Defendant was convicted of one count of first-degree burglary, ORS 164.225, one count of fourth-degree assault, ORS 163.160(3), and one count of menacing, ORS 163.190. His first argument on appeal is that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal on the assault count because the record did not contain evidence that he caused physical injury to another, one element of that crime. Defendant also argues that, under
State v. Boots,
Because defendant’s first argument challenges the denial of a motion for a judgment of acquittal, we begin by summarizing the facts in the light most favorable to the state.
State v. Cunningham,
Police arrived shortly thereafter, having been called by the victim’s neighbor. They searched the neighborhood but did not find defendant. After a few moments, however, he returned to the apartment, where he was arrested and taken into custody.
On appeal, defendant first argues that there was insufficient evidence from which a jury could have concluded that defendant was guilty of assault in the fourth degree. We review the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal to determine whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, a rational trier of fact could find all the elements of the charged crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
Cunningham,
ORS 163.160(l)(a) provides that a person commits fourth-degree assault if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes physical injury to another. ORS 161.015(7), in turn, defines “physical injury” as “impairment of physical condition or substantial pain.” Evidence establishing either an impairment of a physical condition or substantial pain will support an assault conviction.
State v. Poole,
Defendant argues on appeal, as he did at trial, that his motion for a judgment of acquittal should have been granted because there was not sufficient evidence to allow the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim suffered either an “impairment of physical condition” or “substantial pain.”
State v. Jones,
In this case, there was evidence that the victim was still in pain at least an hour after the attack and that her injuries were of substantial degree — her eye was swollen, her shoulder “popped” during the attack, and her elbow was hurt, as well as her back. This evidence was sufficient to create a question for the jury about whether the victim suffered substantial pain, and the trial court did not err in denying defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal.
Cf. State ex rel Juv. Dept. v. Greenwood,
Defendant next assigns error to the trial court’s denial of his request for a concurrence jury instruction for first-degree burglary.
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We review a trial court’s refusal to give a requested instruction for errors of law in light of the facts that are most favorable to defendant.
State v. Averitt,
ORS 164.225 provides, in part:
“(1) A person commits the crime of burglary in the first degree if the person violates ORS 164.215 and the building is a dwelling, or if in effecting entry or while in a building or in immediate flight therefrom the person:
“(b) Causes or attempts to cause physical injury to any person; or
“(c) Uses or threatens to use a dangerous weapon.”
In turn, ORS 164.215 provides that “a person commits the crime of burglary in the second degree if the person enters or remains unlawfully in a building with intent to commit a crime therein.” (Emphasis added.)
Article I, section 11, of the Oregon Constitution provides that, “in the circuit court ten members of the jury may render a verdict of guilty or not guilty[.]”
See also
ORS 136.450(1) (requiring the concurrence of at least 10 of 12 jurors in criminal matters). The jury concurrence requirement ensures that the requisite number of jurors agree on the factual occurrences that constitute a crime.
Boots,
However, no jury concurrence instruction is required as to alternative means of proving a single statutory element. For example, in
State v. King,
On review, the Supreme Court held that the trial courts did not err in refusing to give the requested instructions, because the two subsections of the DUII statute were merely different ways to commit the same crime:
“We conclude that OES 813.010(l)(a) and (b) describe a single offense, DUII. That offense has two elements. A conviction may result if a jury agrees beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused (1) drove a motor vehicle (2) while under the influence of intoxicants. A jury need not agree on which test results (a [blood alcohol] test or field sobriety tests or a combination thereof) established to their satisfaction that the driver was ‘under the influence.’ ”
King,
As we explained recently in
State v. Phillips,
“King, then, establishes that a concurrence instruction is necessary to avoid the possibility that a jury could return a guilty verdict even though the requisite number of jurors did not agree on which crime, if any, the defendant committed, but the instruction is not necessary to prevent a jury from deciding that the defendant is guilty even if the requisite number of jurors did not agree on what particular acts of the defendant constituted an element of a single crime.”
(Emphasis in original.) Therefore, the question in this case is: Is first-degree burglary committed by someone who is entering a dwelling with the intent to commit a crime the same crime as first-degree burglary committed by someone who unlawfully remains in a dwelling with the intent to commit a crime? Or are “entering” and “remaining” simply two ways of meeting an essential element of burglary, that is, unlawful presence in a place, having the requisite intent?
“[T]he legislature included the ‘remains unlawfully’ wording in the burglary statute solely to clarify that burglary could occur by remaining unlawfully after an initial lawful entry. It did not intend to provide that a defendant who commits burglary by entering a building unlawfully commits an additional, separate violation of the burglary statute by remaining in the dwelling thereafter.
“It follows that, although the legislature intended to provide two alternative ways to commit the crime of burglary, it did not define those alternatives in a manner that would permit multiple burglary convictions to arise out of a single unlawful entry.”
Id. at 639-40 (emphasis in original; footnote omitted).
Therefore, (1) entering unlawfully and (2) remaining unlawfully are two alternative methods of meeting the “enters or remains unlawfully” element of a single crime— first-degree burglary. For that reason, a concurrence instruction was not necessary in this case.
Affirmed.
Notes
In Ms opeing brief, defendant asserts that Ms appeal “challenges his convictions.” NotMng in the brief, however, relates to his conviction for menacing. We therefore affirm that conviction without discussion.
Defendant assigns error to both the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to require the state to elect a theory of the case and to the trial court’s denial of his request for a concurrence instruction. Because the applicable law is the same for both assignments, we combine them for purposes of review.
Two cases were consolidated for oral argument and the opinion.
