State v. Fujimoto

338 P.3d 180, 266 Or. App. 353, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1416
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedOctober 15, 2014
DocketC112098CR; A151014
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 338 P.3d 180 (State v. Fujimoto) 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. Fujimoto, 338 P.3d 180, 266 Or. App. 353, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1416 (Or. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

EGAN, J.

Defendant, who was convicted on one count of organized retail theft, ORS 164.098, and nine counts of first-degree theft, ORS 164.055, challenges his conviction on the organized retail theft count, as well as the trial court’s failure to merge the first-degree theft convictions into the organized retail theft conviction. We reject without discussion defendant’s argument that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal on the organized retail theft charge. With respect to merger, as explained below, we reverse and remand with instructions to merge the guilty verdicts on first-degree theft with the guilty verdict on organized retail theft.

Because defendant was convicted after trial, we set out the facts in the light most favorable to the state. State v. Johnson, 342 Or 596, 598, 157 P3d 198 (2007), cert den, 552 US 1113 (2008). On September 22 and 23, 2011, defendant and an accomplice, Briones, visited numerous malls and retail establishments in the Portland area, including, as their last stop, Washington Square in Washington County. Defendant and Briones flew into Seattle and defendant rented a car, which they drove to the Portland area on September 21. On September 22, defendant entered numerous retail establishments in the Portland area and shoplifted items. On September 23, defendant had Briones take the various stolen items to retail establishments in malls to return the items and seek refunds in the form of gift cards. After Briones had successfully returned items, she gave the gift cards to defendant. Defendant also shoplifted more items on September 23. Defendant’s shoplifting activities were detected by security personnel on September 23, and as a result, defendant and Briones were apprehended by Tigard Police. Numerous items of evidence, including stolen items, gift cards, and receipts, were found in their car.

Defendant was charged with nine counts of first-degree theft, ORS lbd.OSSOXc),1 alleged to have occurred in Washington County on or about September 23, with each [355]*355count alleging theft from a different store. Each of the nine counts of first-degree theft in this case alleged that defendant “did unlawfully and with the intent to appropriate property to the defendant, buy, sell, and borrow/lend on the security of merchandise and money * *

The remaining count, organized retail theft, ORS 164.098, 2 was charged as follows:

“The defendant, on or about September 23, 2011, in Washington County, Oregon, while acting in concert with another person, did unlawfully commit theft and theft by [356]*356receiving, the subject of the theft being merchandise and money taken from a mercantile establishment and the value of the merchandise taken within a 9 0-day period exceeding $5,000.”

As noted, defendant asserts that all nine of the guilty verdicts for first-degree theft must merge into the guilty verdict for organized retail theft.

ORS 161.067(1) provides, in part:

“When the same conduct or criminal episode violates two or more statutory provisions and each provision requires proof of an element that the others do not, there are as many separately punishable offenses as there are separate statutory violations.”

Defendant does not dispute that, for purposes of ORS 161.067(1), organized retail theft and first-degree theft involve “separate statutory provisions.” He argues, however, that each statutory provision, as alleged in this case, does not require proof of an element that the other does not. He argues that all of the elements of first-degree theft are subsumed by organized retail theft. That is, he argues that first-degree theft does not require “proof of an element that the other[] do[es] not.” ORS 161.067(1). Defendant notes that organized retail theft requires proof of theft (including theft by receiving), acting in concert with another, that the theft be of merchandise, that it be within a 90-day period, and that the property be valued at over $5,000. He argues that first-degree theft by receiving required no proof that was not also required to establish the theft element of organized retail theft.

The state makes two responses. First, it argues that the first-degree thefts did not occur during the “same criminal episode” as the organized retail theft. Second, it argues that first-degree theft and organized retail theft each require proof of an element that the other does not. We briefly turn to the state’s first argument. As best we understand it, the state reasons that, because the nine counts of first-degree theft do not merge with each other,3 they should not merge into the organized retail theft. The state asserts [357]*357that the organized retail theft could not have involved the “same conduct or criminal episode” as the first-degree thefts, given that each of the first-degree thefts was distinct from the others. The trial court, however, specifically noted that “it is clear that all of the evidence in Counts 2 through 10 [first-degree theft] was a part of Count 1 [organized retail theft],” and the state does not dispute that. That is, all of the first-degree thefts alleged in Counts 2 through 10 occurred within the temporal scope of the commission of the organized retail theft, and (as explained below) involved proof of the same elements. Nothing in ORS 161.067(1) or the case law interpreting it suggests that, because one of the offenses — the organized retail theft — occurred over a longer period of time than others, merger is precluded.

In determining whether statutory provisions require “proof of an element that the others do not,” ORS 161.067(1), we examine only the statutory elements of each offense, not the underlying factual circumstances recited in the indictment. State v. Cam, 255 Or App 1, 10, 296 P3d 578 (2013). However, when a statute contains alternative forms of a single crime, “we use the elements of the charged version in the merger analysis.” State v. Alvarez, 240 Or App 167, 171-72, 246 P3d 26 (2010), rev den, 350 Or 408 (2011). Thus, although there are several forms of first-degree theft, we focus in this case on first-degree theft by receiving, which was the theory alleged in the indictment and, under ORS 164.055 (l)(c), requires proof that the theft by receiving was “committed by buying, selling, borrowing or lending on the security of the property.”4

[358]*358ORS

Related

State v. Johnson
340 Or. App. 494 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2025)
State v. Paye
486 P.3d 808 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)
State v. White
455 P.3d 969 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2019)
State v. Oldham
455 P.3d 975 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2019)
State v. Gensitskiy
446 P.3d 26 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2019)
State v. Cazarez-Lopez
434 P.3d 468 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2018)
State v. Chappell
401 P.3d 242 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2017)
State v. Scott
388 P.3d 1148 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2017)
State v. Breshears
383 P.3d 345 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2016)
State v. Rhee
353 P.3d 38 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2015)

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Bluebook (online)
338 P.3d 180, 266 Or. App. 353, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 1416, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fujimoto-orctapp-2014.