Ortberg v. United States, s. 11–CM–1154

• Citation: 81 A.3d 303
• Decision Date: 17 December 2013
• Docket Number: 12–CO–874.,Nos. 11–CM–1154,s. 11–CM–1154
• Parties: Adam Jaramillo ORTBERG, Appellant v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Columbia District

81 A.3d 303

Adam Jaramillo ORTBERG, Appellant

v.UNITED STATES, Appellee.

Nos. 11–CM–1154, 12–CO–874.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued Oct. 16, 2013.

Decided Dec. 17, 2013.

William Francis Xavier Becker, Rockville, MD, for appellant.

Sharon Sprague, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Ronald C. Machen Jr., United States Attorney, Roy W. McLeese III, Assistant United States Attorney at the time the brief was filed, and Brandon Long and Ephraim (Fry) Wernick, Assistant United States Attorneys, were on the brief for appellee.

Jeffrey L. Light, Washington, DC, for amicus curiae Defending Animal Rights Today & Tomorrow, in support of appellant.

Before BECKWITH and EASTERLY, Associate Judges, and PRYOR, Senior Judge.

EASTERLY, Associate Judge:

Adam Jaramillo Ortberg challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his conviction under D.C.Code § 22–3302(a) (2012 Repl.) for unlawful entry of “any private dwelling, building, or other property” or part thereof. Mr. Ortberg admits he entered a room at the W Hotel, “Studio One,” that was being used for an invitation-only fundraiser for a member of the United States House of Representatives, and he admits that he did so to engage in protest activity. But, Mr. Ortberg asserts, his entry was at most “opportunistic” and was not “clearly ‘unlawful,’ ” because Studio One was not clearly closed off to members of the public who might be in the lobby of the W Hotel. Thus, he appears to argue that the government failed either to prove that he had the requisite mental state to commit unlawful entry or to disprove his bona fide belief in the lawfulness of his actions.

The District's crime of unlawful entry, D.C.Code § 22–3302(a)(1), “prohibits the act of entering or remaining upon any property when such conduct is both without legal authority and against the expressed will of the person lawfully in charge of the premises.” Leiss v. United States, 364 A.2d 803, 806 (D.C.1976). For the crime of unlawful entry based on the entry (as distinct from the refusal to leave), we have repeatedly said that only general intent is required. Instead of looking to our case law, however, the trial court looked to the current jury instruction to frame the elements and to determine that the government had met its burden of proof. See Criminal Jury Instructions for the District of Columbia, No. 5.401 (5th ed. rev.2013). This instruction does not include any reference to “general intent.” Instead it more precisely identifies the culpable mental states for the elements that comprise unlawful entry: With respect to the element of entry, the government must prove that a defendant purposefully and voluntarily entered the property or private space. But with respect to the element that the entry be against the will of the lawful occupant, the government need only prove that the defendant “knew or should have known” that his entry was unwanted. In other words, the government need not, as Mr. Ortberg suggests, prove that a defendant purposefully sought to defy the will of the lawful occupant or to violate the law. With this opinion, we endorse this jury instruction, and applying its framework in this case, we hold that there was ample evidence to support Mr. Ortberg's guilt.

I. Facts

The relevant facts are quickly summarized. On March 2, 2011, appellant Adam Jaramillo Ortberg walked into a fundraising event for a United States Congressman which was being held inside of an event space at the W Hotel called “Studio One.” Mr. Ortberg entered Studio One through an exit or service door, having “walked right by” a registration desk manned by as many as three people handing out badges for the event.¹ A sign outside of Studio One identified the event. Once inside the reception, Mr. Ortberg was approached by Kyung Quinn, a banquet server at the W Hotel, who noticed that Mr. Ortberg was not wearing a name tag. Ms. Quinn asked Mr. Ortberg whether he had a badge. Mr. Ortberg, who testified in his own defense, admitted that he told an untruth in response and that he represented to Ms. Quinn that he did have a badge “somewhere,” but he “needed to look for it.” Mr. Ortberg also asked Ms. Quinn whether he was in the correct room for the fundraiser. Ms. Quinn ultimately requested that Mr. Ortberg sign in at the registration desk or, as Mr. Ortberg characterized it in his testimony, “[s]he asked me to go talk to the badge checker.” Mr. Ortberg then began his planned protest. He held up a sign that he had hidden under his suit jacket, tried to distribute flyers, and yelled an educational message about his cause.² When security asked Mr. Ortberg to leave, he complied, although he continued his verbal protest as he left the building.

