State v. Nesbit

361 P.3d 649, 274 Or. App. 694, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1290
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 4, 2015
Docket120934165; A154660
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 361 P.3d 649 (State v. Nesbit) 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. Nesbit, 361 P.3d 649, 274 Or. App. 694, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1290 (Or. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

FLYNN, J.

Defendant appeals from a judgment imposing enhanced sentences for two of three counts of aggravated theft in the first degree, ORS 164.057, following his plea of no contest to an indictment charging three counts of aggravated theft in the first degree. The trial court sentenced defendant to probation on Count 1 and then counted the conviction on Count 1 as a previous conviction to support the enhanced sentences on Counts 2 and 3. See ORS 137.717(l)(a)(A) (2009).1 We conclude that the state failed to meet its burden to prove that the three counts of aggravated theft arose out of separate criminal episodes, and, thus, that the state failed to prove that the conviction on Count 1 was a previous conviction for purposes of his sentences on the other counts. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for resentencing.

The state bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of evidence that defendant’s conviction on Count 1 qualifies as a “previous conviction.” See ORS 137.079(5)(c); ORS 137.717(8).2 The parties agree that the conviction on Count 1 could serve as a “previous conviction” for purposes of enhancing defendant’s sentence on the other aggravated theft convictions, unless the later convictions arose out of the “same conduct or criminal episode” as Count 1. See ORS 137.717(4)(a) (2009);3 State v. Mallory, 213 Or App 392, [696]*696395-96, 162 P3d 297 (2007), rev den, 344 Or 110 (2008) (explaining what constitutes a previous conviction). The only issue in dispute is whether the trial court correctly determined that defendant’s “acceptance of checks during a different time period, is a separate criminal act and a separate episode.”

Whether conduct giving rise to convictions constitutes a single criminal episode is a question of law, although the answer to that question “may depend on predicate findings of historical fact.” State v. Potter, 236 Or App 74, 82, 234 P3d 1073 (2010). Here, the historical facts presented by the record are not in dispute. Defendant was charged with three counts of aggravated theft in the first degree. For each count, the indictment alleged that defendant stole at least $10,000 from 21st Century Pacific Insurance Company (21st Century) during a distinct date range: for Count 1, between June 8, 2010 and September 20, 2010; for Count 2, between October 21, 2010 and January 18, 2011; and for Count 3, between February 4, 2011 and June 10, 2011. Defendant pleaded no contest and stipulated that the state could put on evidence to prove each of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

At defendant’s sentencing hearing, the state explained, as background for the charges, that defendant filed a false claim for benefits with 21st Century for wage loss caused by an injury and that, as a result of the false claim, defendant received checks between June 8, 2010 and June 10, 2011. The state explained that it elected to charge defendant with separate counts for the thefts based on his depositing of the checks, rather than with the single count of filing a false insurance claim. The state also chose to aggregate the thefts by date ranges during which the total value of stolen property exceeded $10,000, thus producing three separate counts of aggravated theft.4 Once the court [697]*697pronounced the sentence on Count 1, it applied that “previous conviction” to enhance defendant’s sentence for the other convictions because of its determination that the later convictions did not arise out of the same “criminal episode” as the first.

In the context of sentencing for multiple convictions in a single proceeding, we have applied the same meaning of “criminal episode” that we use to determine whether crimes are part of the same criminal episode for purposes of double jeopardy. State v. Witherspoon, 250 Or App 316, 321-22, 280 P3d 1004 (2012) (whether a conviction from the same proceeding is a different criminal episode that can be included in the defendant’s criminal history score for purposes of sentencing “turns on whether, in accordance with double jeopardy principles, the counts had to be prosecuted together”). We have also pointed to the Supreme Court’s emphasis that the phrase “criminal episode” is synonymous with the phrase “same act or transaction,” a phrase that means the acts giving rise to the convictions are “‘so closely linked in time, place, and circumstance that a complete account of one charge cannot be related without relating details of the other charge.’” Mallory, 213 Or App at 401-02 (quoting State v. Fitzgerald, 267 Or 266, 273, 516 P2d 1280 (1973)).

On appeal, the state argues only that defendant’s stipulation that the state could prove the three offenses as alleged is proof that the offenses did not arise from the same criminal episode. The state relies on Mallory, in which we held that, by pleading guilty to multiple counts alleging theft and identity theft committed on different dates, the defendant admitted sufficient facts to establish that those offenses involved separate criminal episodes. 213 Or App at 405. Here, too, defendant’s plea and stipulation establish that he committed three separate theft offenses during different date ranges, each separated by approximately one month. The indictment did not allege, however, that the [698]*698separate theft offenses were part of separate “criminal episodes,” and Mallory does not hold that offenses occurring on different dates are necessarily part of separate criminal episodes.5

Unlike Mallory, the record here contains additional information about the nature of the defendant’s thefts, which must be considered in determining whether defendant’s separate offenses were part of the same criminal episode. Specifically, the state explained at defendant’s sentencing hearing that its theory for all of the thefts resulted from the initial false claim for wage loss:

“[fit’s a single claim. But spinning off of that claim are a number of payments that are made, pursuant to the initial filing. And his receipt of that money, cashing the checks, keeping the money, is a separate theft along the way.”

Given that additional detail regarding the criminal activity, defendant contends, the conduct giving rise to the three counts of aggravated theft was part of the same criminal episode. We need not decide, however, whether the convictions were affirmatively part of the same criminal episode. Because the state bore the burden to prove that Count 1 could be treated as a previous conviction, the question is whether the state proved that the three crimes were not part of the same criminal episode. See ORS 137.079 (5)(c).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Crook
547 P.3d 158 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2024)
State v. Dent
525 P.3d 487 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2023)
State v. Martin
519 P.3d 132 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2022)
State v. Dulfu
386 P.3d 85 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2016)
State v. Spynu
372 P.3d 622 (Multnomah County Circuit Court, Oregon, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
361 P.3d 649, 274 Or. App. 694, 2015 Ore. App. LEXIS 1290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-nesbit-orctapp-2015.