State v. Nascimento

379 P.3d 484, 360 Or. 28, 2016 Ore. LEXIS 468
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 21, 2016
DocketCC 09FE0092, CA A147290, SC S063197
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 379 P.3d 484 (State v. Nascimento) 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. Nascimento, 379 P.3d 484, 360 Or. 28, 2016 Ore. LEXIS 468 (Or. 2016).

Opinion

BALMER, C. J.

The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed. The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed in part and reversed in part, and the case is remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings.

*30 BALMER, C. J.

The narrow but potentially far-reaching issue in this case is the scope of ORS 164.377(4), which makes it a crime to use, access, or attempt to access a computer or computer network “without authorization.” The state argues that, although defendant’s employer authorized her to use the computer terminal at issue here, defendant did so for a purpose not permitted by her employer and thus was guilty of computer crime. Defendant contends that, because her access to and use of the computer terminal was authorized by her employer, she cannot be guilty of violating ORS 164.377(4), even if she used the computer for an impermissible purpose. She concedes, however, that her use may have violated her employer’s policies or other provisions of ORS 164.377. For the reasons explained below, we agree that defendant’s conduct did not violate subsection (4) of the statute, and, accordingly, that the trial court erred in denying her motion for judgment of acquittal. We therefore reverse defendant’s computer crime conviction.

Defendant was convicted of theft and computer crime for using a computer terminal at work, which was linked to the Oregon State Lottery, to print and steal lottery tickets. She appealed the conviction for computer crime, arguing that the trial court erred in denying her motion for judgment of acquittal on that count because, she argued, she was “authorized” to use the computer terminal and therefore had not violated ORS 164.377(4). 1 In reviewing the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal, we describe the facts and all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from those facts in the light most favorable to the state. State v. Walker, 356 Or 4, 6, 333 P3d 316 (2014).

Defendant was employed as a deli clerk at Tiger Mart, a convenience store in Madras, beginning in 2007. In February 2009, Masood, the vice-president of the store’s parent company, investigated issues relating to the sale of lottery tickets at the Tiger Mart. He found that, between November 2008 and February 2009, there were unexplained *31 cash shortages well beyond the amount expected in the operation of such a store, sometimes exceeding $1,000 a day. He soon determined that the store also showed a surprisingly large number of sales of Keno lottery tickets, including sales of an unusual number of high-priced tickets. The total shortages between November 2008 and February 2009 exceeded $16,000. After examining cash register receipts and lottery reports, he concluded that the shortages related to the sale of Keno tickets and that they occurred on days when defendant was working. Masood also reviewed video recordings and observed occasions when defendant would move from the deli area to the cash register area and print out and pocket Keno tickets from the lottery terminal. Masood suspected that defendant was printing and taking — but not paying for — those Keno tickets. Although Masood did not work in the store himself and did not train defendant, he testified at one point that defendant was not authorized to use the lottery terminal to dispense Keno tickets, and at another point, in response to a question about whether defendant was supposed to be operating the lottery terminal, stated “Not as far as I know.” He further indicated that, to the best of his knowledge, defendant had not been trained to operate the lottery terminal that dispensed Keno tickets.

Donelly, the manager of the Tiger Mart and defendant’s direct supervisor, testified that she had trained defendant and other deli employees to use the cash register and the lottery terminal, and that they routinely were required to use them when other employees were busy or taking breaks. She testified that she had authorized defendant to use the lottery terminal and the cash register. She indicated that that practice had been in place before the current owners took over the convenience store and that she did not recall there being any policy prohibiting deli clerks from operating the cash register or the lottery terminal. Another deli employee confirmed Donelly’s testimony about deli workers’ regular use of the cash register and lottery terminal. Both Masood and Donelly, as well as the other employee, testified that the store had a policy that employees were not to purchase or redeem lottery tickets on their own behalf while on duty.

*32 The state presented evidence about the lottery terminal itself and how defendant was trained to use it. The lottery terminal is a touchscreen machine that is networked to the Oregon State Lottery. The terminal has only three functions: It can print lottery tickets, it can scan lottery tickets to validate whether they are winning tickets, and it can produce reports. It is not networked with the store’s cash register. A manager needed to sign in once a day to activate the terminal, but the terminal did not otherwise require any sort of password to operate. Tiger Mart employees received training that, when they sold lottery tickets, they were to collect payment from customers and put the payment in the cash register before using the touchscreen on the lottery terminal to dispense the ticket or tickets.

The state also presented video evidence that, when no one else was around, defendant used the lottery terminal at the Tiger Mart to print Keno tickets, which she then pocketed. There also was evidence that defendant failed to pay for those Keno tickets. Other evidence showed that defendant had redeemed at least one winning ticket through the mail and had redeemed other tickets at a local store. Further evidence was presented correlating some of those tickets to video evidence of defendant using the lottery terminal at the Tiger Mart. Thus, evidence supported the state’s theory that defendant used the lottery terminal to print lottery tickets that she took without paying for and that she later redeemed those tickets.

Defendant was charged with one count of aggravated first-degree theft, as well as computer crime. The computer crime statute, ORS 164.377, provides, in part:

“(2) Any person commits computer crime who knowingly accesses, attempts to access or uses, or attempts to use, any computer, computer system, computer network or any part thereof for the purpose of:
“(a) Devising or executing any scheme or artifice to defraud;
“(b) Obtaining money, property or services by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises; or
*33

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
379 P.3d 484, 360 Or. 28, 2016 Ore. LEXIS 468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-nascimento-or-2016.