State v. Pryor
State v. Pryor
Opinion of the Court
*127After judgment of conviction on a number of offenses, defendant appeals the conviction for first-degree assault. That offense is defined as "[i]ntentionally caus[ing] serious physical injury to another by means of a deadly or dangerous weapon." ORS 163.185. The trial court responded to a jury question by instructing that "the defendant need not be shown to have intended the seriousness of the injury that was the result of his actions, only that he acted intentionally in committing his actions in assaulting the victim." Defendant argues that the court's instruction was contrary to our decision in State v. Peacock ,
Defendant was charged and convicted on a count of first-degree assault, as well as other offenses, arising out of an incident in which he struck the victim with a baseball bat. Under ORS 163.185(1)(a),
"(1) A person commits the crime of assault in the first degree if the person:
"(a) Intentionally causes serious physical injury to another by means of a deadly or dangerous weapon[.]"
Defendant was also charged with, and found guilty of, first-degree burglary, second-degree assault, and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon. The convictions on those verdicts, some of which merged, are not at issue on appeal.
At trial, the court initially instructed the jury that "Oregon law provides that a person commits the crime of Assault in the First Degree if the person intentionally causes serious physical injury to another person-or to another by means of a dangerous weapon." After other instructions, the trial court added:
*128" 'Intentionally and with intent.' A person acts intentionally or with intent when the person acts with a conscious objective to cause a particular result or engage in particular conduct.
"When used in the phrase 'intentionally causes serious physical injury to another by means of a dangerous weapon,' 'intentionally' means that a person acts with a conscious objective to cause serious physical injury by means of a dangerous weapon."
Later, during deliberations, the jury asked the court for clarification regarding the elements of first-degree assault. The jury asked, "Are we determining whether he intended to cause serious injury or if he intended to cause injury which was serious?"
The parties urged different answers, relying on two arguably competing precedents. Defendant relied on Peacock ,
The trial court agreed with the state and gave a clarifying instruction that followed Barnes , rather than Peacock . The court told the jury:
"You have asked for clarification regarding Assault in the First Degree (Count 5). The state must prove that the defendant intended to assault the victim, and that the result in fact was 'serious physical injury'; in other words, the defendant need not be shown to have intended the *129seriousness of the injury that was the result of his actions, only that he acted intentionally in committing his actions in assaulting the victim."
Ultimately, the jury found defendant guilty of first-degree assault, among other charges.
On appeal, defendant argues that the court erred in instructing the jury that it need only find that defendant intended to assault the victim, which resulted in serious physical injury. Defendant reiterates that, under Peacock , in order to convict a defendant of first-degree assault, the state must prove that the defendant intended to cause serious physical injury. Defendant asserts that the erroneous instruction was harmful because the jury could have based its verdict on an incorrect theory. In defendant's view, the jury could have found him guilty without *199finding that the state had proved all of the elements of the offense. The state does not dispute that the trial court's instruction on first-degree assault is contrary to Peacock . The state argues, however, that Peacock is "plainly wrong," both when decided and after Barnes , and that it should be overruled.
We review the trial court's jury instruction for legal error. State v. Wier ,
We first conclude that Barnes did not overrule Peacock . The issue in Barnes was focused on the meaning of only one of several culpable mental states that may be in play in second-degree assault. At issue in Barnes was the culpable mental state, "knowingly," in one of the several forms of second-degree assault. In ORS 163.175, second-degree assault is described as follows:
*130"(1) A person commits the crime of assault in the second degree if the person:
"(a) Intentionally or knowingly causes serious physical injury to another;
"(b) Intentionally or knowingly causes physical injury to another by means of a deadly or dangerous weapon; or
"(c) Recklessly causes serious physical injury to another by means of a deadly or dangerous weapon under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life."
As it happened, the defendant in Barnes was only charged with "knowingly" causing serious physical injury to a security guard.
" 'Knowingly' or 'with knowledge,' when used with respect to conduct or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense, means that a person acts with an awareness that the conduct of the person is of a nature so described or that a circumstance so described exists."
(Emphasis added.) The Barnes court observed that, unlike the definitions of other culpable mental states (i.e. , "intentionally," "recklessly," or "criminally negligent"), the definition of "knowingly" does not refer to the result , such as the seriousness of an injury.
