State v. Teagues

383 P.3d 320, 281 Or. App. 182, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1143
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedSeptember 21, 2016
Docket221310543; A155051
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 383 P.3d 320 (State v. Teagues) 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. Teagues, 383 P.3d 320, 281 Or. App. 182, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1143 (Or. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

DUNCAN, P. J.

In this criminal case, the state charged defendant with fourth-degree assault, among other crimes. At trial, the state contended that the jury could convict defendant of the assault based either on evidence that defendant had caused the alleged victim to scrape her knee or on evidence that he had choked her. In response, defendant asserted that, because the state was arguing that the jury could convict him of assault based on either of two separate instances of conduct, the trial court had to either require the state to elect its theory on the assault count or instruct the jury that it had to agree on the occurrence that constituted the assault. The state argued against both the election and the instruction, and the trial court accepted the state’s argument. The jury convicted defendant of the assault, and defendant appeals, assigning error to the trial court’s failure to either require the state to elect its theory on the assault count or instruct the jury that it had to agree on the occurrence that constituted the assault.1 As explained below, we conclude that, because the state charged defendant with a single count of fourth-degree assault but presented evidence of two separate occurrences, each of which would constitute fourth-degree assault, the trial court had to require an election or give a concurrence instruction. Because the trial court declined to require an election, it subsequently erred when it failed to instruct the jurors that they had to agree on the occurrence that constituted the assault. Consequently, we reverse and remand defendant’s conviction for fourth-degree assault and otherwise affirm.

We begin with a statement of the procedural facts. The state charged defendant with fourth-degree assault, ORS [184]*184163.160 (Count 1); strangulation, ORS 163.187 (Count 2); and menacing, ORS 163.190 (Count 3), all constituting domestic violence, see ORS 132.586 (providing that the state may plead and prove “domestic violence as an element” of a crime). The alleged victim of the crimes was Walden, defendant’s girlfriend at the time. Walden did not testify at trial. The state’s primary witness was Lynum, who lived with defendant and Walden on. the night of the charged crimes.

Lynum testified that, around midnight on June 4, 2013, he was awakened by the sounds of defendant and Walden arguing inside the house. Defendant and Walden then left the house and drove away, only to return within a few minutes. Lynum heard someone running up the driveway and a loud thud at the door. Lynum assumed the thud was “the front door slamming open.” After that, Lynum heard defendant and Walden arguing inside the house. He stayed awake listening for a period of time, but eventually fell back asleep.

At some point later, Lynum was awakened by Walden, who burst into his room. She was screaming and crying, and she told Lynum that defendant had just choked her. She said, “He’s crazy. He’s trying to kill me. He just choked me.” According to Lynum, defendant followed Walden and told her, “No, no, no. Tell him what really happened. That’s not what happened. Tell him what happened.”

Later, Lynum spoke to Walden on the patio, and she reported that defendant had “grabbed her by the throat and that she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t break his grip.” Lynum noticed that Walden’s neck was red and many of her acrylic nails had broken off. According to Lynum, Walden’s neck and nails had not looked that way earlier in the evening. Lynum also noticed that Walden’s left knee was scraped and bloodied; it looked as if she had fallen on concrete or a sidewalk.

Lynum called 9-1-1, and an officer responded. The officer took photographs of Walden’s neck, hands, and left knee, and the state introduced those photographs at trial.

At the conclusion of the state’s case, defendant moved to require the state to elect a theory on the assault [185]*185count under State v. Boots, 308 Or 371, 780 P2d 725 (1989), cert den, 510 US 1013 (1993). Defendant asserted that the state was proceeding on “two completely different theories for how [there] was an assault” — one based on the skinned knee being connected with the sounds Lynum heard from the driveway and front door, and the other based on the choking incident that Walden told Lynum had “just” happened when she later burst into his room — and, therefore, he argued, the trial court had to require the state to “elect a theory on the assault”:

“* * * I think that it is important when we have a jury making findings of fact, this is part of the issue with the Boots, with the election, with the theory. We need to know what the jury is determining these counts to be.
“That’s why I think it is imperative in a case like this the State elect one injury.”

(Emphasis added.)

The state responded, “I don’t believe that there’s case law to support a Boois-type instruction or requiring the State to elect a theory. The jury is free to find either of those ways that he caused physical injury to Ms. Walden.” The trial court questioned the state about proceeding on two different theories on the assault count:

“THE COURT: Let me understand clearly. You’re saying that the jury could decide based on the skinned knee alone that he committed an assault. And separate from that they could convict on the strangulation.
[[Image here]]
“[STATE:] I’m saying that—
[[Image here]]
“[STATE:] —that the jury could find an assault based on the skinned knee— ***.
“The jury could also find an assault based on the fact that he caused her substantial pain by grabbing and squeezing her neck so hard that she couldn’t breathe. And holding it long enough and hard enough to cause that mark that’s evidenced by the photograph * * *.
[186]*186“Additionally they could find that he caused physical injury to her by impairing her ability to breathe. And so that was the physical injury.
“THE COURT: Do you think that the skinned knee is a sufficient impairment all by itself to sustain — to meet the definition of physical injury in assault?
“ [STATE:] So there’s case law that says impairment of physical condition can be an impairment of the skin’s function. And by having a sufficient enough break in the skin to where one is bleeding * * * it’s impaired. ⅜ * * So, yes, is the answer to your question.”

(Emphasis added.) The trial court denied defendant’s motion to require the state to elect a theory on the assault count.

During the presentation of his case, defendant testified that, on the night of the charged crimes, he and Walden had a disagreement about finances. She had his truck keys and agreed to give them back only if he would give her money. With Walden driving, they left the house to go to a nearby ATM, but when they got there, she refused to give him his keys and, in turn, he refused to get her cash.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
383 P.3d 320, 281 Or. App. 182, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-teagues-orctapp-2016.