State v. Miranda

417 P.3d 480, 290 Or. App. 741
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 14, 2018
DocketA159582 (Control); A159583
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 417 P.3d 480 (State v. Miranda) 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. Miranda, 417 P.3d 480, 290 Or. App. 741 (Or. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

LAGESEN, J.

*743This consolidated appeal involves two criminal cases that were tried separately but sentenced together. In one case, A159583 (the drug case), defendant seeks reversal of his conviction for unlawful delivery of methamphetamine as a commercial drug offense, ORS 475.890(2). He contends that a key witness against him was his accomplice and that the trial court erred when it concluded otherwise and refused to instruct the jury that an accomplice's testimony should be viewed with distrust. In the other case, A159582 (the burglary case), defendant seeks reversal of his conviction for first-degree burglary, ORS 164.225, his conviction for identity theft, ORS 165.800, and his convictions for two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, ORS 163.575. There, he asserts that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal on the burglary charge because there was insufficient evidence for a rational trier of fact to find that defendant intended to commit theft, as the indictment alleged defendant intended, when he made the unlawful entry into a house that led to the charge. Defendant also asserts that the trial court erred when it did not instruct the jury that, on the charges of burglary, identity theft, and endangering a minor, at least 10 jurors would have to concur as to whether *482defendant was liable as the principal or as an accomplice.

For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the trial court erred when it denied defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal on the burglary charge, and that it plainly erred when it did not provide a concurrence instruction with respect to the charge of identity theft. Therefore, in A159582, we reverse defendant's burglary conviction and remand with instructions to enter a judgment of conviction for first-degree criminal trespass, reverse and remand defendant's conviction for identity theft, and remand for resentencing, but otherwise affirm the judgments on appeal.

I. THE DRUG CASE

In defendant's drug case, he was convicted of two drug offenses: delivery of methamphetamine as a commercial drug offense (Count 1) and possession of methamphetamine (Count 2). As to Count 1, the state asserted that the *744evidence was sufficient to prove a Boyd delivery: a theory of delivery that defendant possessed a large amount of methamphetamine with the intent to sell or otherwise transfer it. See State v. Villagomez , 362 Or. 390, 395, 412 P.3d 189 (2018) (describing the theory of delivery that we held in State v. Boyd , 92 Or. App. 51, 756 P.2d 1276 (1988), was sufficient to prove delivery of a controlled substance). In support of that theory, the state introduced evidence that defendant was found in possession of a backpack containing user amounts of methamphetamine, drug packaging materials, a scale, and customer lists. To further make its case that defendant intended to transfer the methamphetamine found in his possession, the state introduced testimony from defendant's acquaintance, Kolln. Kolln testified generally that, on past occasions, she had obtained methamphetamine from defendant in exchange for driving him around to deliver methamphetamine to other customers and for arranging communications between defendant and other customers.

Contending that Kolln qualified as an "accomplice" within the meaning of ORS 10.095(4), defendant asked the trial court to instruct the jury that it should view an accomplice's testimony with distrust under that provision.1 The trial court denied the request. It concluded that Kolln would only qualify as an accomplice for purposes of the instruction if she could be prosecuted for the same Boyd delivery for which defendant was being prosecuted, but that there was no evidence that would support charges against Kolln for that particular delivery.

On appeal, defendant assigns error to the trial court's refusal to instruct the jury that it should view the testimony of an accomplice with distrust. The state responds that the trial court correctly declined to give the instruction because there was no evidence that would allow a finding *745that Kolln was defendant's "accomplice" for purposes of ORS 10.095(4). Because there is no question that defendant's proposed instruction correctly states the law, we review by viewing the record in the light most favorable to defendant, the requesting party, to determine whether there is evidence to support the delivery of the instruction. State v. Black , 208 Or. App. 719, 723, 145 P.3d 367 (2006). In this case, the disputed issue is whether the evidence is sufficient to establish that Kolln was an accomplice witness within the meaning of ORS 10.095.

A witness qualifies as an accomplice for purposes of the instruction authorized by ORS 10.095(4) if the evidence demonstrates that the witness could be charged with the same offense (or offenses) for which the defendant is on trial. Black , 208 Or. App. at 723-24, 145 P.3d 367 (citing State v. Hull , 286 Or. 511, 515-16, 595 P.2d 1240 (1979) ); see also State v. Weston

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
417 P.3d 480, 290 Or. App. 741, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-miranda-orctapp-2018.