State v. McCright

386 P.3d 141, 282 Or. App. 692, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1537
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided December 7, 2016·No. 12FE0623; A155427·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

HASELTON, S. J.

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction, entered after a trial to the court, of 20 theft-related offenses. He contends, in part, that (1) the trial court erred in requiring him to wear a restraint on one of his hands during trial; and (2) under State v. Mills, 354 Or 350, 312 P3d 515 (2013), his convictions on certain counts must be reversed and remanded so as to afford him an opportunity to dispute venue, including by way of controverting the state’s evidence, if he so elects.1 As explained below, we conclude that the trial court erroneously maintained the hand restraint without requisite justification on this record, but, in the totality of the circumstances, that error was harmless. See, e.g., State v. Bates, 203 Or App 245, 250-54, 125 P3d 42 (2005), rev den, 340 Or 483 (2006). We also conclude that a Mills-based reversal and remand is inapposite in the idiosyncratic procedural posture of this case, in which venue was comprehensively litigated at trial. See State v. Anderson, 264 Or App 183, 185, 331 P3d 1052 adh'd to as modified on recons, 265 Or App 222, 333 P3d 1250, rev den, 356 Or 575 (2014). Accordingly, we affirm.2

The facts pertaining to defendant’s criminal conduct were, and are—to the extent they bear on our consideration—undisputed. The victim was an 83-year-old widow, and defendant was her daughter’s romantic companion. The three of them shared a home. Over a five-month period— between January 2012, when the victim underwent hip surgery and subsequently was frequently in great pain and significantly medicated, and the beginning of June— defendant, after misappropriating the victim’s debit card, made unauthorized purchases and withdrawals of substantial sums on dozens of occasions, twice fraudulently induced the victim to write checks to his business for amounts exceeding $50,000 (a total of nearly $133,000), misappropriated a credit card, and stole the victim’s jewelry. Consequently, defendant was charged by indictment with nine counts of aggravated first-degree theft (Counts [694]*6941-5, 7-10), ORS 164.057;3 seven counts of aggravated identity theft (Counts 11-17), ORS 165.803;4 three counts of identity theft (Counts 18-20), ORS 165.800;5 and one count of first-degree theft (Count 6), ORS 164.055.6

Defendant waived a jury trial. On the morning of trial, defendant appeared in leg and hand restraints. Defense counsel requested that the hand restraints be removed:

“This is going to be a multi-day trial with a significant amount of financial records and significant number of witnesses. I’ll need to be able to communicate with my client effectively, and so I’m asking the Court to order [that] * * * [695] the handcuffs on my client be removed during the course of the trial.
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“He’ll still have leg restraints, but—so he can write and we can * * * adequately communicate * * ”

The court deferred ruling, noting that it “leave [s] those decisions up to the sheriffs department,” and directed the courtroom deputy to check with the deputy’s superior.7 The deputy sought clarification from defense counsel: “[J]ust so I’m clear, both hand restraints off or just the right hand, so he can write?” Counsel responded: “Both hand restraints. The leg restraints would remain on for the trial.”

Shortly thereafter, the deputy returned, and the court stated: “So after consultation with the sheriffs department, the defendant’s going to have his writing hand released, and that’s what we’re going to do.” Defense counsel remonstrated:

“My client is currently incarcerated at the work center. It’s a lower level of security. He—my understanding, and I’m sure the State would correct me if I’m wrong—has no escape convictions, no crimes of violence going on. He is in his late 50s, and he’s currently charged simply with property crimes. *** [T]he risk endangering the safety of anyone in the courtroom or the courthouse is nonexistent.
“In addition, there’s a vast amount of business records, and his ability to quickly page through those will be compromised. My ability to communicate with him again will be compromised.”

The court then asked, “How is your ability to communicate with your client compromised?” Defense counsel responded, “His ability to write * * * notes to me, as well as go through the paperwork.” The court concluded:

“Well, I’m observing your client right now and [it] looks [like] he’s right-handed. He has a pen in his hand. He’s moving his hand very freely, and he’s resting his left hand on the desk kind of in a normal manner. I don’t see any great difficulty at all here.
[696] [[Image here]]
“My position is actually pretty simple. I make—I allow the sheriff s department, who’s responsible for the security of the courtroom and courthouse and responsible for the defendant while he’s in custody, I allow them to make those decisions. And there’s no jury present in this case, obviously, so the fact that he’s visibly in restraints is of no concern. He’s wearing street clothes, in any event.
“And if there becomes an issue you want to bring up later, *** he’s having some difficulty handling documents, you can bring it up later and maybe I’ll address the issue for that purpose. But the sheriff’s department has directed that his—only his writing hand be released, and it’s been released.”

(Emphases added.)

The state then presented testimony substantiating the facts recounted above. During cross-examination, defense counsel elicited testimony pertaining to the location of some of the myriad aggregated transactions on which the aggravated first-degree theft and aggravated identity theft counts were predicated.

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State v. McCright, 386 P.3d 141, 282 Or. App. 692, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1537 (Or. Ct. App. 2016).

386 P.3d 141 (State v. McCright) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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