State v. Morgan

CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 16, 2017
DocketS063831
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Morgan (State v. Morgan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Morgan, (Or. 2017).

Opinion

No. 8 February 16, 2017 47

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON

STATE OF OREGON, Respondent on Review, v. RYLEY JEANNE MORGAN, Petitioner on Review. (CC 11CR0886; CA A152692; SC S063831)

En Banc On review from the Court of Appeals.* Argued and submitted September 23, 2016. Marc D. Brown, Chief Deputy Defender, Salem, argued the cause and filed the brief for petitioner on review. Also on the brief was Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender, Office of Public Defense Services. Jamie K. Contreras, Assistant Attorney General, Salem, argued the cause and filed the brief for respondent on review. Also on the brief were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General. WALTERS, J. The decision of the Court of Appeals is affirmed. The judg- ment of the circuit court is affirmed in part and reversed in part, and the case is remanded to the circuit court for entry of judgment and resentencing as ordered by the Court of Appeals.

______________ * Appeal from Josephine County Circuit Court, Thomas M. Hull, Judge. 274 Or App 792, 364 P3d 690 (2015). 48 State v. Morgan

Case Summary: Defendant was convicted of second-degree robbery under ORS 164.405(1)(b) on the theory that she had committed third-degree robbery and had been “aided by another person actually present.” Defendant appealed to the Court of Appeals and argued that, to convict her of second-degree rob- bery, the state was required to prove that Thornton, the other “person actually present,” was her accomplice — that he had acted with the specific intent to pro- mote or facilitate the commission of the robbery. The Court of Appeals disagreed, concluding that ORS 164.405(1)(b) does not require that the aider know that the defendant is committing theft. In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Martha L. Walters, the Oregon Supreme Court held that, to establish that defen- dant was “aided by another person actually present” and therefore was guilty of second-degree robbery under ORS 164.405(1)(b), the state was required to prove that the person who aided defendant acted with the intent to facilitate the rob- bery. The Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals with respect to defendant’s second-degree robbery conviction. The Court explained that, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, the factfinder could have found that Thornton, the other “person actually present,” was aware of the facts that constituted the crime of third-degree robbery and acted with an intent to promote or facilitate the robbery. The Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals. The Court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court in part and reversed in part, consistent with the Court of Appeals’ holding that the trial court erred in failing to merge defen- dant’s third-degree robbery conviction with her second-degree robbery convic- tion. The Court remanded the case to the circuit court for entry of judgment and resentencing as ordered by the Court of Appeals. Cite as 361 Or 47 (2017) 49

WALTERS, J. In this case, we hold that, to establish that defen- dant was “aided by another person actually present” and therefore was guilty of second-degree robbery under ORS 164.405(1)(b), the state was required to prove that the per- son who aided defendant acted with the intent to facilitate the robbery. Because the state proffered evidence from which a rational trier of fact could have reached that conclusion, we affirm the judgment of the trial court and the decision of the Court of Appeals. State v. Morgan, 274 Or App 792, 794, 364 P3d 690 (2015). For reasons that we will explain, we summarize the relevant facts in the light most favorable to the state. Defendant’s boyfriend, Thornton, dropped off defendant and the couple’s child at a department store. Defendant entered the store and took clothing into a fitting room to try it on. Recognizing suspicious behavior, security officers began to monitor defendant’s actions and noticed that, after defen- dant had left the fitting room, two items of clothing were missing. Soon thereafter, Thornton returned to the store and held the child while defendant continued to try on cloth- ing. Defendant left the fitting room a second time, and the security officers noted that two additional items were miss- ing. Two officers—Marshall and Waltz—and the store man- ager waited for defendant and Thornton to pass all points of sale and leave the store, and then followed them to the parking lot. In the parking lot, Waltz approached defendant as she walked to the car that Thornton was driving, showed defendant his badge, and said, “Ma’am[,] I’m with store security and we need to talk about some merchandise that wasn’t paid for.” As Waltz approached defendant, he yelled, “Store security. Stop.” Defendant responded, “You’re not tak- ing me to jail,” and jumped into the car on the passenger’s side. Waltz grabbed defendant’s right arm and told her to get out of the car, but defendant refused and pulled her arm back. Thornton, who was seated on the driver’s side of the vehicle, knew that the officers were loss prevention officers. 50 State v. Morgan

He heard the officers state that they were security person- nel, and he knew that they had come to the car to question defendant because of her having been in the store. Thornton was also aware of defendant’s history as a repeat property offender.1 Nevertheless, Thornton started the car. Waltz continued to hold onto defendant’s arm, and, with defen- dant’s door still open, Thornton began to drive. Waltz let go of defendant, and Thornton drove forward toward Marshall and the store manager, who were standing in front of the car. Marshall avoided being hit by “push[ing] off the front of the car,” but the car hit the store manager, who was unable to get out of the way. Thornton sped away “extremely fast” and ran a red light as he and defendant left the store park- ing lot. The state charged defendant with second-degree robbery under ORS 164.405(1)(b), based on allegations that she had committed third-degree robbery and had been “aided by” Thornton, “another person actually present.” During her bench trial, defendant raised questions about what was required to sustain a conviction for second-degree robbery and challenged the legal sufficiency of the state’s evidence. In her closing argument to the trial court, she argued that “aiding requires something more than merely driving off in the vehicle” and that “[Thornton] has to know what [defendant] did.” Defendant argued that Thornton did not have that knowledge and that the only evidence was that he drove the car out of the parking lot out of self- interest, to avoid being caught in possession of drugs. The trial court disagreed with defendant’s statement of the law. The court explained that the person aiding defendant was not required to have any knowledge of the specific crime being committed: “All I have to * * * find is that [Thornton] knew that [defendant] was being sought for something, it was nefarious, criminal, and that he was aiding her to leave and get out of there.” The court found that “there clearly was an intent * * * to aid the defendant.” 1 The following evidence was admitted without objection or limitation in the guilt phase of defendant’s trial. Defendant and Thornton had been in a romantic relationship since 2009.

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State v. Morgan, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-morgan-or-2017.