Case Title: Oregon v. Lykins

Citation: 

Docket Number: S061997

State: oregon

Court: Oregon Supreme Court

Date: 2015-04-23T00:00:00Z

Document:
No. 267 15	
April 23, 2015	
145
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE 
STATE OF OREGON
STATE OF OREGON,
Respondent on Review,
v.
MICHAEL PAUL LYKINS,
Petitioner on Review.
(CC C100530CR, D101103M; 
CA A146498 (Control), A146499; 
S061997)
En Banc
On review from the Court of Appeals.*
Argued and submitted September 15, 2014.
Neil F. Byl, Deputy Public Defender, Salem, argued the 
cause and filed the brief for petitioner on review. With him 
on the brief was Peter Gartlan, Chief Defender, Office of 
Public Defense Services.
Jennifer S. Lloyd, Assistant Attorney General, Salem, 
argued the cause and filed the brief for respondent on review. 
With her on the brief were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney 
General, and Anna M. Joyce, Solicitor General.
BALDWIN, J.
The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed. The sen-
tence imposed by the circuit court is vacated, and the case is 
remanded to the circuit court for resentencing.
______________
	
*  Appeal from Washington County Circuit Court, Steven L. Price, Judge. 
259 Or App 475, 314 P3d 704 (2013).
146	
State v. Lykins
Defendant was convicted of tampering with a witness, ORS 162.285, based 
on his attempts to persuade his girlfriend to testify falsely in his trial on other 
charges. At sentencing, the state sought an upward departure sentence on the 
theory that defendant’s girlfriend was a vulnerable victim for purposes of OAR 
213-008-0002(1)(b)(B), a rule which permits a departure sentence when “the 
offender knew or had reason to know of the victim’s particular vulnerability.” 
The trial court imposed the requested departure over defendant’s objection that 
his girlfriend was not a victim of the crime of tampering with a witness, and 
therefore was not a “victim” for purposes of OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B). On 
defendant’s appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed. Held: For purposes of OAR 
213-008-0002(1)(b)(B), which permits an upward departure sentence when the 
defendant “knew or had reason to know of the victim’s particular vulnerability,” 
the term “victim” has the same meaning as it has in the statute that defines the 
offense for which the defendant is being sentenced; thus, when tampering with 
a witness under ORS 162.285 is the offense, the witness who is tampered with 
is not a “victim,” and a departure sentence cannot be based on the defendant’s 
knowledge of the witness’s vulnerability.
The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed. The sentence imposed by 
the circuit court is vacated, and the case is remanded to the circuit court for 
resentencing.
Cite as 357 Or 145 (2015)	
147
	
BALDWIN, J.
	
In this criminal case, defendant was convicted of 
the crime of tampering with a witness, ORS 162.285, after 
he tried to persuade his girlfriend to testify falsely in his 
impending trial on charges of criminal trespass and crimi-
nal negligence. At defendant’s sentencing hearing following 
the tampering conviction, the state asked the trial court to 
impose an upward departure sentence, based on the fact that 
defendant’s girlfriend was a “vulnerable victim” under the 
administrative rule governing departure sentences, OAR 
213-008-0002(1)(b)(B). Defendant objected on the ground 
that the state, not the witness, is the victim of the crime of 
tampering with a witness and, therefore, that the departure 
factor did not apply. The trial court disagreed with defendant 
and imposed a 48-month durational departure sentence on 
the tampering conviction. On appeal, the Court of Appeals 
affirmed. We allowed review and now reverse the decision 
of the Court of Appeals and vacate the sentence imposed by 
the circuit court on defendant’s tampering conviction.
	
Because the jury found defendant guilty of the 
charged offenses, we state the facts in the light most favor-
able to the state. State v. McClure, 355 Or 704, 705, 335 P3d 
1260 (2014). Defendant and his girlfriend, O’Connor, had a 
tumultuous relationship for years before the incidents lead-
ing to this case. Defendant had assaulted O’Connor twice in 
2007, was convicted of various crimes arising out of those 
assaults, and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment. As 
a condition of his release, defendant was ordered not to have 
contact with O’Connor. In late 2009, defendant was arrested 
twice for violating the no-contact order, convicted of post-
prison supervision violations, and incarcerated again. 
Defendant was released from prison in February 2010 and 
began staying in O’Connor’s apartment, in violation of the 
no-contact order. Soon, however, O’Connor told defendant 
that she would not permit him to stay with her any longer. 
When O’Connor and defendant last left O’Connor’s apart-
ment together, O’Connor placed defendant’s belongings on 
the porch outside a door to her apartment. Defendant did 
not have a key, and O’Connor did not intend for defendant 
to enter the apartment in her absence. When O’Connor 
returned to her apartment a few days later, a window screen 
148	
State v. Lykins
had been removed, the door was ajar, and defendant was in 
her apartment. O’Connor called the police, and defendant 
was arrested and taken to jail.
	
