Oregon Appellate Ct - Aug 3, 2016

by: Sara Werboff • August 7, 2016 • no comments

Assault IV - Physical Injury - Sufficiency of Evidence - Per Curiam

Youth argued that no reasonable fact-finder would be able to conclude that he had caused “physical injury” to the victim, a required element of fourth-degree assault. The state conceded no physical injury but argued that youth was still properly within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court for attempted fourth-degree assault. The court reverses youth’s juvenile delinquency judgment for fourth-degree assault and remands with instructions to enter a delinquency judgment for attempted fourth-degree assault.

State v. M.S.T-L, 280 Or App 167 (2016) (per curiam)

Disorderly Conduct - Physically Offensive Condition Means Creating Unpleasant Sensory Effects

The court held that the disorderly conduct statute “was intended to apply to conditions whose sensory features cause people exposed to them to experience unpleasant effects.” Defendant was convicted of second-degree disorderly conduct following an incident where defendant, on public transportation during rush hour, made lewd comments to and masturbated in the direction of a female passenger. The state argued that a physically offensive condition reaches conduct that, “because it is morally or intellectually offensive, creates unpleasant physical sensations in the people exposed to it.” The court rejected that broad definition, holding that despite the fact that the passenger could see and hear, it was nonetheless not a sensory ...

the state failed to meet its burden of proof in this case because defendant’s conduct would not cause unpleasant sensory effects, even if it caused physical effects such as disgust.  

State v. Hawkins, 260 Or App 26 (2016) (Armstrong, J.)