State v. Schmidt

439 P.3d 500, 296 Or. App. 363
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 6, 2019
DocketA162487
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 439 P.3d 500 (State v. Schmidt) 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. Schmidt, 439 P.3d 500, 296 Or. App. 363 (Or. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

EGAN, C. J.

*364Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII), ORS 813.010(4)1 , and reckless driving, ORS 811.140. He assigns error to the trial court's denial of his request to exclude evidence of his prior DUII convictions in a joint trial on both charges when the prior convictions were relevant only to the reckless driving charge. In the alternative, defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to sever the charges. For the reasons explained below, we affirm.

The relevant facts are procedural and undisputed. Defendant was charged with DUII and reckless driving based on conduct that occurred on a single day. The court granted the state's motion to consolidate both charges for trial. During the trial, outside of the presence of the jury, the state sought to introduce evidence of defendant's prior DUII convictions. Defendant objected, arguing that the prior convictions were not relevant to the DUII charge, "except [for] the improper effect of telling the jury that this fellow has had DUIIs before," and that the probative value of the prior convictions was substantially outweighed by the potential for unfair prejudice. Defendant also argued that, if the court ruled that the prior convictions were admissible as to the reckless driving charge, the court would need to sever that charge from the DUII charge because of the potential for unfair prejudice.

The trial court ruled that the prior DUII convictions were relevant to the reckless driving charge, reasoning that the evidence of the convictions showed that defendant had undergone alcohol treatment and evaluation and that "someone that has been through the evaluation and has been through treatment can be at a higher state of awareness of those risks." In other words, the court determined that the prior convictions were relevant to prove an element of the crime of *502reckless driving under ORS 811.140 : that defendant was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and *365unjustifiable risk.2 The court also determined that it would not need to sever the charges because it would "instruct the jury that they are not to consider [the exhibits showing defendant's prior convictions] in their determination of whether the Defendant is guilty or not guilty of [DUII]."3

Later in the trial, again outside of the presence of the jury, the court revisited its ruling admitting the prior convictions. The court explained "for the record, that [it had] gone through the weighing process," including "factoring in prejudice." The court determined that it would admit the convictions if they were offered, again explaining that it believed that "by instructing the jury to disregard [the prior convictions] as to the DUII charge and only consider [them] for the Reckless Driving charge," any potential prejudice would be "deal[t] with."

Immediately after the state introduced evidence of defendant's prior convictions to the jury, the court instructed the jury "that the use of [the exhibits of defendant's prior DUIIs] are not to be considered when you consider whether the Defendant is not guilty or guilty of [DUII]." At the end of the case, the court again instructed the jury on the issue:

"You are instructed that [evidence of defendant's prior convictions for DUII] may not be used in your determination of whether [defendant] is not guilty or guilty of [DUII]. You may only use those exhibits in your determination of *366whether the element of recklessly, in the charge of Reckless Driving, has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt."

The jury ultimately found defendant guilty on both charges.

As noted, on appeal, defendant assigns error to the court's admission of his prior DUII convictions. Defendant concedes that the evidence was relevant to the charge of reckless driving, but argues that the court should nonetheless have excluded the evidence under OEC 403 because it was irrelevant to the DUII charge and unfairly prejudicial.4 The state responds that the court properly admitted the evidence and concluded that the joint trial would not cause defendant substantial prejudice.

We do not reverse a trial court's ruling that evidence is admissible under OEC 403 unless the trial court has abused its discretion. State v. Robinson , 244 Or. App. 368, 380, 260 P.3d 671 (2011), rev. den. , 352 Or. 33, 281 P.3d 612 (2012). Generally, we defer to a trial court's "decision whether the probative value of the evidence is substantially outweighed by the potential for prejudice." State v. Williams , 313 Or. 19, 29-30, 828 P.2d 1006, cert. den. , 506 U.S. 858, 113 S.Ct. 171, 121 L.Ed.2d 118 (1992). As explained below, we agree with the state that the court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the prior DUII convictions.

We have previously held that a trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of a previous DUII conviction in a trial on multiple charges including DUII and reckless driving.

*503State v. Berliner , 232 Or. App. 539, 544, 222 P.3d 744 (2009), rev. den. , 348 Or. 291

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Related

State v. Sullivan
342 Or. App. 210 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2025)
State v. Rossiter
453 P.3d 562 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
439 P.3d 500, 296 Or. App. 363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-schmidt-orctapp-2019.