Defendant called O’Connor three times from jail. 
In the first call, defendant told O’Connor that he was fac-
ing five to seven years in prison for burglary; he pleaded 
with her to tell the police that his belongings were in the 
apartment and that he had permission to be there. He asked 
O’Connor to tell the authorities that she had misreported the 
crime because she was having “delusions.” When O’Connor 
refused, defendant told O’Connor that she had left the slid-
ing glass door open and that she had told him that he could 
stay with her until March. She denied both assertions. Ten 
minutes later, defendant called O’Connor again, insisting 
that O’Connor tell the authorities that she might have left 
the door open and might have told him that he could stay 
in the apartment. Defendant stated that he wanted them to 
be “together on this” so that he could “tell them something, 
you know, to get me out of trouble.” In the face of O’Connor’s 
denials, defendant repeatedly told her that he had been liv-
ing with her, that his belongings were in the apartment, and 
that he had not broken in. Defendant pleaded with her to 
go along with his story. When O’Connor reiterated that she 
would not lie to the authorities, defendant intimated that 
O’Connor was mentally unfit because she had not taken her 
prescribed psychiatric medication. Five days later, defen-
dant called O’Connor for a third time from jail, again asking 
her whether she was taking her psychiatric medication.
	
Defendant was charged with three counts of tamper-
ing with a witness in violation of ORS 162.285,1 based on his 
three phone calls to O’Connor from jail.2 A jury found defen-
dant guilty on two of those counts, and the court merged the 
verdicts into a single conviction. At a subsequent sentenc-
ing hearing, the state asked the court to impose an upward 
departure sentence on the tampering conviction, arguing 
	
1  We set out the text of ORS 162.285 later in this opinion.
	
2  Defendant also was charged with one count each of first-degree criminal 
trespass (ORS 164.255) and second-degree criminal mischief (ORS 164.354), for 
breaking into O’Connor’s apartment. He was convicted on both of those counts. 
Those convictions are not at issue in this case.
Cite as 357 Or 145 (2015)	
149
that the departure was appropriate under OAR 213-008-
0002(1)(b)(B). That rule provides that a court may consider 
the following aggravating factor in determining whether 
substantial and compelling reasons exist for a departure 
sentence:
“The offender knew or had reason to know of the victim’s 
particular vulnerability, such as the extreme youth, age, 
disability or ill health of victim, which increased the harm 
or threat of harm caused by the criminal conduct.”
The state contended that, by his phone calls to O’Connor 
from jail, defendant had exploited O’Connor’s psychologi-
cal frailty in an attempt to induce her to testify falsely. 
Defendant responded that the state, not the witness, is 
the “victim” in a witness tampering case and, because 
O’Connor was not a victim for purposes of OAR 213-008-
0002(1)(b)(B), that aggravating factor could not support a 
departure sentence.
	
The trial court concluded that both the state and 
O’Connor were “victims” of the crime of witness tampering 
for purposes of OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B). The trial court 
found that the state was particularly vulnerable to defen-
dant’s tampering with O’Connor because O’Connor was “so 
much under the sway of the tamperer” and because defen-
dant knew that it would be difficult for the state to convict 
defendant of the charge without O’Connor’s cooperation. In 
addition, the trial court found that O’Connor was also a vic-
tim of that crime
“because she suffered psychological and social harm as a 
result of [defendant’s] attempts to pressure her. In both the 
jail telephone calls and her trial testimony, Ms. O’Connor 
was obviously distraught over [defendant’s] efforts to pres-
sure and manipulate her. Based on years of manipulating 
and taking advantage of Ms. O’Connor, [defendant] knew of 
her particular vulnerability. This vulnerability increased 
the threat of harm to which Ms. O’Connor was subject, both 
in the short term (being successfully manipulated into tes-
tifying falsely) and in the long term (continuing in the abu-
sive relationship with [defendant]).”
Although the trial court did not expressly identify 
O’Connor’s “particular vulnerability,” it is clear from the 
150	
State v. Lykins
arguments before the trial court that the court was refer-
ring to O’Connor’s physical and mental health issues.
	