Although more explanation is required, we further conclude that the analysis in Barnes does not undermine the analysis in Peacock so as to require that we overrule Peacock as "plainly wrong." When asked to overrule, we "start from the assumption that our prior cases were decided correctly, *131and the party urging us to abandon precedent must affirmatively persuade us to the contrary that a decision is plainly wrong." Thorson v. Bend Memorial Clinic ,
In this case, the state argues that "seriousness of injury is not a material element that necessarily requires a culpable mental state." That is so, the state reasons, because Barnes held that "knowingly," for purposes of second-degree assault, applies only to the conduct (there, "assaultive conduct"), not to the *200particular result (there, the seriousness of physical injury). In the state's view, Barnes on second-degree assault undermines the conclusion in Peacock on first-degree assault that intentionally causing serious physical injury requires intent to cause serious physical injury. The state concludes that "intentionally" in first-degree assault should be treated like "knowingly" in second-degree assault. Given the differences between the definitions of those culpable mental states, we are not persuaded.
Barnes recognized that ORS 161.085(8)"provides a definition of 'knowingly' that addresses only conduct or circumstances ," not result. Barnes ,
" 'Intentionally' or 'with intent,' when used with respect to a result or to conduct described by a statute defining an offense, means that a person acts with a conscious objective to cause the result or to engage in the conduct so described."
(Emphasis added.) Unlike "knowingly," the culpable mental state of "intentionally" can apply to a result described in an offense. That is what the term "intentionally" did, according to Peacock , and that is what "knowingly" could not do, *132according to Barnes . Thus, Barnes does not undermine Peacock .
Nonetheless the state insists that the statutes on assault should be "congruent." The state urges a consistency that would mean that the differing culpable mental states in various assault statutes refer to the same element-e.g. , conduct-throughout the various statutes. Despite the allure of abstract logic, the language of the statutes does not cooperate. Both Barnes and Peacock recognized that the assault statutes, ORS 163.160 to 163.185, classify assaults according to (1) defendant's state of mind, (2) the effect of the assault on the victim, and (3) the circumstances such as use of a deadly or dangerous weapon. Barnes ,
Barnes itself observed that legislative changes made differences that prevent an abstract pattern of congruency in the scheme of assault statutes. Barnes observed that, in adopting Oregon's 1971 Criminal Code revision, Oregon followed New York, deviated from the Model Penal Code, and eliminated reference to result when defining "knowingly" in terms of conduct or circumstance. Barnes ,
Adding complexity, the various culpable mental states differ by definition. As noted, "intentionally" describes a mental state with a "conscious objective" that has reference *133either to "a result or to conduct" as determined by the "statute defining [the] offense," ORS 161.085(7) (emphasis added), while "knowingly" is an awareness with reference *201to "a conduct or to a circumstance," but not a result, ORS 161.085(8). "Recklessly" is defined in terms of "a result or to a circumstance," but not conduct. ORS 161.085(9). Likewise, "criminal negligence" is defined in terms of "a result or to a circumstance," but not conduct. ORS 161.085(10).
The language of other assault statutes reveals the difficulty with the state's notion that culpable mental states in various forms of assault should, in the interest of consistency, all refer to conduct (e.g. , assaultive nature of conduct), not result (e.g. , serious physical injury). For example, assault in the third degree occurs when a person "[r]ecklessly causes serious physical injury to another by means of a deadly or dangerous weapon." ORS 163.165 (1)(a). By definition, "recklessly," applies only to result or to circumstances, not to conduct. ORS 161.085(9). Similarly, fourth-degree assault occurs when a person with "criminal negligence causes physical injury to another by means of a deadly weapon." ORS 163.160(1)(b). By definition, criminal negligence applies only to result or circumstances, but not conduct. ORS 161.085(10).
For those reasons, we are not persuaded that Peacock created an inconsistency in the scheme of statutes on assault, nor that Barnes rewrote first-degree assault as understood in Peacock . Rather, Peacock was correctly decided within a scheme of statutes that classify assault in its various forms according to one or more variables involving a defendant's culpable mental state, effect of the assault on the victim, and circumstances of the offense. See Barnes ,
*134Because the court's instruction permitted the jury to convict defendant of first-degree assault without finding an element of the offense-an intent to cause serious injury-the error was not harmless. See Peacock ,
Judgment of conviction for first-degree assault reversed and remanded; remanded for resentencing; otherwise affirmed.
The state's reading of Barnes , even if limited to the context of second-degree assault, does not take into account later Supreme Court cases that have clarified how mental states attach to different elements of a crime. See, e.g. , State v. Simonov ,
As Peacock noted, it is not necessary that the defendant intended the precise injury that the victim suffered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE of Oregon, Plaintiff-Respondent v. John Henry Ross PRYOR, aka John Henryross Pryor
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published