State v. Mejia

• Decision Date: 04 March 2010
• Docket Number: CA A128080,(CC 0401-30443,SC S056560).
• Citation: 348 Or. 1,227 P.3d 1139
• Parties: STATE of Oregon, Respondent on Review, v. Luis Armando MEJIA, Petitioner on Review.
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

227 P.3d 1139

348 Or. 1

STATE of Oregon, Respondent on Review, v. Luis Armando MEJIA, Petitioner on Review.

(CC 0401-30443; CA A128080; SC S056560).

Supreme Court of Oregon, En Banc.

Argued and Submitted June 11, 2009.

Decided March 4, 2010.

Laura A. Frikert, Deputy Public Defender, Salem, argued the cause and filed the brief for petitioner on review. With her on the brief was Peter Gartlan, Chief Defender, Office of Public Defense Services.

Stacey RJ Guise, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Salem, argued the cause and filed the brief for respondent on review. With her on the brief were John R. Kroger, Attorney General, and Jerome Lidz, Solicitor General.

GILLETTE, J.

The issue in this criminal case is whether the evidence was sufficient to permit a trier of fact to find defendant guilty of kidnapping in the second degree. The trial court determined that that evidence was sufficient and denied defendant's motion for a judgment of acquittal. Defendant appealed, and the Court of Appeals affirmed without opinion. State v. Mejia, 218 Or.App. 736, 180 P.3d 763 (2008). We allowed defendant's petition for review and now affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals and the judgment of the trial court.

Because defendant appeals from the trial court's denial of his motion for a judgment of acquittal, we state the facts of the case in the light most favorable to the state. See State v. Casey, 346 Or. 54, 56, 203 P.3d 202 (2009) (restating that rule). In 1999, defendant and the victim met in Las Vegas, where they began a romantic relationship and had a child together. Later, after the relationship soured, the victim moved to Portland with the child. The victim remained in touch with defendant, but the couple continued to have problems with their relationship. Eventually, the victim obtained a restraining order against defendant.

On the evening of November 20, 2003, while the restraining order was still in effect, the victim put her daughter to bed at her brother's house and went to her own apartment to change clothes, intending to go out to a movie. After taking a bath and changing her clothes, the victim opened the door to her apartment to leave. As she started out her doorway, with "probably * * * one foot out," defendant—who apparently had been lurking outside—grabbed her and pushed her back inside the apartment.

Defendant forced the victim into the apartment's living room. The victim struggled with defendant and told him to leave, but defendant kept insisting, "I want to talk to you." The victim attempted to call for help on her cell phone, but defendant grabbed the phone and put it in his pocket. Defendant then forced the victim down the hallway of the apartment, toward her bedroom. The victim became aware that defendant was, as she phrased it, "trying to seclude" her, and she began screaming for help. Defendant put his hand over the victim's mouth. The victim continued to struggle, kicking and biting defendant. Defendant pushed the victim into the bedroom. Police officers later estimated that the distance from the front door to the area in front of the victim's bedroom was about 12 feet, and the distance from that point to the back of the bedroom was another 17 feet.

Once in the bedroom, defendant forced the victim up against a dresser, saying, "If I can't have you, nobody will." He took out a handgun and pointed it at the victim's upper body and head, telling her, "I'll kill myself and I'll kill you. I have nothing to live for." The victim, terrified and crying, attempted to reason with defendant, saying that he was going to leave their daughter without a mother. Defendant began to relax his hold on the victim and, at that point, the victim made a dash for the bedroom window in an attempt to escape. Defendant grabbed the victim by the legs, causing the victim to fall on the bed, which was against the back wall of the bedroom. The victim continued to kick and struggle, and defendant "smashed" a comforter into the victim's face, making it difficult for her to breathe. Defendant then pinned the victim to the floor, straddling her, and began choking her with both hands, saying that he would kill her. As the victim would begin to lose consciousness, defendant would ease his grip on her and allow her to breathe; the victim would then attempt to get up and away from defendant, at which point defendant would begin choking her again. That pattern repeated itself several times over the next few minutes.

