State v. Camacho-Garcia
State v. Camacho-Garcia
Opinion of the Court
This case concerns whether the imposed sentence is unconstitutionally disproportionate to defendant’s offense. Defendant, who lived with his girlfriend and her daughter— the victim — touched the victim’s breasts on two occasions, once over and once under her clothes. The victim was 12 or 13 years old at those times. Defendant made comments related to the victim’s sexual development during both incidents. The trial court convicted defendant of one count of sexual abuse in the first degree and sentenced him to the mandatory 75-month term of incarceration required by ORS 137.700(2)(a)(P), part of the mandatory minimum sentences adopted by Ballot Measure 11 (1994). We conclude that the sentence is not disproportionate and, accordingly, affirm.
We draw the following from the transcripts of the plea hearing and sentencing hearing. On the first occasion, defendant hugged the victim from behind and touched her breast over her clothes. He commented that she was developing and “starting to look like a quite good-looking young woman.” According to defense counsel, defendant came into contact with the victim’s breast inadvertently and this surprised him. On the second, later occasion, defendant commented to the victim that the dress she was wearing was tight and that she looked good. He then reached down under the front of her dress and touched her breasts. According to defense counsel, defendant’s intention on this occasion was to “joke with” the victim. Defendant denied that he had any sexual intent in touching the victim, and he acknowledged that his actions were “immature,” “dumb and rude.”
Defendant was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual abuse under ORS 163.427.
At sentencing, the state recommended that the court impose the mandatory minimum sentence of 75 months’ incarceration required by Measure 11. Relying on State v. Rodriguez/Buck, 347 Or 46, 217 P3d 659 (2009) — which also involved convictions of first-degree sexual abuse involving victims less than 14 years old — defendant argued that imposing that sentence would be disproportionate in comparison with his offense, in violation of Article I, section 16, of the Oregon Constitution.
Defendant appeals, renewing his argument that his sentence is disproportionate. On review for legal error, State v. Berry, 261 Or App 824, 835, 322 P3d 607, rev den, 356 Or 163 (2014), we conclude that defendant’s case is not one of those rare instances in which the constitution requires us to override a statutory penalty determination.
“a court may consider, among other things, the specific circumstances and facts of the defendant’s conduct that come within the statutory definition of the offense, as well as other case-specific factors, such as characteristics of the defendant and the victim, the harm to the victim, and the relationship between the defendant and the victim.”
Id. Finally, to determine whether the penalty is proportioned to the gravity of the offense, it is appropriate to consider the gravity of the instant conduct in comparison with other criminal conduct in light of relative harm to victims and society and relative culpability. Id. at 63 (citing Solem v. Helm, 463 US 277, 292-93, 103 S Ct 3001, 77 L Ed 2d 637 (1983)).
The parties focus on the first Rodriguez lBuck factor, and particularly the gravity of defendant’s offense. In defendant’s view, his offense was at most no more grave that
Thus, the parties’ dispute centers on the gravity of the offense in this case, particularly in comparison with the gravity of the offenses in Rodriguez /Buck. In Rodriguez! Buck, the Supreme Court consolidated two cases. The facts, as set out by the Supreme Court, were as follows: The defendant in Rodriguez was an employee of the Hillsboro Boys & Girls Club, where she met the victim. 347 Or at 50. The offense occurred when the victim was 13 years old, in the club’s game room, with many youths and at least one other staff member present. Id. at 51. The victim was sitting in a chair, and Rodriguez was “standing behind him, caressing his face and pulling his head back; the back of his head was pressed against her breasts.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). The contact lasted for about a minute. The defendant in Buck and his friend, Schamp, took the 13-year-old victim and her 15-year-old sister on a fishing trip. Id. The girls were daughters of a friend of Schamp’s; however, Buck had met them previously. While Schamp and the 15-year-old were elsewhere, Buck sat down next to the victim, who was fishing off a river bank. To keep himself from sliding off the bank, Buck placed his hands on the rock at his sides. His right hand was directly behind the victim, and, when she leaned back to cast her line, her clothed buttocks came into contact with his hand. He immediately moved his hand away but then returned it to its previous position, where the contact occurred once or twice more. When Buck slid down the slope, he pushed himself back up, leveraging against the victim’s low back. He asked her if his touching made her uncomfortable. Her response suggested that it did, and
In each case, the defendant was convicted of a single count of first-degree sexual assault and, in each case, the trial court concluded that imposing the mandatory Measure 11 75-month sentence would be disproportionate and instead imposed terms of incarceration of less than 18 months. Id. at 49. On appeal, we affirmed the convictions but concluded that imposition of the Measure 11 sentences did not violate Article I, section 16. State v. Buck, 217 Or App 363, 174 P3d 1106 (2007); State v. Rodriguez, 217 Or App 351, 174 P3d 1100 (2007).