Defendant appealed the trial court’s imposition of 
the upward departure sentence to the Court of Appeals, 
arguing that neither the state nor O’Connor were partic-
ularly vulnerable victims of the crime of tampering with a 
witness. The Court of Appeals determined that defendant’s 
view of the definition of “victim,” which looked beyond the 
words of the sentencing guidelines to the elements of the 
offense for which he was being sentenced, was too narrow 
and that O’Connor was a “vulnerable victim” within the 
meaning of that phrase in OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B). 
State v. Lykins, 259 Or App 475, 479-81, 314 P3d 704 (2013). 
The Court of Appeals relied on a case presenting a similar 
issue that it recently had decided, State v. Teixeira, 259 Or 
App 184, 313 P3d 351 (2013). In Teixeira, the court had con-
cluded that interpreting the word “victims” in OAR 213-008- 
0002(1)(b)(G)3 to mean only the victims of the substantive 
statute defining the relevant offense would be incorrect 
because it would render that rule inapplicable to entire cate-
gories of offenses in which the defendant’s conduct—although 
subject to only a single conviction—in fact, resulted in injury 
to multiple persons. Teixeira, 259 Or App at 192. Based on 
the text, context and legislative history of the rule, the court 
held instead that, for purposes of the rule, a “victim is a 
person who is directly, immediately, and exclusively injured 
by the commission of the crime—not persons injured only 
by subsequent, additional criminal conduct.” Lykins, 259 Or 
App at 479 (quoting Teixeira, 259 Or App at 199).
	
The Court of Appeals applied that understanding of 
the term “victim” to the facts of this case. The court noted 
that the trial court had ruled that O’Connor was a victim 
of witness tampering because she suffered psychological 
and social harm from defendant’s attempts to pressure her 
and her vulnerability increased the threat of harm to her. 
Lykins, 259 Or App at 479. The court concluded that those 
facts demonstrated that O’Connor was “directly, imme-
diately, and exclusively injured by the commission of the 
	
3  OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)G) sets out as an aggravating factor the fact the 
“[t]he offense involved multiple victims or incidents.”
Cite as 357 Or 145 (2015)	
151
crime” and, therefore, that she was a “victim” as that word 
is used in OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B). Id. at 480.
	
The Court of Appeals continued its analysis by noting 
that an upward departure sentence is appropriate under OAR 
213-008-0002(1)(b)(B) only when the trial court’s findings of 
fact and its reasons justifying the departure are supported by 
evidence in the record and constitute a substantial and com-
pelling reason for departure as a matter of law. It then con-
sidered whether the trial court’s reasoning met that standard 
in this case. Id. The court stated that evidence that defendant 
and O’Connor were in an intimate relationship when defen-
dant assaulted her, and that he questioned her mental health 
when he later contacted her from jail in an effort to persuade 
her to lie to police, established that O’Connor was particu-
larly vulnerable. Id. Moreover, the court stated, defendant’s 
comments about O’Connor’s mental health and medication 
established that defendant knew about O’Connor’s vulnera-
bility. Id. at 480-81. For those reasons, the court concluded 
that the trial court’s findings were supported by the evidence 
and constituted substantial and compelling reasons to impose 
a departure sentence.4 Id. at 481.
	
On review, defendant argues that the word “victim” 
in OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B) is a legal term of art, and, 
although it is not defined in the rule, the context of the rule 
and the legislative history demonstrate that the drafters 
intended it to mean the victim of the crime for which the 
defendant is being sentenced. Defendant contends that the 
crime for which he was being sentenced—tampering with 
a witness—is a crime against the state and that O’Connor 
was not a victim of that crime. Therefore, according to defen-
dant, the trial court erred in imposing a departure sentence 
based on the vulnerable victim aggravating factor.
	
The state, for its part, concedes that O’Connor 
was not a victim of the crime of tampering with a witness.5 
	
4  In light of that conclusion, the court did not address whether the state also 
was a vulnerable victim.
	
5  In addition, while refusing to concede that the state can never be a “vul-
nerable victim” for purposes of OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B), the state declines to 
argue that it was a particularly vulnerable victim in this case. We therefore do 
not reach that issue.
152	
State v. Lykins
However, the state contends that the word “victim” in OAR 
213-008-0002(1)(b)(B) does not narrowly refer to the victim 
of the crime for which the defendant is being sentenced, but 
applies more broadly to anyone who was “directly harmed 
by the commission of the crime.” In the state’s view, because 
O’Connor was directly harmed by defendant’s commission of 
the crime of tampering with a witness, the trial court cor-
rectly imposed an upward departure sentence based on the 
vulnerable victim aggravating factor.
	
As a preliminary matter, we accept the state’s con-
cession that O’Connor was not a victim of the crime of tam-
pering with a witness. See State v. Bea, 318 Or 220, 224, 864 
P2d 854 (1993) (court is not bound by party’s concession on 
a legal question). That crime is described in ORS 162.285, 
which provides:
	
“(1)  A person commits the crime of tampering with a 
witness if:
	
“(a)  The person knowingly induces or attempts to 
induce a witness or a person the person believes may be 
called as a witness in any official proceeding to offer false 
testimony or unlawfully withhold any testimony; or
	
“(b)  The person knowingly induces or attempts to 
induce a witness to be absent from any official proceeding 
to which the person has been legally summoned.
	