Eventually, the victim stopped struggling and began talking to defendant, telling him that she "wanted to work it out" with him, and other "things I know that he's always been wanting to hear." The victim told defendant that she loved him and that she would not call the police; defendant indicated that if she did, he would shoot her and the police. The victim agreed to meet with defendant in the morning, and defendant slowly let her get to her feet. Defendant wiped some blood off of the victim's face with toilet paper, helped her put her coat on, and walked her to her car. After stating that he would call the victim the next morning, defendant returned the victim's cell phone to her and left. The victim drove to her brother's house and told him what had happened. The brother called the police. By the victim's estimation, the episode with defendant had lasted "an hour and a half, at least."

The state charged defendant with two counts of first-degree kidnapping; one count each of first-degree burglary, unlawful use of a weapon, and menacing; and five counts of fourth-degree assault. Both kidnapping charges alleged that defendant "did unlawfully and knowingly, without consent or legal authority, take the victim from one place to another, with intent to interfere substantially with the said victim's personal liberty * * *." At the close of the state's case during defendant's jury trial, defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal, arguing, with respect to the kidnapping charges, that a reasonable trier of fact could not find that defendant moved the victim from one place to another, or that he had intended to interfere substantially with her personal liberty. Instead, defendant argued, any movement of the victim was "incidental" to his assault of her. The trial court denied the motion. The jury convicted defendant of the lesser-included offense of second-degree kidnapping (both counts), burglary, menacing, and assault (three counts).

Defendant appealed the denial of his motion for a judgment of acquittal on the kidnapping charges, arguing, inter alia, that his "minimal movement of the victim" was insufficient, as a matter of law, to prove an "intent to interfere substantially with the victim's personal liberty." ORS 163.225(1).¹ Specifically, defendant framed the issue before the Court of Appeals in terms of

"whether movement from one area of an apartment, to another area in the same apartment, during the course of threats and assaults, evidenced an intent on defendant's part to interfere substantially with the victim's personal liberty, or whether the movement was merely incidental to the commission of the assaults."

Defendant did not renew in the Court of Appeals his argument to the trial court that there was insufficient evidence that he had moved the victim "from one place to another." The Court of Appeals affirmed defendant's convictions without opinion, and we granted review.

When this court reviews the denial of a motion for a judgment of acquittal, the relevant question is "whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. King, 307 Or. 332, 339, 768 P.2d 391 (1989). Kidnapping in the second degree is defined by ORS 163.225, which provides, in part:

"(1) A person commits the crime of kidnapping in the second degree if, with intent to interfere substantially with another's personal liberty, and without consent or legal authority, the person:

"(a) Takes the person from one place to another; or

"(b) Secretly confines the person in a place where the person is not likely to be found."

The state charged defendant with kidnapping the victim by taking her from one place to another, i.e., kidnapping under ORS 163.225(1)(a). Accordingly, the state had to establish that defendant, (1) with intent to interfere substantially with her personal liberty, (2) took the victim from one place to another (3) without consent or legal authority. See State v. Walch, 346 Or. 463, 468, 213 P.3d 1201 (2009) (listing essential elements of kidnapping).

The dispute on review centers on the first of those elements, viz., whether there was evidence of defendant's intent to interfere substantially with the victim's personal liberty.² Defendant argues that the state was required to prove that intent by proving that he either moved or intended to move the victim a "substantial distance." Defendant asserts that his movement of the victim—a total distance of no more than 29 feet, primarily (if not exclusively) within her own home—is insufficient to establish an intent to move the victim a substantial distance and, therefore, is insufficient to establish the element of intent to interfere substantially with the victim's liberty. As for his other actions, such as taking the victim's cell phone and preventing her from escaping the apartment, defendant argues that those actions were incidental to his other crimes, such as assault and menacing, and that they also do not evince an intent to move the victim a substantial distance.

The state responds that defendant has misconstrued the intent element of kidnapping. According to the state, it may establish an intent to interfere substantially with the victim's personal liberty by demonstrating "that defendant intended either to move the victim a substantial distance or to confine the victim for a substantial period of time." (Emphasis the state's.)...