State v. Warner
State v. Warner
Opinion of the Court
*796Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, ORS 163.425, and three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, ORS 163.427, raising two assignments of error. We reject his first assignment of error without discussion. In his second assignment of error, defendant contends that two guilty verdicts of the first-degree sexual abuse convictions should merge. We agree, and therefore reverse and remand for resentencing.
We review a trial court's denial of a request to merge under ORS 161.067 for errors of law. State v. Davis ,
On appeal, defendant argues that two of the convictions for first-degree sexual abuse should merge. ORS 161.067(3) provides that
"[w]hen the same conduct or criminal episode violates only one statutory provision and involves only one victim, but nevertheless involves repeated violations of the same statutory provision against the same victim, there are as many separately punishable offenses as there are violations, except that each violation, to be separately punishable under this subsection, must be separated from other such violations by a sufficient pause in the defendant's criminal conduct to afford the defendant an opportunity to renounce the criminal intent ."
(Emphasis added.)
Defendant argues that, during the first assault, defendant's actions of touching the victim's breasts and then vagina were not separated by a sufficient pause to be *797separately punishable and, thus, two of defendant's convictions for first-degree sexual abuse must merge. The state concedes that the trial court erred in that respect, and we accept the concession. State v. Dugan ,
Convictions on Counts 5 and 6 reversed and remanded for entry of a judgment of conviction for one count of first-degree sexual abuse; remanded for resentencing; otherwise affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.