Court Opinion

ID: 9503378
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 19:43:29.897948+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:03:25.422956
License: Public Domain

GILLETTE, J.,
dissenting.
This case presents a simple issue, which the majority states this way:
“[W]e are asked to decide whether a finding under the aggravated murder statute, ORS 163.095(2)(d), that defendant personally and intentionally killed the victim requires us to conclude as a matter of law that a[n accompanying] conviction for ‘murder’ based on the same event necessarily is a conviction for intentional murder, ORS 163.115(1)(a), rather than for felony murder, ORS 163.115(1)(b).”
337 Or at 285. I accept that statement, with the additional note that the indictment in this case specifically alleged that defendant had committed the murder “intentionally.” And, as so accepted, the answer is inescapable: Of course, the conviction was for “intentional” murder.
The majority, however, essentially asserts that, despite the fact that the trial court, by definition, originally must have found that defendant personally and intentionally killed the victim, and despite the further fact that the indictment in this case alleged in the accompanying murder count that defendant committed that murder “intentionally,” defendant’s conviction under that count was for felony murder only. But, absent an express declaration at the time by the trier of fact (here, the trial court) that the conviction on the murder count was, instead, for felony murder — and any trial court’s explanation of the mental gymnastics underlying *298such a verdict would have been interesting to read — I see no logical (or even permissible) way to read the judgment that was entered against defendant as being for anything other than intentional murder. The majority labors long and honorably to prove otherwise, but I am unpersuaded.
For the reason that I have expressed, I would affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals. I therefore respectfully dissent from the majority’s contrary conclusion.
Carson, C. J., joins in this dissenting opinion.