State v. Samuel

410 P.3d 275, 289 Or. App. 618
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 28, 2017
DocketA155273
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 410 P.3d 275 (State v. Samuel) 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. Samuel, 410 P.3d 275, 289 Or. App. 618 (Or. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

DUNCAN, J. pro tempore.

*620In this criminal case, defendant appeals the trial court's judgment convicting him of, among other crimes, felon in possession of a firearm (Count 5), ORS 166.270. On appeal, defendant raises four assignments of error. We reject his first and second assignments without discussion, and we write only to address his third and fourth assignments, in which he asserts that the trial court erred in allowing the state to proceed on a different theory on Count 5 than the theory alleged in the indictment. For the reasons explained below, we agree with that assertion, reverse defendant's conviction on Count 5, and otherwise affirm.1

I. HISTORICAL AND PROCEDURAL FACTS

In connection with a drug investigation, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at defendant's house at around 8:45 a.m., on January 18, 2013. The officers observed a security camera near the front door and a "screen monitoring system" mounted on the living room wall, next to the entryway. The officers found six persons in the house: defendant and two women, Reed and Mahein, in the living room; Reed's four-year-old child, who was asleep in a chair in a bedroom adjacent to the living room; and two adults in the second story of the house. The officers also found an adult in a trailer behind the house.

After the police entered the house, they gathered all of the adults in the living room, where an officer read them their Miranda rights and the search warrant. The warrant specified that the search was for evidence of unlawful delivery of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of methamphetamine and that defendant was the person suspected of the crimes.

After the search warrant was read, an officer interviewed defendant in the bedroom where the child was sleeping, away from the other adults in the living room. When the officer asked defendant if there were any drugs in the *621house, defendant said that there was a black bag in the living room with methamphetamine inside of it. The officer led defendant back to the living room, and defendant identified the bag, which was near where defendant had been sitting when the *277officers entered the house. Inside the black bag, an officer found a "freezer-style" bag containing a large quantity of methamphetamine and a baggie containing a smaller quantity of methamphetamine. Also inside the black bag, the officer found two scales, packaging materials, and a lock box containing vehicle titles and bills of sale and more than $7,000 in cash. The cash included six $1,000 bundles and two $500 bundles. At defendant's trial, an officer testified that a "user amount" of methamphetamine is usually one half of a gram or a gram. According to the state's evidence, the amount of methamphetamine in the freezer-style bag could sell for between $12,360 and $15,540, if sold in one-ounce units, or between $23,363 and $29,204, if sold in one-gram units.

Also in the living room, the police found two firearms. One was next to defendant's wallet and near where defendant had been sitting. The other was in a toolbox.

In defendant's bedroom, the police found a "large garbage-style bag" containing 28.78 grams of psilocybin mushrooms on defendant's bed. According to one of the officers, the amount of psilocybin mushrooms was not a "user amount." In defendant's dresser, the police also found a smaller bag of psilocybin mushrooms and a jewelry box containing a small piece of paper with letters and numbers on it, and an officer testified that the numbers were consistent with the sale prices for methamphetamine.

Based on the evidence discovered during the execution of the search warrant, the state charged defendant with delivery and possession of methamphetamine, as commercial drug offenses (Counts 1 and 2); delivery and possession of a Schedule I controlled substance (psilocybin), as commercial drug offenses (Counts 3 and 4); felon in possession of a firearm (Count 5); endangering the welfare of a minor (Reed's child) (Count 6); and first-degree child neglect (of Reed's child, on an aiding-or-abetting theory) (Count 7).

*622Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion in limine to limit the state's evidence regarding the felon-in-possession charge. That charge alleged that, on or about January 18, 2013, defendant "did unlawfully and knowingly own, possess or use a firearm, * * * having been previously convicted of a felony * * * within the past 15 years [.]" (Emphasis added.) ORS 166.270 defines the crime of felon in possession of a firearm and provides, in part:

"(1) Any person who has been convicted of a felony * * * who owns or has in the person's possession or under the person's custody or control any firearm commits the crime of felon in possession of a firearm.
"* * * * *
"(4) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to any person who has been:
"(a) Convicted of only one felony * * * and who has been discharged from imprisonment, parole or probation for said offense for a period of 15 years prior to the date of alleged violation of subsection (1) of this section[.]"

(Emphases added.) Thus, as relevant here, the state may prove that ORS 166.270 applies by proving that the person was convicted of a felony (or was in prison or on parole or probation for that felony) within the preceding 15 years; alternatively, the state may prove that ORS 166.270 applies by proving that the person was convicted of more than one felony. In this case, the state provided defendant with a criminal history record in discovery. The record reflected that defendant had been convicted of possession of a controlled substance, as a felony, in 2005 (approximately eight years before the charged felon-in-possession offense). The record was inaccurate, because the conviction was not for a felony; the offense had been treated as a misdemeanor at the time of sentencing. The record also reflected that defendant had been convicted of delivery and possession of controlled substances in 1989 (approximately 30 years before the charged felon-in-possession offense). Shortly before trial, the state provided defendant copies of judgments of conviction, including one from 2005 and one from 1989. In response, defendant moved to exclude evidence of the 2005 conviction, on the ground that it was not for a felony, because the offense *623was treated as a misdemeanor at the time of sentencing. ORS 166.270(3)(a) (providing that a conviction "shall not be deemed a conviction of a *278

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
410 P.3d 275, 289 Or. App. 618, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-samuel-orctapp-2017.