State v. Talbert

958 P.2d 902, 153 Or. App. 594, 1998 Ore. App. LEXIS 565
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedApril 22, 1998
DocketC960270CR; CA A96180
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 958 P.2d 902 (State v. Talbert) 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. Talbert, 958 P.2d 902, 153 Or. App. 594, 1998 Ore. App. LEXIS 565 (Or. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

*596 WOLLHEIM, J.

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for failure to perform the duties of a driver to injured persons, ORS 811.705, 1 on the ground of double jeopardy because he formerly had pleaded guilty to failure to perform the duties of a driver when property is damaged, ORS 811.700(1)(a). 2 We review the trial court’s decision as a matter of law, ORS 138.220, and affirm.

The facts are undisputed. On November 3, 1995, defendant was driving northbound on Highway 217 and collided with two other northbound cars. Both cars were damaged, and one of the drivers, Taylor, was injured. Defendant drove away from the scene of the accident without offering *597 assistance to the other drivers or leaving his name. Subsequently, defendant was charged with failure to perform the duties of a driver when property is damaged, which is a misdemeanor (misdemeanor hit and run), and with criminal mischief in the second degree. At the arraignment on February 28, 1996, defendant pleaded guilty to misdemeanor hit and run, and the state dismissed the criminal mischief in the second-degree charge. On that same day, the state filed a four-count indictment against defendant for failure to perform the duties of a driver to injured persons, which is a felony (felony hit and run), assault in the fourth degree, and two counts of criminal mischief in the second degree.

At the plea hearing on May 2, 1996, defendant pleaded not guilty to the felony hit and run charge and filed a motion to dismiss that charge on the grounds of double jeopardy. A hearing on the motion was held on September 30, and the trial court denied defendant’s motion:

“I agree with [the prosecutor] that the statute says what it says, but it’s only constitutional if that other conviction goes away, frankly. There can’t be two convictions for the same set of facts without there being a U.S. and State of Oregon constitutional problem with that. * * * I’ll permit you to proceed on the felony and follow through on this conviction, but not if he’s going to have a misdemeanor conviction on his record. * * * I’m going to deny the motion for double jeopardy purposes as to the felony hit and run. Apparently it is permissible under [ORS 131.525(2)], even though I have some doubts about that statute, but it’s obviously there and it’s been there for a while.”

Defendant then was convicted in a stipulated facts trial to the court on October 10,1996, of the felony hit and run, assault in the fourth degree, and criminal mischief in the second degree. The second charge for criminal mischief in the second degree — count 3 of the indictment — was dismissed.

On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to dismiss the felony hit and run charge because under ORS 131.515 and Article I, section 12, of the Oregon Constitution, that charge is the same offense as the misdemeanor hit and run charge to which defendant pleaded guilty. The state responds that the felony *598 prosecution is not barred by defendant’s guilty plea to the misdemeanor charge because they are not the same offense and because defendant had the opportunity to vacate his guilty plea to the misdemeanor charge. The state further contends that defendant’s constitutional argument was not preserved below. 3 We address defendant’s statutory arguments first. State v. Guzek, 322 Or 245, 250, 906 P2d 272 (1995).

Defendant first argues that the prosecution for the felony hit and run charge is barred by ORS 131.515(1), which provides that “[n]o person shall be prosecuted twice for the same offense.” Defendant argues that the misdemeanor offense, which refers to damage to property, ORS 811.700(l)(a), is the “same offense” as the felony charge, which refers to injury to a person, ORS 811.705. The only cases defendant cites for the proposition that leaving the scene of an accident after damaging property is the same offense as leaving the scene of an accident after injuring a person are State v. Gardner, 71 Or App 590, 693 P2d 1303 (1985), and State v. Dane, 103 Or App 420, 797 P2d 1069 (1990).

Defendant’s reliance on Gardner is misplaced. In that case, we held that ORS 131.515(2) prohibited the state from prosecuting the defendant for the felony of being an exconvict in possession of a firearm after the defendant already had pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor of pointing a firearm at another. Gardner, 71 Or App at 597-98. In holding that the state was required to join the two offenses, we relied on ORS 131.515(2) — that the offenses were based on the same “criminal episode” — and did not hold that they were the “same offense” for purposes of ORS 131.515(1). Id. at 596. Defendant’s reliance on Dane similarly is misplaced. In that case, due to an error on one of the indictments, the defendant was charged with first-degree criminal mischief after she already had pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal mischief for the same act. Dane, 103 Or App at 422 n 1, 433.

*599 Defendant acknowledges that neither misdemeanor hit and run nor felony hit and run is a lesser included offense of the other and further acknowledges that the trial court properly could have entered convictions for both offenses in the same proceeding. We conclude, therefore, that the two offenses are not the same offense for purposes of ORS 131.515(1).

Secondly, defendant argues that the prosecution for the felony hit and run charge is barred by ORS 131.515(2), which provides:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
958 P.2d 902, 153 Or. App. 594, 1998 Ore. App. LEXIS 565, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-talbert-orctapp-1998.