State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. Evans
State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. Evans
Opinion of the Court
Youth appeals from a judgment finding him to be within the jurisdiction of the court for committing acts that, if committed by an adult, would constitute public indecency. ORS 163.465.
We review de novo, ORS 419A.200(5), giving due deference to the credibility determinations made by the juvenile court judge. State ex rel Juv. Dept. v. Millican, 138 Or App 142, 144, 906 P2d 857 (1995), rev den 323 Or 114 (1996). That is, we are to “try the cause anew upon the record,” ORS 419A.200(5); ORS 19.415(3), and determine if the state has proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, each element of the offense charged. Millican, 138 Or App at 144. Because we find that the state has not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that youth acted with the specific intent required by the statute, we need not address the youth’s contention regarding the “public place” element.
Testimony at trial indicated that during the summer of 1998 Randel Richardson and his girlfriend, Katie Koch, were living together in the first floor of a two-story house. Koch’s parents lived upstairs. Youth knew that Koch and Richardson lived together in that house.
At approximately 12:30 a.m. on September 7, while she and Richardson were getting ready for bed, Koch heard a noise that she thought was someone on the back porch of the house. Looking through a window, Koch saw youth, an acquaintance of hers and Richardson’s. Koch turned away
At trial, youth testified that he “had no intent on trying to sexually arouse me or Randal. I was just making a stupid decision not thinking before I was doing anything.” The juvenile court ultimately adjudicated youth as delinquent, concluding:
“I hear you trying to split a hair about whether or not it was designed to sexually arouse either your client or who you perceive as the victim, Mr. Richardson. But the statutory language, it says with the desire of arousal of self or another person. While this may have been a prank, it was probably a heated one, not probably, this was assuredly one that in the middle of the night, with people there, he was demonstrating his manliness in order to set himself not only different, but to demonstrate to other persons that were available there as his audience, his sexual prowess. I will find that he is within the jurisdiction of the court * *
We disagree. On de novo review, we cannot find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that youth acted “with the intent of arousing the sexual desire of [himself] or another person.” ORS 163.465.
A trier of fact may infer the intent underlying a defendant’s conduct from the circumstances of that conduct. State v. Hendrix, 314 Or 170, 174, 838 P2d 566 (1992), cert den 508 US 974 (1993). Here, even if we were to disregard
Given the totality of the circumstances, we cannot find beyond a reasonable doubt that the youth dropped his pants “with the intent of arousing the sexual desire” of himself or others.
Reversed.
ORS 163.465 provides:
“(1) A person commits the crime of public indecency if while in, or in view of, a public place the person performs:
“(a) An act of sexual intercourse;
“(b) An act of deviate sexual intercourse; or
“(c) An act of exposing the genitals of the person with the intent of arousing the sexual desire of the person or another person.”
Youth testified that he “said some stupid stuff like, Randel, my penis is bigger than yours.” Richardson testified that he did not hear youth’s statement.
While the state is correct in noting that the intent element of ORS 163.465(l)(c) does not call for proof of arousal at the time of the exposure, such evidence would be probative of the requisite intent. Cf. State v. Fitch, 47 Or App 205, 208, 613 P2d 1108 (1980) (evidence that, immediately before touching victim’s vagina, defendant’s penis was being fondled by his wife was “probative of sexual arousal and probative, in turn, of his 1 sexual | purpose in touching the intimate parts of the victim”).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.