When reviewing the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal, we review the facts in the light most favorable to the state and draw all reasonable inferences in the state's favor to determine "whether any rational trier of fact, accepting reasonable inferences and credibility choices, could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt."
As relevant to this appeal, defendant was charged with UUV. The state alleged that defendant "unlawfully and knowingly took, operated, rode in, exercised control over, or otherwise used a motor vehicle, without the permission of the owner."
At trial, the state called the victim and Deputy Mintier as witnesses on behalf of the state. The victim was the owner of a "vintage" 1985 Suzuki moped that ran "perfectly." When the victim purchased the moped, the victim received service records and multiple bills of sale that documented the previous owners of the moped. In that condition, the moped was worth approximately $ 950 because the moped was titled and street legal. On May 28, 2015, the victim left the state to attend his grandmother's funeral in California. When the victim returned home on June 2, the victim discovered that his moped was missing from his parking spot. The victim immediately reported the moped as stolen because the victim had not given anyone permission to use his moped.
On June 7, Mintier stopped defendant for speeding on a moped. As part of the routine procedure for conducting a traffic stop, Mintier ran the license plate and learned that the license plate came back to the victim's stolen moped. Eventually, Mintier was able to determine that the moped that defendant was riding did not match the make and model of the moped registered to the license plate and that the moped that defendant was riding had not been reported as stolen. Although the moped that defendant was riding had not been reported as stolen, defendant admitted to Mintier that he had switched the license plate that was on the moped that he was riding with the license plate from a moped that was at defendant's home.
When defendant and Mintier arrived at defendant's home, Mintier found the victim's moped with the license plate removed. Defendant told Mintier that he bought the victim's moped off of Craigslist "about a week prior and had no way of contacting the seller." Defendant also stated that
When the moped was returned to the victim, "[t]he ignition had been brute forced * * * so you could start it with any key or anything that was like the shape of a key, a screwdriver, whatever." Additionally, "[t]he kick start magneto was broken and being held up with a bungee cord," the mirrors were missing, the milk crate attached to the back was missing, and the engine had been tampered with so the moped was "going faster than it's supposed [to] legally be allowed
At the close of the state's case, defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal, arguing that the state failed to prove that "defendant had actual, real knowledge that he lacked permission of the owner to use or possess" the moped. The trial court denied defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal.
During his closing argument, defendant reiterated his contention that the state had failed to prove that defendant "had actual knowledge that this moped was stolen." The jury found defendant guilty of one count of UUV.
On appeal, defendant assigns error to the trial court's denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal, reprising his argument that the state failed to prove that defendant actually knew that the moped was stolen. See State v. Bell ,
"Thus, we must determine whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, a rational factfinder could have found that the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant knew the [moped] was stolen." Korth ,
Our opinions in other UUV and possession of a stolen vehicle (PSV) cases are instructive and, in light of the parties' arguments, we begin our discussion with an overview of our opinions in Bell , Shipe , and Korth .
On appeal, the state argued that, although there was "no evidence of tampering or foul play," the evidence
Similarly, in Shipe , the defendant was convicted of UUV after he was found sitting in the driver's seat of a stolen pickup truck in the parking lot of an apartment complex.
On appeal, the state argued that that evidence was sufficient to support a determination that the defendant actually knew the truck was stolen. We noted that, although the key did not belong to the truck's owner, there was no evidence that the key looked "suspicious" or that the defendant knew that the key did not belong to "anybody who was authorized to use the truck." Id . at 397,
Likewise, in Korth , the defendant was convicted of UUV after he was pulled over driving a stolen pickup truck.
On appeal, we began by noting that, neither the "defendant's 'implausible' story about borrowing the truck from 'Dave,' " nor the "evidence that [the] defendant lied to cover up 'some wrongdoing,' " were, standing alone, "sufficient to support a reasonable inference that [the] defendant actually knew that the truck was stolen." Id . (quoting Shipe ,
We explained that, although a factfinder could reasonably infer that the "defendant had knowledge of 'some wrongdoing, it d[id] not follow, as a matter of logical probability,' that [the] defendant knew that the truck was stolen."
