground that it requires that defendant know only that damage probably resulted, not that damage actually resulted from the accident.

[230]*230On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury that proof of actual damage is an element of the crime of failure to perform the duties of a driver when property is damaged. The state contends that, by its terms, ORS 811.700(l)(b) does not include proof of damage as an element of the crime. The state acknowledges the anomaly of the legislature having entitled the crime as if damage were required but failing to include proof of damage as an actual element. It nevertheless insists that the text of the statute contains no reference to damage, and so proof of damage is not required. The state concedes that, if ORS 811.700(l)(b) requires proof of actual damage, a new trial is required.

We examine ORS 811.700(l)(b) to determine the legislature’s intended construction of the enacted language, looking first to the text in its context and then, if necessary, to the legislative history and other aids to construction. PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 317 Or 606, 610-12, 859 P2d 1143 (1993). ORS 811.700(1) provides:

“(1) A person commits the offense of failure to perform the duties of a driver when property is damaged if the person is the driver of any vehicle and the person does not perform duties required under any of the following:
“(a) If the person is the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident that results only in damage to a vehicle that is driven or attended by any other person the person must perform all of the following duties:
“(A) Immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the accident or as close thereto as possible. Every stop required under this subparagraph shall be made without obstructing traffic more than is necessary.
“(B) Remain at the scene of the accident until the driver has fulfilled all of the requirements under this paragraph.
“(C) Give the other driver or passenger the name and address of the driver and the registration number of the vehicle that the driver is driving and the name and address of any other occupants of the vehicle.
“(D) Upon request and if available, exhibit and give to the occupant of or person attending any vehicle damaged [231]*231the number of any documents issued as evidence of driving privileges granted to the driver.
“(b) If the person is the driver of any vehicle that collides with any vehicle that is unattended, the person shall immediately stop and:
“(A) Locate and notify the operator or owner of the vehicle of the name and address of the driver and owner of the vehicle striking the unattended vehicle; or
“(B) Leave in a conspicuous place in the vehicle struck a written notice giving the name and address of the driver and of the owner of the vehicle doing the striking and a statement of the circumstances thereof.
“(c) If the person is the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting only in damage to fixtures or property legally upon or adjacent to a highway, the person shall do all of the following:
“(A) Take reasonable steps to notify the owner or person in charge of the property of such fact and of the driver’s name and address and of the registration number of the vehicle the driver is driving.
“(B) Upon request and if available, exhibit any document issued as official evidence of a grant of driving privileges to the driver.”

We first note that the legislature labeled the crime “failure to perform the duties of a driver when property is damaged.” It is true that the name that the legislature gives a crime cannot establish or limit the elements of the offense. Or Laws 1983, ch 338, § 2. Nevertheless, when the legislature labels a particular crime in the text of the statute itself, that label is part of the context of the statute and certainly is indicative of what the legislature intended the elements to include. In this case, the name of the crime, which explicitly includes reference to property damage, clearly manifests an intention that damage is an element of the crime.

We next note that the statute describes the crime in three variations. First, in subsection (l)(a), the statute speaks of an accident in which the driver produces “damage to a vehicle that is driven or attended” by another person. ORS 811.700(l)(a). Second, in subsection (l)(b), the statute [232]*232speaks of an accident in which the driver “collides with a vehicle that is unattended” by another person. ORS 811.700(l)(b).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
960 P.2d 900, 154 Or. App. 227, 1998 Ore. App. LEXIS 753, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-foote-orctapp-1998.