State v. Hawkins

323 P.3d 463, 261 Or. App. 440
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 7, 2014
Docket090130026; A147739
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 323 P.3d 463 (State v. Hawkins) 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. Hawkins, 323 P.3d 463, 261 Or. App. 440 (Or. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

NAKAMOTO, J.

Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of first-degree robbery with a firearm (Count 1), ORS 164.415, ORS 161.610; unlawful use of a weapon with a firearm (Count 2), ORS 166.220, ORS 161.610; and felon in possession of a firearm (Count 4), ORS 166.270.1 He appeals, raising four assignments of error. We reject without discussion defendant’s third and fourth assignments of error and write only to address his first and second assignments. In his first assignment, defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss for lack of a speedy trial, arguing that dismissal was appropriate because the state failed to bring him to trial within a “reasonable period of time” as required by ORS 135.747. In his second assignment of error, defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal (MJOA) on Count 1 because, according to defendant, there was insufficient evidence to prove that he personally used or threatened to use a firearm during the robbery. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the trial court did not err in denying defendant’s motion to dismiss, but that it did err in denying defendant’s MJOA. Accordingly, we reverse defendant’s conviction on Count 1 and remand for further proceedings; otherwise, we affirm.

We begin with a brief overview of the events leading to defendant’s convictions and sentences. We later discuss relevant facts and procedural history in detail as we analyze defendant’s assignments of error, which involve differing standards of review.

Defendant’s convictions arose out of an armed robbery of a Portland cafe that he and his codefendant, Howard, committed in late October 2008. Howard entered the cafe while defendant remained in the car. Defendant suffered injuries when Howard attempted to elude police after the robbery, and defendant had to be taken to the hospital. Before the police could question defendant, he was released from the hospital. The police did not locate defendant until February 2009, when they discovered that he was in custody [443]*443at the Clark County Jail in Washington. Defendant was subsequently convicted of and sentenced on unrelated charges in Washington and was sent to a Washington state prison. Over the course of several months, the State of Oregon, through the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, sought defendant’s return to Portland under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (IAD), ORS 135.775, for trial on the charges associated with the robbery. Eventually, the state secured defendant’s return to Oregon in July 2010, and, after a jury trial in December 2010, defendant was convicted of the above-mentioned charges. Defendant now appeals.

In defendant’s first assignment of error, he argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss because the state failed to bring him to trial within a reasonable time as required by ORS 135.747. We review a trial court’s conclusions regarding the reasonableness of state-caused delay under the speedy trial statute for errors of law. State v. Doak, 235 Or App 351, 356, 231 P3d 1181, rev den, 349 Or 171 (2010). With that standard in mind, the facts relevant to defendant’s first assignment of error are as follows.

A grand jury in Oregon indicted defendant on January 13, 2009, for charges arising out of the robbery. When the state located defendant at the Clark County Jail in February 2009, it placed a hold on him there, and defendant signed a waiver of extradition on February 25. Thereafter, defendant was convicted in Washington for unrelated crimes and sentenced to serve a prison term. In late September 2009, the state approved a formal detainer and forwarded it to the Multnomah County Sheriffs Office to be sent to the State of Washington Department of Corrections (WDOC). The state waited for defendant to file a request for final disposition under Article III of the IAD, but, after it did not receive a request from defendant, it initiated defendant’s return under Article IV of the IAD on December 2, 2009.2 On January 22, 2010, the Multnomah County Circuit Court [444]*444approved the state’s request to have defendant returned, and the next day the request was sent to WDOC. On May 24, defendant signed an agreement on detainers waiving extradition and submitting to his return to Oregon for trial. In July, Washington returned defendant to the temporary custody of the Multnomah County District Attorney, and he was arraigned. After a number of continuances granted at the state’s request, and one granted at defendant’s request, defendant’s trial was set for December 6, 2010.

Before trial, defendant moved to dismiss the charges, asserting a violation of his statutory speedy trial right under ORS 135.747. In his motion, he argued that the 22-month delay between his indictment and trial was attributable to the state and that the delay was unreasonable and warranted dismissal. The court conducted a pretrial hearing on the motion, at which it received testimony from Chitwood, a legal assistant for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office who had been involved in administering defendant’s return to Oregon. Chitwood testified that, although her office had placed a hold on defendant in February 2009, that hold had become ineffective once he was convicted and sentenced in Washington. As a result, to have defendant returned to Oregon, the state had to file a formal detainer with WDOC after defendant had been sentenced in Washington. The state did so on September 22, 2009.

Chitwood further testified that in 99 percent of all cases, after a defendant learns that a detainer has been filed against him or her, the defendant will file a speedy-trial motion under the IAD. Chitwood explained that it was standard practice in IAD cases for the district attorney’s office to wait for a defendant’s response, and it did so in defendant’s case after it filed the detainer in September. When defendant did not file a speedy-trial motion, the district attorney requested defendant’s return to Oregon under the IAD in December 2009. Chitwood testified that, after that request was approved, the district attorney sent the state’s request to WDOC on January 23, 2010.

Chitwood explained that the process to have a defendant returned under the IAD is more “expeditious” and “streamlined” when the defendant files a speedy-trial [445]*445motion, and that, in cases in which the state has to initiate the return process, returning a defendant essentially becomes an extradition, which can take longer.

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Related

State v. Baratta
346 Or. App. 92 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2025)
State v. Starr
344 P.3d 100 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2015)
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341 P.3d 893 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)
State v. Straughan
327 P.3d 1172 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
323 P.3d 463, 261 Or. App. 440, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hawkins-orctapp-2014.