“(2)  Tampering with a witness is a Class C felony.”
Whether the witness tampered with is a “victim” of that 
crime is a matter of legislative intent. As this court explained 
in State v. Glaspey, 337 Or 558, 564, 100 P3d 730 (2004), to 
determine the legislature’s intent, the court “must focus on 
the words that the legislature chose to use” in the “specific 
criminal statute that defines [the] criminal offense for pur-
poses of prosecution.”
	
In Glaspey, the defendant was convicted of felony 
fourth-degree assault under ORS 163.160, after assault-
ing his wife in front of his two minor children. Under that 
statute, a person commits the misdemeanor offense of 
fourth-degree assault if the person “[i]ntentionally, know-
ingly, or recklessly causes physical injury to another.” ORS 
163.160(1). The offense is elevated to a felony, however, if 
Cite as 357 Or 145 (2015)	
153
the assault is committed in the immediate presence of or 
is witnessed by the person’s or the victim’s minor children. 
ORS 163.160(3)(c). The state in that case argued that, even 
though the statute appeared to use the word “victim” to 
refer to the assaulted person, the court should focus on the 
ordinary, dictionary definition of the word “victim,” which 
includes persons who suffer all manner of harm, including 
the psychological harm that the child witnesses would suf-
fer from witnessing an assault. 337 Or at 564. This court 
disagreed, concluding that the text of the statute could be 
read sensibly only if the victim of fourth-degree assault is 
the person directly, physically injured by an assault. Id. 
at 565. Further, the court stated, context—the use of the 
word “victim” throughout the substantive part of the crim-
inal code—confirmed that interpretation, because,
“[o]rdinarily, when the term ‘victim’ is used in a statute 
that defines a criminal offense, it is used in the precise 
sense of a person who suffers harm that is an element of 
the offense.”
Id.
	
The tampering statute does not mention a “victim” 
of that offense, nor does it require evidence of harm to any 
person as an element of the offense. Rather, the harm that 
is the focus of the statutory wording is the risk that a wit-
ness in an official proceeding will offer false testimony or 
unlawfully withhold testimony. If a witness were to provide 
false testimony or withhold testimony, the resulting harm 
would be to the administration of justice and to the people of 
the state. A witness tampered with may be affected by the 
defendant’s criminal conduct, but, like the child witnesses 
in Glaspey, that witness does not suffer harm that is an ele-
ment of the criminal offense.
	
We also note that the crime of tampering with a 
witness is not included among the offenses that the crimi-
nal code categorizes as “offenses against persons,” and is not 
a “person felony” for purposes of the sentencing guidelines. 
OAR 213-003-0001(14) (listing “person felonies”). Rather, 
tampering with a witness is included in the part of the crim-
inal code that sets out “Offenses Against the State and Public 
Justice,” including bribery, ORS 162.015 to 162.025; perjury 
154	
State v. Lykins
and related offenses, ORS 162.065 to 162.085; escape and 
related offenses, ORS 162.145 to 162.175; failure to appear, 
ORS 162.193 to 162.205; obstructing governmental admin-
istration, ORS 162.225 to 162.385; abuse of public office, 
ORS 162.405 to 162.425; and interference with legislative 
operations, ORS 162.455 to 162.465. In all those crimes, the 
concern is for the protection of the administration of justice. 
That is a concern that relates to the state, not to an individual 
who might be affected by the defendant’s conduct. For those 
reasons, we conclude that the witness tampered with— 
O’Connor in this case—is not a victim of the crime of tam-
pering with a witness.
	
Before we address whether the word “victim” has a 
different meaning in the rule that permits a court to impose 
a departure sentence when a “victim” is “vulnerab[le],” OAR 
213-008-0002(1)(b)(B), we first provide, as background, 
a brief review of the adoption of the sentencing guidelines 
and the rule governing departure sentences. As this court 
explained in State v. Speedis, 350 Or 424, 426-27, 256 P3d 
1061 (2011), before 1989, sentencing courts had considerable 
latitude in determining appropriate sentences for criminal 
convictions. That latitude sometimes led to disparate sen-
tences for similarly situated defendants. To provide greater 
uniformity in sentencing, the Legislative Assembly, in 1987, 
directed the then recently-created Oregon Criminal Justice 
Council (the Council) to develop a series of sentencing 
guidelines. Or Laws 1987, ch 619, § 2. The Council devel-
oped the felony sentencing guidelines, which were revised 
and adopted by the State Sentencing Guidelines Board, and 
then approved by the legislature in 1989. Or Laws 1989, 
ch 790, § 87. The sentencing guidelines thus promulgated 
and adopted prescribe presumptive sentences for most felo-
nies,6 subject to judicial discretion to deviate from those pre-
sumptive sentences for substantial and compelling reasons. 
OAR 213-002-0001(2) (so stating).
	
