State v. Howard

134 P.3d 1042, 205 Or. App. 408, 2006 Ore. App. LEXIS 566
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided May 3, 2006·No. 0109-36588; A118703·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

LANDAU, P. J.

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for nine counts of robbery in the first degree with a firearm, ORS 164.415; nine counts of robbery in the second degree with a firearm, ORS 164.405; nine counts of unlawful use of a weapon with a firearm, ORS 166.220; and one count of felon in possession of a firearm, ORS 166.270. He assigns error to the trial court’s denial of his motion for a new trial and, in a supplemental pro se brief, makes a variety of constitutional challenges to his sentences. We affirm.

The relevant facts are not in dispute. Defendant and an accomplice, Kuykendall, entered a bar, armed with a handgun and a flare gun, respectively. They ordered the patrons to hand over their keys and wallets. After collecting the patrons’ possessions they left. Some of the patrons gave chase and managed to tackle Kuykendall.

Police arrested Kuykendall, who admitted to his involvement in the robbery. In the meantime, based on descriptions from the victims — including the fact that defendant was wearing jeans with distinctive tears — police located and detained defendant. In response to police questioning, defendant admitted that the robbery was “the first one” that either he or Kuykendall had done.

The case was tried to a jury. The state’s case against defendant included testimony from a detective that defendant had confessed to committing the crime. The state also presented several other witnesses, including Kuykendall, who testified that defendant had committed the robbery with him and that defendant had in fact conceived the robbery plan; Kuykendall’s mother, Lay, who testified that she had driven defendant and her son to defendant’s home and watched as they armed themselves in preparation for the robbery; defendant’s half-brother, who corroborated Lay’s testimony; and several eyewitness who, with varying degrees of certainty, asserted that defendant had been one of the robbers. The state also produced corroborating physical evidence, including a case found at defendant’s home, that had contained the flare gun used during the robbery, and a pair of [411]*411jeans with distinctive tears, worn by defendant during the robbery. The jury found defendant guilty on all counts.

Sentencing took place on March 19, 2002. The court sentenced defendant to 90 months’ imprisonment for each of the first-degree robbery convictions and to 70 months’ imprisonment for each of the second-degree robbery convictions. Each of those sentences represents a mandatory determinate sentence under Measure 11. See ORS 137.700. The court also sentenced defendant to presumptive sentences of 30 months’ imprisonment on each of the unlawful use of a weapon convictions and 30 months on the felon-in-possession conviction. The court ordered the sentences on the first six counts of first-degree robbery to be served consecutively, ORS 137.123, with the remaining sentences to be served concurrently. The court also imposed a mandatory “gun minimum” sentence of 120 months’ imprisonment to be served concurrently. See ORS 161.610 (establishing mandatory minimum sentences for crimes involving the use or threatened use of a firearm). In total, defendant was sentenced to 492 months, or 41 years, in prison.

On May 24, 2002, before the trial court had entered the judgment of conviction, defendant filed a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. In support of his motion, defendant offered the affidavit of Welker, who asserted that he had been a cell mate of defendant’s accomplice, Kuykendall, shortly after the robbery, and that Kuykendall told him that defendant was not involved in the crime. At a hearing on June 13, 2002, the trial court denied that motion. Four days later, the judgment was filed.

On appeal, defendant first assigns error to the denial of his motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. Defendant argues that the newly discovered evidence met all the requirements to justify a new trial, including the requirement that it would have likely changed the trial’s result, and thus the court’s denial of his motion was an abuse of discretion.

The state moved for summary affirmance on the ground that defendant’s new trial motion was untimely. According to the state, the governing statute requires that new trial motions be filed within five days after the filing of [412]*412the judgment. Because in this case defendant filed his motion before the filing of the judgment, the state argued, under our decision in State v. Futch, 123 Or App 176, 191, 860 P2d 264 (1993), aff'd on other grounds, 324 Or 297, 924 P2d 832 (1996), the motion was untimely. This court denied the state’s motion, however, noting that “Futch appears to be inconsistent” with Supreme Court case law construing parallel provisions of the civil new trial motion rule.

The state now renews its argument that defendant’s new trial motion was untimely. The state acknowledges that there is case law construing the nearly identical provisions of the civil new trial motion rule that is at odds with our decision in Futch. The state insists, however, that, until we overrule Futch, it remains controlling. On the merits, the state contends that, in any event, the trial court was correct to deny defendant’s motion because the requirements for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence were not met.

We disagree with the state’s conclusion that defendant’s new trial motion was premature, but, on the merits, we agree with the state that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion.

We begin with the issue of the timing of defendant’s motion for a new trial. At the time of defendant’s trial, the timing of a new trial motion in a criminal trial was governed by ORS 136.535 (2001),1 which provided, in part:

“A motion in arrest of a judgment or a motion for a new trial, with the affidavits, if any, in support thereof shall be filed within five days after the filing of the judgment sought to be set aside * *

(Emphasis added.) The state argues that, under the plain language of the statute, a motion for a new trial must be filed after the filing of the judgment. In this case, the state argues, defendant filed his motion before the judgment was filed. [413]*413Hence, the state concludes, under the statute, defendant’s motion was not properly before the court.

Because this is an issue of statutory construction, we begin by examining the text of the statute in context and, if necessary, legislative history and other aids to construction. PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries,

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State v. Howard, 134 P.3d 1042, 205 Or. App. 408, 2006 Ore. App. LEXIS 566 (Or. Ct. App. 2006).

134 P.3d 1042 (State v. Howard) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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