On review, the Supreme Court applied the three-factor test and concluded that imposing a Measure 11 sentence in each case would be disproportionate under Article I, section 16. To determine the gravity of the defendants’ offenses — part of the first factor — the Supreme Court first examined the statutory definition of the crime of first-degree sexual assault. The court observed that ORS 163.427(1) is one of the “few statutes [to] criminalize such a broad range of conduct.” Rodriguez/Buck, 347 Or at 69. The court further observed that, as to victims less than 14 years old, ORS 163.427(1) offenses range from “momentary touching of an intimate part” to “prolonged skin to skin genital contact.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). As a result, “Measure 11 imposes the same, mandatory prison term for a 50-year-old man forcing a 13-year-old girl to engage in prolonged skin-to-skin genital contact with him and a 19-year-old forcing the same 13-year-old to touch his clothed buttock for five seconds.” Id. (emphasis omitted). In light of the gravity of the former conduct, the court concluded that the mandatory 75-month sentence for first-degree sexual abuse is not facially disproportionate. Id. On the other hand, however, “because the statute also encompasses conduct that reasonable people would consider far less harmful, defendants [were] entitled * * * to argue that the mandatory sentence, as applied to the particular facts of their cases, is unconstitutionally disproportionate.” Id. at 69-70 (emphasis and footnote omitted).
Turning to a comparison of the severity of the penalty and the gravity of the offense in this case, the penalty and the statutory definition of the offense are the same as in Rodriguez/Buck: 75 months’ imprisonment and a wide variety of conduct, ranging from momentary, static touching of clothed buttocks to prolonged, active touching of unclothed genitals. To compare the penalty to defendant’s offense, we must consider its particulars — i.e., the specific conduct in which defendant engaged, as well as other case-specific factors, such as characteristics of the defendant and the victim, the harm to the victim, and the relationship between the defendant and the victim.
At the outset, we emphasize that there were two incidents of touching in this case, apparently separated by some period of time. The first time that defendant touched the victim’s breast might be viewed as less grave: Defendant
Defendant remonstrates that other particulars of his offense detract from its gravity: the lack of force, injury, or fondling; the fact that he touched the victim’s breasts and not her vagina or buttocks; that there was not a breach of trust or “ongoing pattern of abuse”; the lack of suggestion that the victim was “seriously harmed” by defendant’s conduct; and the victim’s request that defendant not be subjected to additional incarceration. We disagree with defendant that there was no breach of trust in this case. Defendant lived in the victim’s home as her mother’s boyfriend: he was the victim’s de facto step-father. That is a trust relationship, and defendant breached it. In addition, this case does not involve a single, isolated incident: Defendant touched the victim’s breast once, and then he decided to do it again. Although the other factors that defendant cites — the body part involved, the static or active nature of the touching, evidence of injury to or other reaction by the victim — may be relevant to the assessment of the gravity of conduct constituting first-degree sexual abuse, in this case they do not outweigh other circumstances or demonstrate that defendant’s offense was of minimal gravity.
Reasonable people could conclude that, when a live-in parental figure makes a sexually suggestive comment to his 12- or 13-year-old step-daughter and then reaches under her clothing to touch her breasts — after having touched her clothed breast previously and having made a comment on her development — that offense is more grave
We turn to the other Rodriguez / Buck factors. Defendant does not offer an argument based on the second Rodriguez/Buck factor — a comparison of the penalty imposed on him to those imposed for other, related crimes. It is true, as the Supreme Court observed in Rodriguez/Buck, that the mandatory minimum sentence for first-degree sexual abuse is the same as the mandatory minimum sentence for second-degree sodomy, second-degree rape, and second-degree sexual penetration. 347 Or at 75. There is a relative difference in severity between those crimes and first-degree sexual abuse, and many would view them as generally addressing conduct that is more grave than some conduct constituting first-degree sexual abuse. However, unlike the conduct in Rodriguez/Buck, the skin-to-skin conduct here is further from the edge of sexual conduct as defined in ORS 163.305(6). It is also true, again as the Supreme Court observed in Rodriguez/Buck, that second-degree sexual abuse, a crime carrying a lower penalty, involves penetration and other acts that are more invasive and likely to be psychologically damaging than mere touching. Id. at 76. However, the touching here was more invasive than in Rodriguez/Buck because it was skin-to-skin, and more likely to be psychologically damaging because it was repeated and because of the parties’ relationship. Accordingly, a comparison of the penalties for other, related offenses does not alter our conclusion.
Finally, we consider the third factor, criminal history. In Rodriguez/Buck, the court explained that, in sexual abuse cases, the general rule is that sexual abuse perpetrators repeatedly abuse their victims, but it noted that the defendants’ conduct did not follow that general pattern. Id. at 78. In this case, while it is true that defendant has no previous criminal history, he admitted to two, escalating
In sum, defendant’s sentence would not shock the moral sense of reasonable people and is not disproportionate under Article I, section 16. The trial court did not err.
Affirmed.
Under ORS 163.427(l)(a)(A), a person commits first-degree sexual abuse if the person subjects a victim less than 14 years of age to “sexual contact.” “Sexual contact” means “any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person * ** * for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of either party.” ORS 163.305(6).
Article I, section 16, provides, in pertinent part, “Cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted, but all penalties shall he proportioned to the offense.”
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE OF OREGON, Plaintiff-Respondent v. JUAN ALONSO CAMACHO-GARCIA
- Cited By
- 14 cases
- Status
- Published