State v. Roisland

459 P.2d 555, 1 Or. App. 68
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJuly 8, 1969
DocketCase No. C-48994 Case No. C-49042
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 459 P.2d 555 (State v. Roisland) 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. Roisland, 459 P.2d 555, 1 Or. App. 68 (Or. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

SCHWAB, C. J.

Defendant was charged in one indictment with (1) facilitating an escape from official detention, and (2) assault with a dangerous weapon, and in a second indictment with (3) being an ex-convict in possession of a firearm. A consolidated jury trial resulted in convictions on all charges.

One Kessler had been a prisoner in the Multnomah County Jail, and, while an inmate, was transferred to the Multnomah County Hospital for treatment of an illness. The defendant entered Kessler’s hospital room, and, using a revolver, relieved the deputy sheriff guarding Kessler of his weapon and his prisoner. The defendant and Kessler then left the hospital.. On the following day the defendant and Kessler were located and apprehended by Portland detectives in an *71 apartment in which two other people were also living. At that time, neither Kessler nor the defendant had arms on his person. However, two guns, one of which was loaded, were found on the premises.

In considering the assignments of error we borrow in part from the brief filed by the state.

ASSIGNMENT OP ERROR NO. 1

Defendant contends that Kessler’s prison record card was hearsay and should not have been admitted as evidence that Kessler was a prisoner in official detention. A Multnomah County deputy sheriff assigned as clerk at the jail testified that he was custodian of records on his shift. He explained that in the ordinary course of the business of the jail a separate prison record card is made out for every prisoner booked into the jail at the time he is taken into custody. The desk officer makes entries regarding the movement of each prisoner on that prisoner’s card at the time of such movement. The card in question showed the date on which Kessler was transferred. The notation was the sort made in the regular course of business, although the identity of the desk officer who made that specific notation was not recorded on it. Defendant argues that the exhibit was not authenticated properly for admission as a public' record. It was not offered as a public record. It was offered as a business record. The county jail is a “business” under the statute which includes “institutions” under the definition of that term. ORS 41.680 provides:

“The term ‘business,’ as used in ORS 41.690, shall include every Mnd of business, profession, occupation, calling or operating of institutions, whether carried on for profit or not.”

*72 An adequate foundation was laid for the court’s admission of the document as a business record under OES 41.690, which provides:

“A record of an act, condition or event, shall, in so far as relevant, be competent evidence if the custodian or other qualified witness testifies to its identity and the mode of its preparation, and if it was made in the regular course of business at or near the time of the act, condition or event, and if, in the opinion of the court, the sources of information, method and time of preparation were such as to justify its admission.”

The prison record card was properly received as a business record.

ASSIGNMENT OF EEEOE NO. 2

Defendant contends that the two guns and the ammunition found in one of them should not have been received into evidence, because they were not found on the person of the defendant, and, therefore, were not relevant evidence. When the detectives arrived at the apartment, they knocked — the defendant and Kessler then attempted to flee. The defendant was apprehended inside the apartment. A fully-loaded pistol was found under the cushion of a couch approximately 10 to 15 feet from the place where he was arrested. Another gun was found close by a basement door near where Kessler was arrested. The gun which was found near Kessler Avas identified by the guard .at the hospital as being the pistol taken from him by the defendant. A patient Avho shared the hospital room A\dth Kessler at the time of the escape testified on direct examination that the gun found under the couch cushion near the defendant was “similar” to the gun which the defendant used on the hospital *73 guard. On cross-examination the witness said he was familiar with firearms, that he had a clear view, and that the gun offered in evidence was “identical” to the one he saw defendant use in the hospital.

The evidence was relevant to all three charges.

This assignment is controlled by State v. Hancock, 245 Or 240, 242, 421 P2d 687 (1966), in which the Oregon Supreme Court approved as relevant the admission of a gun which was similar to that used in a robbery and was found in an apartment to which the defendant had had access.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 3

Here, the defendant contends that his motion for a judgment of acquittal should have been granted. His argument under this assignment is founded on three propositions:

(1) Facilitation of an escape was not proved because it was not shown that Kessler was in custody;

(2) The charge that defendant was an ex-convict in possession of a firearm was not proved because defendant’s possession of a weapon was not shown; and

(3) Assault with a dangerous weapon was not proved because the gun was not shown to have been workable.

None of these, propositions lias merit.

Kessler was shown to have been in custody by the municipal court commitment order, by the Multnomah County Jail prison record card relating to Kessler and indicating his' transfer to the hospital, and by the testimony of the deputy sheriff who was guarding him- at the hospital.

*74 We have already pointed out the substantial evidence of defendant’s possession of a firearm under Assignment of Error No. 2.

As previously pointed out, the gun defendant used was found the next evening under the cushion of a couch some 10 or 15 feet from the place where defendant was arrested. It was loaded when found. The evidence was more than ample to allow an' inference that the gun was loaded and workable at the time of the defendant’s assault upon Kessler’s guard.

In State v. Noblin, 214 Or 60, 65, 328 P2d 139 (1958), this court stated that:

“* * * Where an assault is accomplished by the pointing of a gun in a threatening manner and within the obvious range of the gun, the victim and the' jury are justified in inferring that the gun is loaded.”

See also State v. Hedrick, 224 Or 329, 331, 356 P2d 91 (1960).

The motion was properly denied.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 4

Defendant contends that he should have been allowed to impeach the psychiatrist he called to the witness stand. On his own motion, defendant had been committed to the Oregon State Hospital by the court for a pre-trial psychiatric examination. Dr. Jetmalani, who conducted.

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State v. Roisland
459 P.2d 555 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
459 P.2d 555, 1 Or. App. 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-roisland-orctapp-1969.