6  The presumptive sentences generally are derived from the seriousness of 
the current crime and the offender’s criminal history. OAR 213-003-0001(16) 
(“ 
‘Presumptive sentence’ means the sentence provided in a grid block for an 
offender classified in that grid block by the combined effect of the crime seri-
ousness ranking of the current crime of conviction and the offender’s criminal 
history or a sentence designated as a presumptive sentence by statute.”).
Cite as 357 Or 145 (2015)	
155
	
The Oregon Sentencing Guidelines Implementation 
Manual (guidelines manual) contains the official commen-
tary to the guidelines and provides important legislative his-
tory to aid our interpretation of the relevant guidelines pro-
visions. Oregon Criminal Justice Council, Oregon Sentencing 
Guidelines Implementation Manual (Sept 1989). As the 
guidelines manual makes explicit, the drafters intended 
that presumptive sentences be imposed in all but the most 
unusual cases: “When a case represents a truly unique set 
of circumstances, the sentencing judge is free to impose a[n] 
appropriate sentence, other than the presumptive sentence.” 
Oregon Sentencing Guidelines Implementation Manual at 
123; OAR 213-008-0001 (“the sentencing judge shall impose 
the presumptive sentence provided by the guidelines unless 
the judge finds substantial and compelling reasons to impose 
a departure”). OAR 213-008-0002 sets out a nonexclusive 
list of circumstances meeting that standard.7
	
7  OAR 213-008-0002 provides, in part:
	
“(1)   
 
Subject to the provisions of sections (2) and (3) of this rule, the fol-
lowing nonexclusive list of mitigating and aggravating factors may be consid-
ered in determining whether substantial and compelling reasons for a depar-
ture exist:
	
“(a)   
 
Mitigating factors:
	
“(A)  The victim was an aggressor or participant in the criminal conduct 
associated with the crime of conviction.
	
“(B)  The defendant acted under duress or compulsion (not sufficient as a 
complete defense).
	
“(C)  The defendant’s mental capacity was diminished (excluding dimin-
ished capacity due to voluntary drug or alcohol abuse).
	
“(D)  The offense was principally accomplished by another and the defen-
dant exhibited extreme caution or concern for the victim.
	
“(E)  The offender played a minor or passive role in the crime.
	
“(F)   
The offender cooperated with the state with respect to the current 
crime of conviction or any other criminal conduct by the offender or other per-
son. The offender’s refusal to cooperate with the state shall not be considered 
an aggravating factor.
	
“(G)  The degree of harm or loss attributed to the current crime of convic-
tion was significantly less than typical for such an offense.
	
“(H) 
 
 
The offender’s criminal history indicates that the offender lived 
conviction-free within the community for a significant period of time preced-
ing his or her current crime of conviction.
	
“(I)   
 
 
The offender is amenable to treatment and an appropriate treatment 
program is available to which the offender can be admitted within a reason-
able period of time; the treatment program is likely to be more effective than 
the presumptive prison term in reducing the risk of offender recidivism; and 
156	
State v. Lykins
	
As discussed, the trial court in this case relied on 
OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B) to support an enhanced sen-
tence for defendant’s conviction of the crime of tampering 
with a witness. That factor provides a basis for an upward 
departure sentence when “[t]he offender knew or had reason 
to know of the victim’s particular vulnerability, such as the 
extreme youth, age, disability or ill health of victim, which 
increased the harm or threat of harm caused by the criminal 
conduct.” Here, it is undisputed that O’Connor was vulnera-
ble because of her fragile psychological state and that defen-
dant knew of that vulnerability. Thus, as the parties agree, 
this case turns on whether O’Connor was a “victim” within 
the meaning of that word in OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B).
	
The term “victim” is not defined in either the sen-
tencing guidelines or in their authorizing statutes. As the 
parties acknowledge, the word “victim” has been defined to 
the probation sentence will serve community safety interests by promoting 
offender reformation.
	
“(J)   
 
The offender’s status as a servicemember as defined in ORS 135.881.
	
“(b)   
Aggravating factors:
	
“(A)  Deliberate cruelty to victim.
	
“(B)  The offender knew or had reason to know of the victim’s particu-
lar vulnerability, such as the extreme youth, age, disability or ill health of 
victim, which increased the harm or threat of harm caused by the criminal 
conduct.
	
“(C)  Threat of or actual violence toward a witness or victim.
	
“(D)  Persistent involvement in similar offenses or repetitive assaults. 
This factor may be cited when consecutive sentences are imposed only if the 
persistent involvement in similar offenses or repetitive assaults is unrelated 
to the current offense.
	
“(E)  Use of a weapon in the commission of the offense.
	
“(F)  The offense involved a violation of public trust or professional 
responsibility.
	
“(G)  The offense involved multiple victims or incidents. This factor may 
not be cited when it is captured in a consecutive sentence.
	
“(H) 
 
 
The crime was part of an organized criminal operation.
	
“(I)   
 
 
The offense resulted in a permanent injury to the victim.
	
