State v. Parks

429 P.3d 391, 293 Or. App. 514
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 29, 2018
DocketA158552
StatusPublished

This text of 429 P.3d 391 (State v. Parks) 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. Parks, 429 P.3d 391, 293 Or. App. 514 (Or. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

ARMSTRONG, P. J.

*516Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction, entered after a trial before the court, for eight counts of attempted aggravated murder, seven counts of first-degree burglary, two counts of fourth-degree assault, and one count each of first-degree rape, first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, first-degree sexual abuse, attempted first-degree sodomy, first-degree kidnapping, strangulation, menacing, attempted first-degree assault, and unlawful use of a weapon. Those charges, among others, were brought against defendant in a single indictment that did not expressly allege a connection between the charges that demonstrated the charges could *393be joined in a single indictment, ORS 132.560. On appeal, defendant argues that the basis for joining the charges was not apparent from the face of the indictment and, thus, the trial court erred in denying his demurrer to the indictment. Defendant also argues on appeal that the trial court erred when it denied his motion for judgment of acquittal on the burglary counts and further erred when it entered guilty verdicts on those counts.

For the reasons that follow, we conclude that, under State v. Poston , 277 Or.App. 137, 370 P.3d 904 (2016), adh'd to on recons. , 285 Or.App. 750, 399 P.3d 488, rev. den. , 361 Or. 886, 403 P.3d 761 (2017), the trial court erred in denying defendant's demurrer to the indictment. However, we also conclude that, except with respect to the unlawful use of a weapon conviction, that error was harmless. We further conclude that defendant failed to preserve his challenge to the burglary convictions that he now raises on appeal and, therefore, we reject those assignments of error. Accordingly, we reverse defendant's conviction for unlawful use of a weapon, remand for resentencing, and otherwise affirm.

For purposes of reviewing the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal (MJOA), we view the facts in the light most favorable to the state to determine whether "a rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proved beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Bilsborrow , 230 Or.App. 413, 415, 215 P.3d 914 (2009). Additionally, for purposes of determining whether an erroneous joinder of charges in an indictment is harmless, as discussed under *517Poston , we look at the evidence the state presented at trial in support of its case. 277 Or.App. at 146, 370 P.3d 904. With those standards in mind, the relevant facts are as follows.

In June 2013, 18-year-old M was living with her mother, Dean, and her 14-year-old brother, D. M's cousin, Harris, also stayed at the house, but he "didn't really stay there a lot." M's friend J also slept at the house frequently.

Harris and defendant had been roommates until they lost their apartment. After that, defendant stayed with his girlfriend. On June 24, after an argument, defendant's girlfriend told defendant that he could no longer stay at her place, and she dropped defendant off at Dean's house with his duffel bag. Neither M nor Dean had met defendant or knew that he had been in their house on June 26 before the events that occurred in the early hours of June 27.

On June 26, M and Dean were out of the house for most of the day. It was Harris's 21st birthday, and he threw a party at the house while M and Dean were gone, without their knowledge. Dean would not have allowed a party at her house, if she had known about it. By the time that M and Dean returned home, at about 11:00 to 11:30 p.m., the party had ended, and J, D, and M's "cousin" W were the only people at the house. Dean took some extra-strength Tylenol and went to bed. Later, D and W left the house. After they left, M and J watched some movies, had sex, and then fell asleep on the living room couch while watching TV. When she fell asleep, M was wearing only a shirt and bra and was covered with a blanket.

Around 5:00 or 5:30 am, M awoke to the sound of the front door slamming, but she did not look up because she assumed that it was Harris or D. Defendant, whom M had never before met, pulled the blanket off of M and dragged her off of the couch by her hair. M ran up the stairs towards Dean's room, but defendant followed her and dragged M by her hair into M's bedroom. M screamed at defendant to get away from her, but no one else in the house heard her. Defendant got on top of M and held her arms down while he penetrated her vagina with his penis. M fought defendant, hitting him in the face and splitting his lip. Defendant *518slapped and choked M, and he tried to put his penis in M's mouth. During that struggle, M was able to break free and ran into Dean's room.

Dean woke up to M jumping on the bed and asking for help. Both Dean and M ran out of the house past defendant and got in Dean's SUV and locked the doors. When Dean tried to drive away, defendant jumped onto the side of the SUV. After a struggle between defendant and Dean during which Dean got out of the SUV, M was able to get in the driver's seat and drive in a manner *394that got defendant off of the side of the SUV. Defendant then obtained a gun and shot out the back window of the SUV.

M drove away and turned the corner, where she encountered a police officer. She slowed down and yelled to the officer that defendant had shot at her and was trying to kill her, and then "sped away." She drove a few blocks further and stopped for a short time to cry but, because she was worried about Dean and D, she returned to the house. When M arrived, the police were at the house investigating. Dean took M to M's grandfather's house and then M's grandfather brought M back to Dean's house to speak to the police. At that time, the police already had defendant in custody. M identified defendant as the man who had attacked her.

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

Related

State v. Minchue
24 P.3d 386 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2001)
State v. Bilsborrow
215 P.3d 914 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2009)
State v. McKnight
426 P.3d 669 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2018)
State v. Pipkin
316 P.3d 255 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2013)
State v. J. N. S.
308 P.3d 1112 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2013)
State v. Poston
370 P.3d 904 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2016)
State v. Werner
383 P.3d 875 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2016)
State v. Poston
399 P.3d 488 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2017)
State v. Clardy
401 P.3d 1188 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2017)
State v. Marks
400 P.3d 951 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2017)
State v. Geyer
401 P.3d 1259 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
429 P.3d 391, 293 Or. App. 514, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-parks-orctapp-2018.