State v. James
| Decision Date | 29 October 2014 |
| Docket Number | A153757.,12C48685 |
| Citation | 266 Or.App. 660,338 P.3d 782 |
| Parties | STATE of Oregon, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Paula Camille JAMES, Defendant–Appellant. |
| Court | Oregon Court of Appeals |
Lindsey J. Burrows, Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant. With her on the briefs was Peter Gartlan, Chief Defender, Office of Public Defense Services.
Peenesh H. Shah, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for appellant. With him on the brief were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Anna M. Joyce, Solicitor General.
Before DUNCAN, Presiding Judge, and WOLLHEIM, Judge, and LAGESEN, Judge.
Defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction for three counts of furnishing alcohol to persons under 21 years of age, in violation of ORS 471.410(2), and one count of endangering the welfare of a minor, in violation of ORS 163.575. She assigns error to the trial court's denial of her motion for a judgment of acquittal on the furnishing counts, contending that the court's denial of the motion rested on an erroneous interpretation of ORS 471.410(2), and the evidence at trial was insufficient to support her convictions under a correct interpretation of the statute. We reverse in part.
Defendant was charged by amended information with three counts of furnishing alcohol to persons under 21 years of age, ORS 471.410(2), and one count of endangering the welfare of a minor, ORS 163.575. With respect to the furnishing counts, the information alleged that defendant “did unlawfully make available alcoholic liquor” to three different minors: H, LC, and R. The state's theory at trial was that the alcohol that defendant “did unlawfully make available” was vodka that those three minors consumed after finding it in the kitchen of the house where defendant was a tenant. The evidence at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the state, revealed the following.
Defendant, who was 37 years old at the time of trial, rented a room in the home of Tilahun, who was 25. Defendant moved into Tilahun's house sometime between November 14 and November 16, 2012. Within a few days after defendant moved in, Tilahun hosted a party for a local musical group. Tilahun created an event on her Facebook page and sent private invitations to approximately 15 to 20 prospective guests. The guests at the party included high school students, ranging in age from 14 to 17.
The first named victim, H, 15, was not familiar with defendant; she learned about the party from a friend. H arrived at the house at around 8:00 p.m. H estimated that there were approximately 10 people at the residence when she arrived. H did not see any alcohol at the residence for the first hour that she was there. However, at around 9:00 p.m., a crowd of approximately 20 people arrived. H testified that, at that point in time, alcohol became available and people began drinking. Guests, including H, began drinking from a bottle of vodka sitting on the kitchen counter. H consumed approximately four shots of vodka over the course of the evening.
The second named victim, LC, 17, knew neither Tilahun nor defendant and did not receive a personal invitation to the party; she “heard about it” from other people. LC arrived at the party around 9:00 p.m., with a “big group” of people. When she arrived, there were a few people inside and a few people outside; she estimated that there were approximately six to eight people total at the house at that time. LC testified that, at the time she arrived, the people in the house were doing “[n]othing yet”; but she also testified later that people in the house were “[d]rinking, smoking.” According to LC, “[a] lot of people ha[d] their own” alcohol, but she did not bring her own alcohol to the party. Instead, LC poured and consumed “a few shots” of vodka from a bottle that she found in the kitchen.
The third named victim, R, 15, was similarly unfamiliar with Tilahun and defendant; she, too, learned about the party “probably through friends.” When R arrived at the party—she could not recall precisely when—she and friends sat around talking for awhile, and did not start drinking until an hour or two later. R drank Jagermeister from a bottle belonging to a friend and vodka from the “bottle * * * sitting somewhere in the kitchen.”
Other guests described the party in a similar manner. S, 17, for example, was “acquainted with” Tilahun, but did not know her personally. When S arrived at the residence, there were “[a] lot [of] people” in the kitchen, as well as alcohol. A friend brought S some vodka; S also observed four or five “shots that were full, but * * * didn't see any actual bottles.”