“(J)   
 
The degree of harm or loss attributed to the current crime of convic-
tion was significantly greater than typical for such an offense.
	
“(K)  The offense was motivated entirely or in part by the race, color, reli-
gion, ethnicity, national origin or sexual orientation of the victim.
	
“(L)  Disproportionate impact (for Theft I under ORS 164.055, and 
Aggravated Theft I under ORS 164.057).”
Cite as 357 Or 145 (2015)	
157
mean different things in different legal contexts. For exam-
ple, in the context of the victim’s rights statutes, the term 
“victim” is defined broadly, as any person who has “suffered 
financial, social, psychological or physical harm as a result 
of a crime.” ORS 131.007. Similarly, for purposes of the res-
titution statutes, “victim” is defined to include not only the 
person against whom the defendant committed the crimi-
nal offense, but also any person who “has suffered economic 
damages as a result of the defendant’s criminal activities,” 
including the Criminal Injuries Compensation Account 
and an insurance carrier, to the extent that either of those 
entities expended money on behalf of the person against 
whom the defendant committed the criminal offense. ORS 
137.103(4). At the same time, although the legislature did 
not define the word “victim” for purposes of the statute gov-
erning merger of convictions, ORS 161.067(2),8 this court 
has held that, in that context, a narrower meaning applies: 
The word “victim” refers to “the category of persons who are 
victims within the meaning of the specific substantive stat-
ute defining the relevant offense.” Glaspey, 337 Or at 563.
	
Because the word “victim” is not expressly defined 
for purposes of the departure rule, defendant urges us to 
interpret that word by reference to the substantive offense 
for which the defendant is being sentenced, as the court did in 
Glaspey. The state, on the other hand, argues that, because 
neither the guidelines nor OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B) 
define the term, this court should consider the following ordi-
nary, dictionary definition of the word “victim”: “2 : some- 
one put to death, tortured, or mulcted by another : a per-
son subjected to oppression, deprivation, or suffering * 
* 
* 
4 : someone tricked, duped, or subjected to hardship : some-
one badly used or taken advantage of[.]” Webster’s Third 
New Int’l Dictionary 2550 (unabridged ed 2002) (boldface in 
original). The state contends that, so defined, “victim” would 
include not only those persons whom the legislature intended 
to protect in defining the crime for which the defendant is 
being sentenced, but also persons whom were collaterally 
	
8  ORS 161.067(2) provides, in part:
“When the same conduct or criminal episode, though violating only one stat-
utory provision involves two or more victims, there are as many separately 
punishable offenses as there are victims.”
158	
State v. Lykins
harmed by the defendant’s commission of that crime, such 
as the witness in the crime of tampering with a witness.
	
To resolve that interpretive issue, we follow our 
usual paradigm, which requires us to examine the text and 
context of the statute, along with any legislative history 
that the court finds useful. See State v. Gaines, 346 Or 160, 
171-72, 206 P3d 1042 (2009) (explaining that methodology). 
Although, in this case, we are called upon to interpret an 
administrative rule and not a statute, the same principles 
apply. Wetherell v. Douglas County, 342 Or 666, 678, 160 P3d 
614 (2007) (court’s task in construing administrative rules 
is same as for statutes: to discern meaning of words used, 
giving effect to intent of body that promulgated rule).
	
As an initial consideration, we note that depar-
ture sentences serve two primary sentencing objectives: 
“just desserts for the crime of conviction and public safety.” 
Oregon Sentencing Guidelines Implementation Manual at 
125. Further, as the guidelines commentary states:
“In the guidelines system, the seriousness of criminal con-
duct is determined by the crime of conviction. Consequently, 
a departure sentence is not appropriate for elements of 
alleged offender behavior not within the definition of the 
offense of conviction.”
Id. Consistently with those principles, the factors set out in 
OAR 213-008-0002 as supporting a departure sentence mit-
igate and aggravate both the seriousness of the crime for 
which the defendant is being sentenced and the risk to pub-
lic safety posed by the defendant. And, to state the obvious, 
an aggravating factor, by definition, is a circumstance that 
makes the crime of conviction or the risk to public safety 
distinctly worse than it usually would be, thereby justify-
ing the enhanced punishment. A purported aggravating cir-
cumstance that does not relate directly either to the offense 
or the offender would not make worse either the seriousness 
of the crime or the risk to public safety, and would not con-
stitute a substantial and compelling reason to depart from a 
presumptive sentence. Those considerations suggest a focus 
on the victim of the crime for which the defendant is being 
sentenced, rather than on a third party who may be affected 
Cite as 357 Or 145 (2015)	
159
by the defendant’s criminal conduct but who has not suf-
fered harm that is an element of the offense.
	
