State v. Beck
State v. Beck
Opinion of the Court
Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for misdemeanor driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII), ORS 813.010. Although defendant asserts numerous assignments of error, we write to address only two, and affirm as to the others without discussion. Defendant assigns error to the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress statements made after he invoked his right to counsel. Defendant also assigns error to the trial court’s refusal to give his proposed jury instructions regarding the necessity of proving a voluntary act. We conclude that we need not decide whether the trial court erred in denying defendant’s motion to suppress because any error in admitting defendant’s statements was harmless. We also conclude that the trial court did not err in refusing to give the proposed jury instruction because there was no evidence in the record to support defendant’s theory of the case. Accordingly, we affirm.
When reviewing a ruling on a motion to suppress, “[a] trial court’s findings of historical fact are binding on appellate courts if there is constitutionally sufficient evidence in the record to support those findings.” State v. Ehly, 317 Or 66, 75, 854 P2d 421 (1993). We state the facts in accordance with that standard of review.
Bystanders found defendant unresponsive behind the wheel of his car, with the engine running, in the slow lane of traffic on Barbur Boulevard in Portland. Officer Myers arrived and successfully revived defendant. Upon waking, defendant believed that he was sleeping in his home. Once defendant complied with Myers’s request that he step out of the car, Myers smelled a “moderate” odor of alcohol and noticed that defendant was swaying. Defendant denied alcohol and drug use.
Paramedics arrived and agreed with Myers that defendant was intoxicated and had not been involved in an accident. Myers arrested defendant, advised him of his Miranda rights, and placed him in custody. Myers asked defendant if he understood his Miranda rights. Initially, defendant kept repeating in response, “I was sleeping, though.” Myers asked again, and defendant responded, “I guess so.”
Thorsen woke defendant and escorted him into an interview room, which contained an Intoxilyzer machine. Defendant said that he had not been able to contact an attorney; Thorsen again advised him of his Miranda rights, and defendant affirmed that he understood those rights. Thorsen proceeded to ask defendant a series of questions, which defendant answered to the effect that he did not remember driving and had not consumed alcohol or drugs. Defendant said that he owned the car in which he was found; that, as far as he knew, he had driven alone; that he was not diabetic, sick, or injured; and that he was not taking any medications. During the interview, defendant did not indicate that he wanted an attorney present.
After the interview, Thorsen read defendant the “rights and consequences” section of the implied consent form, which explained the potential consequences of taking or refusing the breath test. Defendant initially responded that he did not know what he should do because he was unable to contact an attorney. After Thorsen further explained the rights and consequences, defendant consented to a breath-test sample, which revealed a blood-alcohol content of 0.14 percent.
At trial, defendant moved to suppress the statements he made during the interview, arguing that, because he had invoked his right to counsel, Thorsen violated that right by conducting the interview. The trial court concluded that defendant did not invoke the right to counsel and denied defendant’s motion to suppress.
On appeal, defendant argues that his statement to Thorsen that he wanted to contact an attorney was an unequivocal request for counsel. Defendant alternatively argues that, even if the request could be characterized as ambiguous, Thorsen had an obligation to further inquire to clarify his intent. The state contends that defendant’s request was equivocal and that there was no invocation. The state further argues that a reasonable officer would not have understood that defendant was invoking his right to counsel when he “took a nap rather than pursuing counsel” and when he did not request that an attorney be present for the interview. The state contends that defendant’s actions after he had an opportunity to call an attorney demonstrated that he had changed his mind and had chosen to waive his right to counsel for purposes of the interview. Alternatively, the state argues that if the trial court erred, the error was harmless because defendant’s statements were not likely to have affected the verdict, so reversal is not warranted.
We need not decide whether admission of defendant’s statements during the interrogation was erroneous because any error was harmless.
We proceed to the second of the two issues we have undertaken to address. At trial defendant also submitted jury instructions, including Uniform Criminal Jury Instruction 1065 on “voluntary act.” The instruction stated:
“For criminal liability, Oregon law requires the performance of a voluntary act.
“(1) Act — a bodily movement.
“(2) Voluntary act — -a bodily movement performed consciously.”
The court reviewed the instruction before the close of evidence. The state objected to the instruction on the ground that it was “misleading,” because it implied that the state had to prove a mental requirement. Defendant argued that, even though DUII is a strict liability offense, any crime requires a showing of a voluntary act, and there was no evidence in the record that defendant was engaged in a conscious act. The court declined the jury instruction because it did not construe defendant’s statements to the police “as providing a basis for any understanding that an involuntary act was involved here or that the defendant acted in a way that was * * * done unconsciously.” The court also determined that there was no “factual predicate” for the different factual scenarios discussed such as use of Ambien that would create “an issue of voluntary act” and a “question of whether
Defendant assigns error to the trial court’s refusal to give the voluntary act jury instruction. “A party is entitled to have the jury instructed on the law which supports bis theory of the case where there is evidence to support that theory and the party submits an instruction that correctly states the law.” State v. Loew, 130 Or App 370, 373, 881 P2d 837 (1994) (internal quotation marks omitted). “A jury instruction is supported by the evidence ‘if there was any competent evidence to support it.’” Crismon v. Parks, 238 Or App 312, 314, 241 P3d 1200 (2010) (internal quotation marks omitted). We review the trial court’s refusal to give a requested instruction for legal error. State v. Branch, 208 Or App 286, 288, 144 P3d 1010 (2006). We assess the evidence in the light most favorable to the party offering the jury instruction. Id.
Defendant argues that the state must prove that he engaged in a voluntary act in order to impose criminal liability, even for a strict-liability crime like DUII. Defendant further contends that the trial court’s refusal to instruct the jury on the need for a voluntary act violated defendant’s due process right to present his defense, citing State v. Brown, 306 Or 599, 604, 761 P2d 1300 (1988) (“[I]f there is any evidence to support each element of a theory for which a party contends, the theory must be submitted for the jury’s consideration, no matter whether the judge is persuaded.”). The state counters that the trial court found that there was sufficient evidence in the record of a voluntary act and that defendant did not present any evidence that his confusion and forgetfulness amounted to evidence that he had acted unconsciously. The state argues that the trial court’s instruction on the elements of DUII were sufficient without a voluntary act instruction.
Both the state and defendant cite State v. Newman, 353 Or 632, 302 P3d 435 (2013), which was under review
In this case, defendant is correct that, under Newman, the law requires that a defendant commit a voluntary act with respect to the driving element of the crime of DUII. However, it is not enough that defendant’s jury instruction correctly state the law; there also must be evidence in the record to support defendant’s theory of the case as relevant to that instruction. Defendant presented evidence that, at the scene, he did not remember driving and
Affirmed.
State v. Martinez, 263 Or App 658, 328 P3d 1277 (2014), decided after oral argument in this case, addressed a similar circumstance in which a defendant was interrogated after invoking a right to counsel in the context of submitting to a breath test. In that case, we concluded that a reasonable officer in the circumstances would have understood only that the defendant was invoking his limited right to a reasonable opportunity to obtain legal advice before deciding whether to submit to a breath test under Article I, section 11, of the Oregon Constitution, but would not have understood that the defendant was invoking the derivative
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE OF OREGON, Plaintiff-Respondent v. AIDEN LOWELL BECK
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published