II. Analysis

A. Elements of Unlawful Entry

We review a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence de novo. Nero v. United States, 73 A.3d 153, 157 (D.C.2013). But before we can assess whether the government presented sufficient evidence to sustain Mr. Ortberg's conviction for unlawful entry in this case, we must understand the elements of the offense. Mr. Ortberg argues that the government failed to “establish the requisite criminal intent as to his initial entry” into Studio One because it failed to prove that he knew he was prohibited from moving from the publicly accessible lobby of the W Hotel into the restricted event space of Studio One. His attack on the sufficiency of the evidence in this case thus appears to turn on whether the government proved that he knowingly or deliberately defied the wishes of the organizers of the event in Studio One or willfully violated the law. The preliminary question before us is whether the law requires the government to present such proof. We conclude it does not.

D.C.Code § 22–3302(a)(1) provides, in relevant part:

Any person who, without lawful authority, shall enter, or attempt to enter, any private dwelling, building, or other property, or part of such dwelling, building, or other property, against the will of the lawful occupant or of the person lawfully in charge thereof, ... shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. ³Our case law distilling the elements of this crime has set them out in a variety of ways,⁴ but it is clear at the least that the government must prove (1) entry that is (2) unauthorized—because it is without lawful authority ⁵ and against the will of owner or lawful occupant.

What is less clear is the mental state or culpable state of mind that must be proved. The statute does not expressly address this subject. But “where ‘a criminal statute is silent on the question of mens rea,’ it is ordinarily subject to a presumption requiring a culpable mental state unless it is clear the legislature intended to create a strict liability offense.” Conley v. United States, 79 A.3d 270, 289 n. 91 (D.C.2013) (quoting Santos v. District of Columbia, 940 A.2d 113, 116–17 (D.C.2007)). The legislature has not signaled its intent to impose strict liability for the offense of unlawful entry. And while we have no legislative history on this provision, we have decades of case law interpreting this provision.

Turning to this case law, it has been long understood that the “only state of mind that the government must prove is appellant's general intent to be on the premises contrary to the will of the lawful owner.” Artisst v. United States, 554 A.2d 327, 330 (D.C.1989); see also Culp v. United States, 486 A.2d 1174, 1176 (D.C.1985) (explaining that the government need only establish “general intent” to enter). But what is meant by this “venerable” common law classification “has been the source of a good deal of confusion.” United States v. Bailey, 444 U.S. 394, 403, 100 S.Ct. 624, 62 L.Ed.2d 575 (1980); see also Perry v. United States, 36 A.3d 799, 809 n. 18 (D.C.2011) (noting that categorizations of general and specific intent “can be too vague or misleading to be dispositive or even helpful”). Moreover, the statement that a crime as a whole requires proof of “general intent” fails to distinguish between elements of the crime, to which different mental states may apply. “[C]lear analysis requires that the question of the kind of culpability required to establish the commission of an offense be faced separately with respect to each material element of the crime[.]” Bailey, 444 U.S. at 406, 100 S.Ct. 624 (citation omitted).

Even though our prior discussions of mental state have lacked some precision, we are nonetheless able to look to our precedent to determine that the mental states for entry and for doing so “against the will” of the lawful occupant are both clearly discernible and distinct. To begin with, our cases make clear that the physical act of entry must be purposeful and voluntary—not accidental or mistaken. See Kozlovska v. United States, 30 A.3d 799, 801 (D.C.2011) (noting that the trial court found, inter alia, that “appellant entered the property voluntarily and on purpose, not by mistake or accident”); Culp, 486 A.2d at 1176 (observing that the government must prove a “general intent to enter”); see also Dauphine v. United States, 73 A.3d 1029, 1032 (D.C.2013) (“It is well settled that the general intent to commit a crime means the intent to do the act that constitutes the crime.”).

Furthermore, our cases make clear that the mental state with respect to acting against the will of the owner or lawful occupant is not one of purpose or actual knowledge. Rather, it is sufficient for the government to establish that the defendant knew or should have known that his entry was unwanted. Thus, we have held that the government need only prove that the “will” of a lawful occupant was objectively manifest through either express ⁶ or implied ⁷ means, not that the will was subjectively understood by the defendant. Likewise we have rejected the argument that the government must establish that the defendant was personally advised that he did not have permission to enter.⁸

That the government need only prove that a defendant...