That initial impression is bolstered by consideration 
of the text of OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B). First, the aggra-
vating factor described in that rule is that the offender knew 
or had reason to know of “the victim’s” particular vulnera-
bility. As a grammatical matter, the definite article, “the,” 
indicates something specific, either known to the reader 
or listener or uniquely specified. Rodney Huddleston and 
Geoffrey Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English 
Language § 6.1, 368-71 (2002). Because the article “the” is 
used to convey exactly who or what is being referred to, the 
drafters’ choice to use the words “the victim” rather than 
“a victim” in OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B) suggests an intent 
to refer to a known class of victims, such as the victim of 
the crime for which the defendant is being sentenced, rather 
than indiscriminately to all persons who might be affected 
by a defendant’s conduct. See State v. Lopez-Minjarez, 350 
Or 576, 583, 260 P3d 439 (2011) (reasoning that legislature’s 
use of definite article showed intent to refer to the particular 
and known); Force v. Dept. of Rev., 350 Or 179, 189, 252 P3d 
306 (2011) (same).
	
Second, under OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B), the 
victim’s vulnerability must have “increased the harm or 
threat of harm caused by the criminal conduct.” The word 
“increased” implies that the harm is the same as, but 
greater in degree than, the harm against which the substan-
tive offense—the offense for which the defendant is being 
sentenced—protects. And that, in turn, is the harm that the 
victim of that offense suffered in a particular case.
	
The state asserts, to the contrary, that the fact that 
the victim’s vulnerability increased the harm or threat of 
harm caused by the “criminal conduct” supports its inter-
pretation of the word “victim” in OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B) 
to include any person whom the defendant’s acts have 
harmed. That is so, the state argues, because the phrase 
“criminal conduct” refers not to the criminal offense itself, 
but to the defendant’s conduct—his or her actions and 
behavior—that constituted the criminal offense. And, the 
argument continues, those actions and behavior could harm 
160	
State v. Lykins
others besides the person or entity that suffered the harm 
that is an element of the offense for which the defendant is 
being sentenced.
	
However, the distinction that the state draws—
between the criminal offense and a defendant’s “criminal 
conduct” that harms someone—does not bear scrutiny. 
“Criminal conduct” is not criminal conduct unless it violates 
a criminal statute. That is, a defendant’s actions become 
“criminal conduct” because those actions meet the elements 
of a criminal offense. And the harm “caused by” that crim-
inal conduct is the harm that the victim of that criminal 
offense suffers.
	
Our review of the text of OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B) 
thus suggests that the drafters intended the word “victim” 
to mean the person or entity that is the victim of the offense 
for which the defendant is being sentenced.
	
The context of OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B) also 
supports that interpretation. Importantly, nothing in OAR 
213-008-0002 suggests that the drafters intended the word 
“victim” to refer broadly to any person affected by a defen-
dant’s criminal conduct. Further, our interpretation of the 
word “victim” to mean the person who suffered the harm 
that is an element of the offense for which the defendant 
is being sentenced is consistent with the use of that word 
in the other enhancement factors set out in OAR 213-008-
0002. The word “victim” appears eight times in the 22 miti-
gating and aggravating factors listed in that rule. In all but 
two of those instances, the text of the provision can be read 
sensibly only if the word “victim” refers to the victim of the 
offense for which the defendant is being sentenced.9
	
In addition, OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(C) provides 
for a departure sentence when there has been a “[t]hreat of 
	
9  The following are a few illustrative examples. OAR 213-008-0002(1)(a)(A) 
provides as a mitigating factor, that “[t]he victim was an aggressor or participant 
in the criminal conduct associated with the crime of conviction.” OAR 213-008-
0002(1)(a)(D) states, also as a mitigating factor, that “[t]he offense was commit-
ted by another and the defendant exhibited extreme caution or concern for the vic-
tim.” OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(I) provides, as an aggravating factor that, “[t]he 
offense resulted in permanent injury to the victim.” OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(G) 
lists as an aggravating factor that “[t]he offense involved multiple victims or 
incidents.”
Cite as 357 Or 145 (2015)	
161
or actual violence to a witness or victim.” According to the 
guidelines commentary, that factor is intended to be used 
“when the offender seeks to avoid prosecution by threaten-
ing or harming a witness or the victim.” Oregon Sentencing 
Guidelines Implementation Manual at 130 (emphasis added). 
The broad definition of “victim” that the state advances 
would subsume a witness who is harmed or threatened with 
harm, making the reference to “a witness” in that depar-
ture factor surplusage. Rather, the distinction between “a 
witness” and “the victim” in the commentary textually sig-
nals the drafters’ understanding that the word “victim” in 
that provision refers narrowly to the victim of the crime for 
which the defendant is being sentenced.10
	
