State v. Walker

419 P.3d 794, 291 Or. App. 188
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedApril 4, 2018
DocketA161750
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 419 P.3d 794 (State v. Walker) 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. Walker, 419 P.3d 794, 291 Or. App. 188 (Or. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

JAMES, J.

*189*796Defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction of a single count of first-degree theft, ORS 164.055. On appeal, he claims the trial court erred in giving Uniform Criminal Jury Instruction (UCrJI) 1029, known as the "witness-false-in-part" instruction, to the jury. The state argues that the trial court was correct to give the instruction, because defendant's trial testimony conflicted with the testimony of another witness, and that inconsistency sufficiently established that defendant consciously testified falsely. Defendant disagrees, arguing that any discrepancy in the testimony was minimal and did not rise to the level of willful falsity required for the instruction. We agree with defendant and reverse and remand.

The underlying facts are largely undisputed by the parties. On March 30, 2015, the complainant, A, visited a dental office in Hillsboro, Oregon, for an appointment for her children. A sat in a chair in Exam Room 3 with one child on her lap, while a dental assistant worked on the other child. Beside her, she placed her wallet that contained $1,815 in cash. During the appointment, Exam Room 2 became open, so A took her other child to that room, leaving her wallet behind. The first child's appointment ended around the same time, and A stayed in Exam Room 2 with her children for about an hour.

Clinic staff cleaned Exam Room 3 around the patient's chair, but not the guest chair; they did not recover A's wallet. Defendant, the next scheduled patient, entered the room about 20 minutes after A and her children left and he stayed in the room for about half an hour. Part of the time, a hygienist was with defendant; part of the time, he was alone.

After A's children's appointments concluded, A went to the front desk, where she realized that she no longer had her wallet. The clinic staff began searching the office for the wallet. After several minutes, a hygienist looking for the wallet looked into Exam Room 3. That witness, while "narrating" a security video being shown to the jury,1 testified at trial as follows:

*190"[WITNESS]: I'm contemplating where that wallet may be, and I'm staring into that room. And I notice [defendant] messing with the chair. So I go to the room, and he bee-lines out of the room at the same time. Because I was going in to see what he was doing with the chair.
"* * * * *
"And so he is up standing, like sort of upright over the chair where the incline was, messing with something. And then I walked in as he walked out."

Defendant went to the bathroom before returning, completing his procedure, and eventually leaving the clinic. About 45 minutes later, police found the wallet, less the cash, in an air-conditioning duct in the bathroom. When police arrested defendant, he denied taking the wallet and had little money on hand.

At trial, defendant was asked about the witness's testimony concerning the chair. Defendant testified that he had suffered an injury that resulted in temporary bouts of incontinence and, at the time of the incident, that condition still existed. As a result, defendant could experience involuntary fecal discharge and he was concerned that that had occurred in the dental chair. According to defendant, at the time the witness saw him, he had experienced an incontinence episode and was repositioning himself in the chair to determine the extent of the incontinence and whether he needed to clean. According to defendant, his concern over the condition had prompted his sudden trip to the bathroom. With respect to his behavior in the chair, defendant testified:

"[COUNSEL]: Now, you heard testimony from [witness] that she says at certain points she saw you, kind of, I think it she described it as rustling or doing something with the chair. Do you recall hearing that testimony?
"[DEFENDANT]: Yes, sir.
"[COUNSEL]: Were you doing something or rustling with the chair?
*797"[DEFENDANT]: Not with the chair. No.
"[COUNSEL]: What were you doing?
"[DEFENDANT]: Repositioning my body."

*191On cross-examination, defendant further testified:

"[PROSECUTOR]: I just want to clarify a couple of things. On the day that you were there, March 30th, you were never fiddling underneath or fiddling with the chair in any way?
"[DEFENDANT]: No, sir.
"[PROSECUTOR]: You were just repositioning yourself?
"[DEFENDANT]: Correct."

At trial, the state requested UCrJI 1029, arguing that anytime the jury was asked to make a credibility determination, the instruction was appropriate. The prosecutor noted, "My opinion is it comes in whenever there is a question of truthfulness of a statement by the defendant." Defense counsel objected, arguing that the instruction was appropriate only when there had been a showing of willful falsity. The trial court ultimately gave the instruction.

UCrJI 1029 is derived from ORS 10.095(3), which provides that on "proper occasions" the jury is to be instructed "[t]hat a witness false in one part of the testimony of the witness may be distrusted in others." In determining whether a case presents a "proper occasion" to give the instruction described in ORS 10.095(3), the court must "determine, from all the testimony, whether or not there has been sufficient evidence for the jury to decide that at least one witness consciously testified falsely." State v. Roman , 288 Or.App. 441, 445, 406 P.3d 1119 (2017) ; see also Ireland v. Mitchell , 226 Or. 286, 293, 359 P.2d 894 (1961) (explaining former ORS 17.250(3) (1961), renumbered as ORS 10.095 (1981) ); State v. Milnes , 256 Or.App. 701, 706-08,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
419 P.3d 794, 291 Or. App. 188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-walker-orctapp-2018.