State v. Hurtado

558 P.3d 1267, 335 Or. App. 560
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedOctober 23, 2024
DocketA177208
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 558 P.3d 1267 (State v. Hurtado) 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. Hurtado, 558 P.3d 1267, 335 Or. App. 560 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

560 October 23, 2024 No. 744

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF OREGON

STATE OF OREGON, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. CARLOS EVENCIO HURTADO, Defendant-Appellant. Washington County Circuit Court 20CR49552; A177208

Ramón A. Pagán, Judge. Argued and submitted June 20, 2023. Meredith Allen, Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant. Also on the brief was Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender, Criminal Appellate Section, Office of Public Defense Services. Christopher A. Perdue, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. Also on the brief were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General. Before Ortega, Presiding Judge, and Powers, Judge, and Hellman, Judge. POWERS, J. Affirmed. Cite as 335 Or App 560 (2024) 561 562 State v. Hurtado

POWERS, J. Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him of sexual abuse in the first degree, ORS 163.427, for touch- ing L’s breasts and mouth while she was asleep.1 In his first assignment of error, defendant argues that the trial court erred in admitting a screenshot of text messages because it was not properly authenticated. In his view, the state could not satisfy the authentication requirement under OEC 901 without evidence from a party to the text conversation or someone with direct knowledge that defendant was one of the parties. As explained below, given the evidence surrounding the text messages, we conclude that the state established a prima facie case for authenticity. Thus, the trial court did not err in allowing the jury to consider the evidence so that it could make the ultimate decision on whether the text messages were from defendant. In his second assignment of error, defendant contends that the court erred by improperly commenting on the evidence when it instructed the jury on the definition of sexual contact. We conclude that the chal- lenged instruction was not a comment on the evidence and that the trial court did not err when it instructed the jury. Finally, in his third assignment, defendant asserts that the court erred in sentencing him to a 75-month term of incar- ceration because that sentence is disproportionate under both the state and federal constitutions. We conclude that defendant’s sentence is not disproportionate under either the state or federal constitution. Accordingly, we affirm. I. BACKGROUND We begin with a brief overview of the background facts, which are mostly undisputed, and describe additional facts when we address defendant’s assignments of error. L was visiting her sister, Davidson-Frye, and stay- ing at her sister’s apartment. Davidson-Frye had two room- mates: Ferrell, who was her boyfriend, and defendant. L tes- tified that she was sleeping on the couch one evening and woke up to defendant “fondling” and “grabbing” her breasts over her clothing and kissing her lips. L told defendant, 1 ORS 163.427 has been amended since defendant committed the crime. Or Laws 2021, ch 82, § 7. Those amendments do not affect our analysis, however, and therefore we refer to the current version of the statute in this opinion. Cite as 335 Or App 560 (2024) 563

“Knock it off. Stop.” Then defendant stood up and started singing a “vulgar” song to L. L testified that, following the incident, she saw defendant standing behind the couch mas- turbating. Davidson-Frye testified that she told defendant to leave, and he eventually left for the night. She further testified that defendant returned to the apartment the next day and apologized to her. Defendant was subsequently charged with six counts of sexual abuse in the first degree and one charge of public indecency. A jury convicted defendant of two counts of sexual abuse in the first degree for touching L’s breasts over her clothing and kissing her on the mouth.2 Ultimately, the trial court sentenced defendant to a 75-month mandatory minimum sentence under ORS 137.700(2)(a)(Q) for the sin- gle, merged count of first-degree sexual abuse. This timely appeal follows. We address each of defendant’s three assignments of error below and conclude that none of them provide a basis for reversal.3 Accordingly, we affirm. II. ANALYSIS A. Authentication of Text Messages Defendant first assigns error to the trial court’s admission of text messages over his authentication objec- tion. We review whether a trial court properly admitted evi- dence under OEC 901 to determine whether there was suf- ficient evidence to support sending the issue of authenticity to the factfinder. State v. Spencer, 304 Or App 262, 263, 467 P3d 73, rev den, 367 Or 115 (2020). 2 The jury acquitted defendant on the first-degree sexual abuse counts related to using forcible compulsion and touching L’s vaginal area, and the court dismissed the public indecency charge on the state’s motion. 3 Defendant raises a fourth assignment of error challenging the imposition of a 10-year term of post-prison supervision (PPS) without deducting the time of incarceration. See ORS 144.103(1) (providing that the term of PPS “when added to the term of imprisonment” equals the maximum statutory indeterminate sentence). The state concedes that the trial court erred but notes that the court entered an amended judgment clarifying that the time defendant served in prison would be subtracted from the 10-year PPS term. Accordingly, we do not address defendant’s final assignment of error because it is moot. See, e.g., State v. Merrill, 314 Or App 460, 461, 495 P3d 219 (2021), rev den, 370 Or 789 (2023) (declining to reach an assignment of error that was mooted because the trial court “had prop- erly and helpfully fixed the problem identified” by the assignment of error). 564 State v. Hurtado

Before trial, defendant filed a motion in limine to exclude text messages that were purportedly sent by defen- dant. The evidence at issue was a screenshot of a series of text messages sent to Ferrell. The screenshot shows that the messages were from “Carlos,” which is defendant’s first name, and that they were sent on a Friday between 12:49 and 12:53 p.m. There is no phone number associated with the contact’s name and no date. The text messages provided: “Sorry for being out of hand[.] “I think the alcohol caught up to me I was a stupid drunk and I need to be more careful[.] “I feel like an idiot today I just hope I can learn from this and move forward[.] “I’m overwhelmed with life right now it’s no excuse for me being dumb again I apologize[.]” To rule on the admissibility of the text messages, the court held an OEC 104 hearing outside the presence of the jury. To authenticate the text messages, the state called Davidson-Frye as a witness. Although the text messages were sent to Ferrell, Davidson-Frye testified that she was present with Ferrell when he received the messages and that he showed the messages to her immediately. Davidson-Frye further testified that she scrolled up in the message chain and saw that there were old messages from defendant. She explained that the prior messages provided, “Sorry, man.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
558 P.3d 1267, 335 Or. App. 560, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hurtado-orctapp-2024.