Because, in many of the departure factors enu-
merated in OAR 213-008-0002, the word “victim” refers 
narrowly to the person whom the legislature intended to 
protect in defining the crime of conviction, and not more 
broadly to other persons collaterally harmed by a defen-
dant’s commission of the crime, we infer that the draft-
ers intended that word to mean the same thing in OAR 
213-008-0002(1)(b)(B). Ordinarily, we assume that the 
use of the same term throughout a statute indicates that 
the term has the same meaning throughout that statute. 
PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 317 Or 606, 611, 
859 P2d 1143 (1993); Tharp v. PSRB, 338 Or 413, 422, 110 
P3d 103 (2005) (“When the legislature uses the identical 
phrase in related statutory provisions that were enacted as 
part of the same law, we interpret the phrase to have the 
same meaning in both statutes.”). Thus, because we con-
clude that the word “victim” in many of the enhancement 
factors set out in OAR 213-008-0002 means the victim of 
the offense for which the defendant is being sentenced, and 
because there is no indication in the rule that the legis-
lature intended that word to have different meanings in 
different parts of the rule, we conclude that that word has 
the same meaning throughout that rule, including in OAR 
213-008-0002(1)(b)(B).
	
10  Apart from OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B), at issue here, the other aggravat-
ing factor that arguably is ambiguous as to whom the word “victim” refers is OAR 
213-008-0002(1)(b)(A), “[d]eliberate cruelty to victim.”
162	
State v. Lykins
	
The state urges the court to consider the rule’s 
enactment history, which, it contends, supports its inter-
pretation of the word “victim.” In particular, the state 
argues that the commentary to OAR 213-008-0002 in the 
Oregon Sentencing Guidelines Implementation Manual 
reveals that the list of enumerated departure factors was 
intended to be only a starting point and, indeed, that the 
examples in the commentary of how certain departure fac-
tors might apply show an intent to permit judges to impose 
departure sentences based on facts that are not elements 
of the crime for which the defendant is being sentenced. 
Specifically, the state points to the commentaries to OAR 
213-008-0002(1)(a)(E) (the offender played a minor or pas-
sive role in the offense) and OAR 213-008-0002(1)(a)(G) 
(the degree of harm or loss attributable to the current crime 
of conviction was significantly less than typical for such an 
offense). In the first example, the commentary states that, in 
sentencing an offender convicted of drug delivery, the judge 
may conclude that an offender’s role in the drug distribution 
is minor (and impose a downward departure sentence) if the 
offender thought he was transporting marijuana but was, 
in fact, transporting heroin. Oregon Sentencing Guidelines 
Implementation Manual at 128. Yet, as the state explains, 
the offender in that example has not literally taken a “minor 
or passive role” in the drug delivery; rather, he was the 
primary actor. Similarly, in the second example, the com-
mentary states that, in sentencing an offender convicted 
of first-degree burglary for stealing a bicycle tire from an 
unlocked garage attached to an occupied residence, a judge 
may conclude that the conduct is significantly less serious 
than a typical burglary, where an offender might break into 
the victim’s actual living quarters to steal more valuable 
property or to commit an assault. Id. at 129. However, as 
the state explains, the degree of actual loss or harm in both 
scenarios is the same, because a burglary is complete at the 
time of the entry and does not require that the occupants be 
subjected to any actual harm or loss. Thus, according to the 
state, those examples show that the mitigating and aggra-
vating factors set out in OAR 213-008-0002 were designed 
to characterize the offender’s overall culpability; they were 
“not intended to be constrained by the precise elements that 
make the conduct a crime in the first place.”
Cite as 357 Or 145 (2015)	
163
	
In our view, those examples do not shed light on 
the meaning of the word “victim” in OAR 213-008-0002 
generally, or in OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B) in particular. 
Moreover, the state has pointed to nothing in the commen-
tary that persuades us that the drafters intended the word 
“victim” in that rule to refer to anyone other than the victim 
of the offense for which the defendant is being sentenced. 
Rather, as we have explained, to the extent that the leg-
islative history aids in determining the drafters’ intended 
meaning of the word “victim,” it suggests an intent to refer 
only to the victim of the offense for which the defendant is 
being sentenced.
	
We therefore conclude that, for purposes of OAR 
213-008-0002(1)(b)(B), which permits a trial court to 
enhance a defendant’s sentence when the defendant “knew 
or had reason to know of the victim’s particular vulnerabil-
ity, * 
* 
* which increased the harm or threat of harm caused 
by the criminal conduct,” the term “victim” has the same 
meaning as it has in the relevant statutory provision defin-
ing the offense for which the defendant is being sentenced. 
In this case, defendant was being sentenced for the offense 
of tampering with a witness in violation of ORS 162.285. As 
we have explained, O’Connor was not a victim of that crime; 
it follows that the trial court erred in imposing a departure 
sentence for defendant’s conviction of that offense based on 
OAR 213-008-0002(1)(b)(B).
	
The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed. 
The sentence imposed by the circuit court is vacated, and 
the case is remanded to the circuit court for resentencing.