Opinion ID: 3064375
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Same Offense Analysis

Text: [17] To determine whether two offenses are the “same” for double jeopardy purposes, a court must determine “whether each offense contains an element not contained in the other; if not, they are the ‘same offense’ and double jeopardy bars additional punishment and successive prosecution.” United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 696 (1993) (citing Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304 (1932)). Conversely, “[d]ouble jeopardy is not implicated so long as each violation requires proof of an element which the other does not.” United States v. Vargas-Castillo, 329 F.3d 715, 720 (9th Cir. 2003) (citation omitted). “If each [offense] requires proof of a fact that the other does not, the Blockburger test is satisfied, notwithstanding a substantial overlap in the proof offered to establish the crimes.” Ianelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 785-86 n.17 (1975). [18] Applying this test, we conclude that, as defined under Oregon law, felony murder is not the same offense as intentional murder, the crime of which Wilson was acquitted. Section 163.115(1)(a) of the Oregon Revised Statutes straightforwardly states that “criminal homicide constitutes WILSON v. BELLEQUE 1313 murder when it is committed intentionally.” By contrast, in defining felony murder, Oregon law does not require the defendant to intentionally cause death. Indeed, in cases in which a defendant commits the underlying felony with the assistance of another person, the statute does not require the defendant to have personally killed the victim at all. See OR. REV. STAT. § 163.115(1)(b). Furthermore, the crime of felony murder requires that the murder be committed “in the course of and in furtherance of” one of several statutorily enumerated felonies. OR. REV. STAT. § 163.115(1)(b). This requirement does not apply to intentional murder. See OR. REV. STAT. § 163.115(1)(a). Wilson thus does not squarely address whether felony murder and intentional murder are the same offense under the Blockburger test. He argues, however, that Oregon law specifies that all forms of homicide are merely alternative theories of the same crime. Wilson thus claims that, notwithstanding the different elements of the two offenses, they must be regarded as the same for double jeopardy purposes. As a threshold matter, we think Wilson mischaracterizes Oregon law. The Oregon decisions upon which Wilson relies merely hold that multiple convictions for murder merge into the most serious offense. See, e.g., State v. Tiner, 135 P.3d 305, 314 (Or. 2006) (holding that trial court erred in failing to merge the defendant’s intentional murder conviction into one of his two convictions for aggravated murder); State v. Walraven, 167 P.3d 1003, 1008 (Or. Ct. App. 2007) (holding that conviction for felony murder merged with conviction of aggravated murder of the same victim). The cases do not suggest that an acquittal on one charge bars retrial on either an offense with different elements or on a lesser included offense on which a previous jury deadlocked. To the contrary, the Oregon Court of Appeals has expressly held that an acquittal on a greater, charged offense does not preclude retrial on a lesser-included offense that was submitted to the jury but on which the jury did not reach a verdict. See State v. Perks, 847 1314 WILSON v. BELLEQUE P.2d 866, 868 (Or. Ct. App. 1993). There is no convincing evidence that the Oregon Supreme Court would rule differently. See Munson v. Dell Taco, Inc., 522 F.3d 997, 1002 (9th Cir. 2008). Even if we accepted Wilson’s description of Oregon law, however, the Blockburger test “emphasizes the elements of the two crimes,” Brown, 432 U.S. at 166, not the particularities of a state statutory classification scheme. If, contrary to our interpretation, the Oregon courts conclude on remand that Wilson’s analysis of Oregon law is accurate, they are obviously free to grant him the relief that he seeks. It is not our place to do so on federal habeas review.