State v. Fudge

443 P.3d 1176, 297 Or. App. 750
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMay 30, 2019
DocketA164348
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 443 P.3d 1176 (State v. Fudge) 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. Fudge, 443 P.3d 1176, 297 Or. App. 750 (Or. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

SHORR, J.

*751Defendant appeals from a judgment entered after a jury found him guilty of first-degree sodomy (Count 1), ORS 163.405, and first-degree sexual abuse (Count 2), ORS 163.427. Defendant assigns error to the trial court's imposition of a 300-month mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment under ORS 137.700 on Count 1, on the ground that the sentence violates Article I, section 16, of the Oregon Constitution and the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. We address that assignment below. Defendant also assigns error to the court's denial of a requested "witness false in part" instruction, which we reject without further *1178discussion.1 UCrJI 1029. For the following reasons, we remand for reconsideration of defendant's sentence and otherwise affirm.

In 2015, defendant was a 30-year-old man with a lifelong history of intellectual disability who lived in Reno, Nevada, with his elderly grandparents. Defendant's primary source of income was Social Security benefits, and his grandparents were designated as his official guardians and Social Security payees. In the summer of 2015, defendant traveled with his grandparents from Reno to Oregon to visit with family. They stayed in a camper trailer parked outside the home of K, a four year old. The day before the visit was planned to end, the family held a cookout at K's home. During the cookout, K's mother (defendant's cousin) noticed that K was missing. She yelled for her son, and she heard defendant respond from around the corner, "He's with me." Defendant and K then returned through a gate in the yard, coming from the direction of the camper.

After defendant and his grandparents left, K's mother noticed a bruise on K's penis when she was giving him a bath. She asked K what happened, and he told her that defendant "took him to the trailer and pulled his pants *752down and licked and bit his wiener." K's mother then took two videos of K with her cell phone. In the videos, K again said that defendant bit and licked him, and that defendant "tried to stop me when I was trying to tell mommy when she was inside." K said that defendant told him, "Racecar go. Racecar stop. Don't tell mommy." K was referred to CARES Northwest by his pediatrician, where he underwent a physical examination and forensic interview. K told the examiner that defendant licked and bit his penis.

In a pretext phone call, K's father confronted defendant about having sexual contact with K. Defendant told him, "I didn't do that. I'm not that way. I don't do stuff like that." A Reno police detective, working in conjunction with Washington County law enforcement, interviewed defendant, and defendant again denied having sexual contact with K. The Reno detective's report reflected that defendant stated

"that he had been around kids a long time and he had never done 'stuff,' and he had never been curious. He added [that] he was not interested in sexual stuff 'cuz it's bad and I don't do it cuz I'm always busy working and making money.' He then said that sexual stuff was bad because, 'you get in trouble and it would be on your record.'
"*** He added [that] he had never had sexual intercourse with anyone, and that if he was curious about something sexual, he would ask his grandparents."

Defendant was charged with first-degree sodomy, ORS 163.405, and first-degree sexual abuse, ORS 163.427. A jury found defendant guilty of both crimes. At sentencing, defendant argued that the imposition of a 300-month sentence was unconstitutionally disproportionate, as applied to defendant, because of defendant's intellectual disability. In support of his argument, defendant submitted to the trial court a psychological evaluation, performed by Dr. Colistro.

Colistro reviewed defendant's education and mental health records. The records showed that defendant had been diagnosed with mental retardation in 1998. Defendant underwent an IQ test in 1999 that yielded a full-scale IQ of 46, which is below the first percentile. Colistro reviewed a psychological evaluation from 1999, which stated that

*753"[defendant] is functioning with very limited cognitive ability... at the first grade level academically. Adaptive functioning level is 2/3rd of his chronological age... [Defendant] has been receiving special services as developmentally delayed and under mental retardation since he entered school... failed to master developmental milestones as a toddler and his lack of cognitive ability and functioning skills are documented from preschool years... evaluation of intellectual functioning *1179... indicates a full scale intelligence quotient two or more standard deviations below the mean..."

(Ellipses in original.) Colistro also reviewed police records. In one police report, a Washington County Sheriff's deputy, Chedester, wrote of receiving "psychological and special education reports" from defendant's grandmother.2 As described in Colistro's report, Chedester's report described those documents as revealing that defendant

"functions at the first grade level academically in spite of being thirty years of age. His Communication Skills Score Equivalent is that of a four-six year old. His activities of daily living are at the level of a seven to eleven year old. Composite scores provide an equivalent [age] of eight years [old]."

Defendant had a special-education curriculum in public school, and during high school was given a job in the cafeteria in lieu of attending classes beyond the scope of his abilities. Defendant graduated with a special diploma and a "straight A average," although he never learned to read or write. His family reported that he functions at about a first-grade level.

Colistro performed a psychosexual violence risk assessment. Defendant scored very low overall for risk of recidivism. The assessment revealed "the absence of any criminal proclivities in general or sexually deviant proclivities in particular" in defendant. Colistro concluded that defendant was a "severely developmentally delayed *754individual who will function socially at the level of a child for the rest of his life." Regarding defendant's understanding of his crime, Colistro concluded that

"it is commonplace for individuals with [defendant's] severe level of impairment to engage in sexual activities with others functioning at about their same level intellectually and socially. Such children essentially form an intellectually and socially impaired adult peer group.

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Related

State v. Fudge
552 P.3d 145 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2024)
State v. Cambron
323 Or. App. 468 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2022)
Diamond Heating, Inc. v. Clackamas County
505 P.3d 4 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)
State v. Hawthorne
504 P.3d 1185 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)
State v. Meiser
481 P.3d 375 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
443 P.3d 1176, 297 Or. App. 750, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fudge-orctapp-2019.