State v. Rhodes

436 P.3d 77, 296 Or. App. 209
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedFebruary 21, 2019
DocketA164089
StatusPublished

This text of 436 P.3d 77 (State v. Rhodes) 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. Rhodes, 436 P.3d 77, 296 Or. App. 209 (Or. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

JAMES, J.

*210Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for disorderly conduct in the second degree. ORS 166.025. She assigns error to the trial court's denial of her pretrial motion to declare borderline personality disorder a mental disease or defect for purposes of ORS 161.300 (2016), amended by Oregon Laws 2017, chapter 634, section 4. In particular, defendant argues she was prevented from presenting evidence of, and instructing the jury on, the issue of borderline personality disorder as a mental disease or defect as part of a partial responsibility defense under ORS 161.300 (2016). In response, the state argues that, although the trial court denied defendant's pretrial motion, she was allowed to present evidence about her borderline personality disorder and develop the defense during the trial. The state adds that defendant argued to the jury that the evidence of her borderline personality disorder established reasonable doubt as to whether the state had met its burden to prove that defendant formed the requisite mental states for the charged crimes after the trial court instructed the jury on intent and the state's burden. We conclude that the trial court did not commit reversible error in denying defendant's motion and, in light of State v. Booth , 284 Or. 615, 588 P.2d 614 (1978), and the facts here, any error resulting from the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on the partial responsibility defense is harmless. Accordingly, we affirm.

Defendant was having suicidal ideation and went to the emergency room. She wrote a note to the receptionist stating that she was suicidal and sat down in the waiting room. After waiting for 15 minutes, defendant felt that the hospital staff did not believe that she was suicidal, so she walked out of the emergency room and into a busy three-lane road. She stood in the middle of traffic and yelled.

A hospital security guard intervened, trying to escort defendant out of the road and onto the sidewalk. Defendant returned to the middle of the road and the hospital security guard called for assistance. Two police officers arrived and eventually arrested defendant and transported *211her to jail. For that conduct, the state charged defendant with *79second-degree disorderly conduct, among other things.1

Before trial, defendant filed a motion seeking an order from the trial court declaring borderline personality disorder a mental disease or defect for purposes of ORS 161.300 (2016). In particular, she notified the trial court that she was raising a partial responsibility defense and that she intended to offer evidence of mental disease or defect as it related to the mental state for the charged crimes. Defendant also requested that the jury be instructed as to the following:

"You may consider evidence that the Defendant suffered from a mental disease or defect in making your decision whether the Defendant had the mental state that is required for the commission of the charged offense.
"The term 'mental state' refers to intent, knowledge, and recklessness."

(Footnote omitted.)

In response to defendant's motion, the state acknowledged that defendant could raise a partial responsibility defense during the trial to show that she did not act with the requisite mental states but argued that defendant's requested jury instruction was not appropriate because it would inappropriately suggest to the jury that the trial court had determined that defendant's borderline personality disorder excused her criminal conduct. Instead, the state proposed:

"If [defendant] want[s] to produce evidence about her diagnosis and her time with the doctor and all of that to show, you know, generally speaking, around the time, even though it wasn't on the day in question, this is what was going on with her, that's fine. But that all the jury needs to know is that at the end of the day, they're instructed that you have to find the mental states that they-the defendant's been charged with and the State has to prove *212it beyond a reasonable doubt and you can consider all the evidence that you've heard in this case to make that decision[.]"

After hearing arguments from both of the parties on the motion, the trial court denied the motion and declined to declare borderline personality disorder a mental disease or defect. As to the corresponding requested jury instruction, the trial court explained

"that given what I've previously ruled as to what a Borderline Personality Disorder is for this case and what it is legally, I'm not going to give that instruction. Where the evidence plays out in the trial itself, obviously we don't know yet where we will be, but given everything that the court has heard, it does appear that what the argument from the defense is going to be is that [defendant] just didn't have the capacity to form the intent in this case."

The case proceeded to trial. During defendant's opening statement, defense counsel explained that "what's important to understand about that day is that [defendant] was having a mental health crisis." Defense counsel continued, "And at the end of this case, we're going to ask that you find [defendant] not guilty consistent with the evidence of the charged conduct" and concluded, "we're going to ask you to look at the situation from [defendant's] perspective as this person experiencing this mental health crisis, confronted with the circumstances that I just talked about."

At trial, defendant's expert psychologist, Dr. Kenney, testified about her borderline personality disorder diagnosis, including testimony that defendant's behavior during the incident was consistent with the symptoms of her diagnosis. Kenney explained that a person with borderline personality disorder may seek attention from others by engaging in self-harming behaviors and respond with "anger and rage." He testified that defendant's behavior during the incident reflected the "hallmarks" of borderline personality disorder.

After the parties rested, the trial court instructed the jury on disorderly conduct in the second degree, ORS 166.025 :

*80*213"Disorderly conduct in the second degree.

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Related

State v. Booth
588 P.2d 614 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1978)
Beiswenger v. Psychiatric Security Review Board
84 P.3d 180 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2004)
State ex rel. Department of Human Services v. R. N. L.
180 P.3d 704 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2008)
State v. Zielinski
404 P.3d 972 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
436 P.3d 77, 296 Or. App. 209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rhodes-orctapp-2019.