In this case, the evidence is qualitatively different than the evidence in Bell , Shipe , and Korth . Here, there is evidence of "tampering" and "foul play" that is "relevant to defendant's knowledge" that this moped was stolen. Bell ,
First and foremost, in this case, there is the type of evidence that we have consistently found was lacking in our other UUV and PSV cases-something about the physical appearance of the vehicle that would have indicated to the defendant that the vehicle had been stolen. See Korth ,
Here, as noted above, defendant was mechanically inclined and, when the victim's moped was returned by the police, "[t]he ignition had been brute forced * * * so you could start it with any key or anything that was like the shape of a key, a screwdriver, whatever." It is logical to infer from that evidence that defendant either bought the moped with a tampered ignition, or that defendant "brute forced" the ignition because he did not have a valid key. The "brute forced" ignition on the moped is the type of obvious damage that would indicate to defendant that this moped was stolen. See Korth ,
Moreover, the removal of the license plate from the victim's moped, along with other accessories (the mirrors and milk crate), indicates that defendant altered the moped's appearance because he knew that the moped was stolen. Although defendant's choice to ride another moped with that stolen license plate could suggest that defendant did not know that the moped was stolen, the fact that that decision ultimately proved to be unwise does not mean that that is the only logical inference that could be drawn. It is also reasonable to infer from that evidence that defendant unlawfully switched the license plate and altered the appearance of the victim's moped in an effort to conceal the true identity of the victim's moped. See State v. Smith ,
Unlike in Korth and Shipe , where there was evidence of drugs, stolen property, "jiggle keys," and a "crime committing kit"-evidence that was unrelated to any wrongdoing with the stolen vehicles in those cases-here, the "brute forced" ignition, the removal of the license plate, the "highly suspicious" bill of sale, and the "very cheap" sale price relate to wrongdoing with this moped. See Korth ,
Finally, although we have concluded that an implausible story alone is insufficient to prove that a defendant knew that a vehicle was stolen, in this case, we must consider whether a factfinder could reasonably infer from the evidence discussed above-"in addition " to defendant's and Reidy's inconsistent and implausible stories about defendant's purchase of the victim's moped-that defendant knew that the moped was stolen. Korth ,
As discussed above, Mintier testified that defendant told him that defendant purchased the victim's moped on Craigslist for $ 50 and did not have any way to contact the seller listed on the "highly suspicious" bill of sale, "Jerry W." However, defendant's friend Reidy, who had multiple convictions for UUV, PSV, and forgery, told a different story when he testified on defendant's behalf. Reidy testified that he had purchased the Moped from Robert for $ 100, not "Jerry W.," called defendant on defendant's cell phone, and then sold the moped to defendant for a couple hundred dollars and gave defendant the "highly suspicious" bill of sale.
In particular, we note that the "highly suspicious" bill of sale from "Jerry W." does not corroborate defendant's or Reidy's account about the sale of the moped. Additionally, Reidy's testimony presented an account about the sale of the moped that was both extrinsically and intrinsically implausible in relationship to defendant's account: extrinsically, because it conflicted with the account that defendant gave to Mintier (with respect to whether defendant purchased the moped on Craigslist and whether defendant knew the seller
In sum, viewing the evidence as a whole and in the light most favorable to the state, a rational factfinder could have found that the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant knew the moped was stolen. Accordingly, the trial court did not err in denying defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal for UUV.
Affirmed.
Notes
ORS 164.135(1)(a) provides that "[a] person commits the crime of unauthorized use of a vehicle when" the "person takes, operates, exercises control over, rides in or otherwise uses another's vehicle * * * without the consent of the owner." In cases such as this one, where the state alleges that the defendant acted knowingly, "[t]hat person must know that he or she does not have the owner's consent." State v. Gibson ,
In a second assignment of error, defendant argues that the "trial court [plainly] erred when it imposed $ 819 in restitution" for the damage that was caused to the victim's moped while it was stolen. Defendant's second assignment fails to meet the criteria for plain error review because this is not a case where the record "is devoid of any evidence" from which the court could find that defendant's criminal conduct resulted in economic damages to the victim. State v. Martinez ,
The "suspicious" bill of sale was entered into evidence as the state's Exhibit 2.
According to the arresting officer in Korth , " 'jiggle keys' are 'regular old keys that * * * car thieves will file down * * * because if they file [a key] down a certain way, they're able to stick it into the ignition and just jiggle it around and start cars.' "
