State v. Pipkin

316 P.3d 255, 354 Or. 513, 2013 WL 6508826, 2013 Ore. LEXIS 998
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 12, 2013
DocketCC 200904318; CA A142469; SC S059769
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 316 P.3d 255 (State v. Pipkin) 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. Pipkin, 316 P.3d 255, 354 Or. 513, 2013 WL 6508826, 2013 Ore. LEXIS 998 (Or. 2013).

Opinion

KISTLER, J.

Defendant was charged with first-degree burglary, which occurs when a person “enters or remains unlawfully” in a dwelling “with an intent to commit a crime therein.” See ORS 164.225; ORS 164.215. At trial, defendant argued that the state should be required to elect whether it intended to proceed on the theory that he entered the victim’s home unlawfully or on the theory that he remained in her home unlawfully. Alternatively, relying on State v. Boots, 308 Or 371,780 P2d 725 (1989), cert den, 510 US 1013 (1993), defendant requested an instruction that at least 10 jurors had to agree on one (or both) of those theories. The trial court denied both requests, and the Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s rulings. State v. Pipkin, 245 Or App 73, 80, 261 P3d 60 (2011). We allowed defendant’s petition for review and now affirm the Court of Appeals decision and the trial court’s judgment.

The indictment in this case alleged that, on or about a specific date, defendant “did unlawfully and knowingly enter or remain” in the victim’s home with an intent to commit a crime therein. At trial, the evidence permitted the jury to find that defendant had entered the victim’s home unlawfully. It also permitted the jury to find that defendant had entered the victim’s home lawfully but had remained there unlawfully after the victim told him to leave. Finally, there was evidence that defendant intended to commit the crime of menacing or harassment when he entered the victim’s home and also when he remained there.

At the close of the case, defendant asked the trial court to require the state to elect the theory on which it wanted to proceed — whether he had entered the victim’s home unlawfully or whether he had remained there unlawfully. Alternatively, defendant asked the court to instruct the jury that at least 10 of its members had to agree on one (or both) of those theories. The trial court denied both motions. It ruled:

“All right. With regard to the phrase ‘enter or remain unlawfully,’ I’m going to deny the motion to require an election by the state. I’m also going to deny the request for a Boots instruction with regard to that. I note that [516]*516the statute, ORS 164.205(3), defines the phrase ‘enter or remain unlawfully’ as a single phrase that has its own definition. So it makes no distinction. It is actually one thing. So I don’t think there’s an election to be made under the law there.”

Consistently with that ruling, the trial court did not give defendant’s requested instruction. Rather, it instructed the jury that, to establish that defendant had committed the crime of first-degree burglary, the state had to prove that defendant “entered or remained unlawfully in the premises described in the charge.” The jury found defendant guilty of first-degree burglary, and the trial court entered judgment accordingly.

On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s judgment. It reasoned that, as a matter of legislative intent, entering and remaining unlawfully are two ways of proving a single element of first-degree burglary — unlawful presence in a dwelling — and that Article I, section 11, does not require jury concurrence on alternative means of proving a single element. Pipkin, 245 Or App at 79-80. We allowed defendant’s petition for review to consider the level of factual specificity on which either state statutes or the state constitution requires jury agreement.1 We have addressed that issue in Boots and three other cases: State v. King, 316 Or 437, 852 P2d 190 (1993); State v. Lotches, 331 Or 455, 17 P3d 1045 (2000), cert den, 534 US 833 (2001); and State v. Hale, 335 Or 612, 75 P3d 448 (2003), cert den, 541 US 942 (2004).2 Those four cases address two conceptually distinct situations, and it is helpful to distinguish them.

One situation occurs when a statute defines one crime but specifies alternative ways in which that crime can be committed. Boots and King addressed that situation. In King, for example, a statute made it a crime to drive either under the influence of intoxicants or while having a blood [517]*517alcohol content of. 08 or higher, and the question was whether 10 members of the jury had to agree on one of those alternative ways of committing that crime.3 As this court explained in King, the answer to that question turns initially on what the legislature intended. 316 Or at 441-42. If the legislature intended that each of those alternatives is a separate statutory element, then jury concurrence is required on each element. Id. at 446. If, however, the legislature intended that the alternative ways of committing the crime are different factual ways of proving the same element, the remaining question is whether the constitution prohibits that legislative choice. See id. at 447.

The other situation arises when the indictment charges a single violation of a crime but the evidence permits the jury to find multiple, separate occurrences of that crime. An indictment, for example, might charge one act of statutory rape, but the evidence may disclose multiple, separate occurrences of statutory rape. See State v. Reyes, 209 Or 595, 622, 303 P2d 519, 304 P2d 446, 308 P2d 182 (1957) (describing that situation). Hale and Lotches arose in that context.4 Ordinarily, a defendant faced with that problem can ask the state to elect the occurrence on which it wishes to proceed and, in that way, limit the jury’s consideration to a single occurrence. See, e.g., State v. Lee, 202 Or 592, 276 P2d 946 (1954); State v. Ewing, 174 Or 487, 496, 149 P2d 765 (1944). Alternatively, Hale and Lotches hold that a defendant can ask for an instruction requiring jury concurrence on one of the several occurrences that the record discloses.

[518]*518This case presents the first situation. ORS 164.225 specifies that a defendant can commit the crime of first-degree burglary by entering or remaining in a dwelling unlawfully with the intent to commit a crime therein.5 6In determining whether 10 jurors must agree on one of those statutory alternatives, we look initially to Boots and King, the two decisions from this court that addressed a similar issue. Because the parties read Boots and King differently, we begin by discussing what those cases held. We then apply their holdings to the issue that defendant raises on review.

Boots was the first decision from this court to consider jury concurrence. See 308 Or at 376 (so stating). To convict the defendant in Boots of aggravated murder, the jury had to find that he had committed murder accompanied by at least one of 17 aggravating circumstances. The indictment in Boots

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
316 P.3d 255, 354 Or. 513, 2013 WL 6508826, 2013 Ore. LEXIS 998, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-pipkin-or-2013.