LL, 14,1 knew Tilahun personally but learned about the party from a friend. LL estimated that he arrived at the party at “8:00 or 9:00.” By the time that he arrived, there were five or six people outside the house and about 20 people inside the house. LL met defendant for the first time at the front door, where she was smoking a cigarette. LL and defendant introduced themselves, and the two shook hands. Defendant did not give LL alcohol; however, LL saw alcohol in the house. LL and his companions “took shots” from the alcohol “scattered all around the house.” LL testified that there were shot glasses “in * * * the corner of the living room” and “bottles being passed around everywhere.” LL drank “some of the vodka” from the bottle being passed around.
At 10:02 p.m., Deputy Landers was dispatched to the residence to investigate a report of a liquor violation. He arrived at approximately 10:11 p.m., and was joined by Deputy Bernards and Deputy Derschon. Landers observed that none of the guests outside the home appeared to be of legal drinking age; “[t]hey all looked like they were probably high school aged kids.”
Defendant met Landers at the front door. Landers “asked [defendant] if there were any people under 21 years old there based on the report [the sheriff had] received of the[re] being underage drinking and marijuana use at the location.” Defendant responded that, “no, there wasn't anyone under 21 there.”
Over the course of the conversation, defendant was “very upset, argumentative, [and] generally just uncooperative” toward the deputies. Based on defendant's “kind of uncontrolled demeanor[ ] [and] her unwarranted hostility,” Landers believed that defendant was intoxicated. Derschon shared that impression, noting that defendant's face was “[f]lushed,” she was “slurring her words, [and] you could smell alcohol coming from her breath.” At one point, defendant got “very close” to Derschon, and Derschon “had to put his hand on [defendant's] shoulder and push her back away from him.” At that point, defendant slammed the door and retreated into the residence.
Eventually, defendant returned to the door. A moment later, Tilahun came to the door as well. Tilahun was “very intoxicated” and “slurring her speech.” Landers asked Tilahun for permission to “do a walk-through [of] the residence, [to] make sure there[ ] [was] nobody in there that[ ] [was] extremely intoxicated that[ ] [was] essentially a danger to themselves.” Tilahun consented to the walk-through. Defendant went back into her bedroom and closed the door. She subsequently snuck out of the house.
Upon entering the house, Bernards observed that it “was just full * * * of kids.” Bernards could tell that many of the guests were underage “by sight,” noting that they appeared younger than his 18–year–old niece. Landers asked the guests in the living room if any of them were over age 21. Only three people raised their hands, and the deputies separated those three guests from the rest of the group. The deputies then contacted the parents of each underage attendee. They also called an ambulance to provide treatment for a male attendee who had passed out and had begun to vomit.
In the kitchen, Derschon observed what “appeared to be hard alcohol bottles,” approximately four to six of them, and he “smelled [the] distinct smell of burnt marijuana.” Bernards saw approximately three or four bottles of alcohol in the kitchen, as well as 5 to 10 beer cans on the floor in the living room and bathroom.
The next day, Landers returned to the house to make “follow-up contact” with defendant. Defendant told him that “she did not know there was going to be a party,” and that, “when she saw all the underage people getting there, * * * she just didn't know what to do.” Landers asked defendant why she had lied to him the night before, but defendant “didn't really give [him] a direct answer,” instead “going back and saying she didn't know anybody was underage.”
As noted, the party led to charges against defendant. At the close of the state's case, defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal on all counts. With respect to the furnishing counts, defendant argued that there was insufficient evidence connecting defendant to the vodka that the three minors consumed to permit the jury to find that defendant had made that alcohol available to H, LC, and R. The trial court denied the motion, and the jury convicted defendant on all charges. Defendant timely appealed. On appeal, she challenges only her convictions on the furnishing counts; she does not contest her conviction for endangering the welfare of a minor.
We generally review the denial of a motion for a judgment of acquittal “by examining the evidence in the light most favorable to the state to determine whether a rational trier of fact, accepting reasonable inferences and reasonable credibility choices, could have found the essential element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Cunningham, 320 Or. 47, 63, 880 P.2d 431 (1994), cert. den., 514 U.S. 1005, 115 S.Ct. 1317, 131 L.Ed.2d 198 (1995). “The issue is not whether we believe defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but whether there was sufficient evidence for a jury to so find.” State v. Hall, 327 Or. 568, 570, 966 P.2d 208 (1998). In analyzing the sufficiency of...
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