Court Opinion

ID: 9561884
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:18:13.563056+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:13.585785
License: Public Domain

SCHWAB, C. J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The majority incorrectly concludes that Marvin Cartwright was not an accomplice of the defendants. ORS 136.440 provides:
*191"(1) A conviction cannot be had upon the testimony of an accomplice unless it is corroborated by other evidence that tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense. The corroboration is not sufficient if it merely shows the commission of the offense or the circumstances of the commission.
"(2) As used in this section, an 'accomplice’ means a witness in a criminal action who, according to the evidence adduced in the action, is criminally liable for the conduct of the defendant under ORS 161.155 and 161.165,[1] or, if the witness is a juvenile, has committed a delinquent act, which, if committed by an adult, would make him criminally liable for the conduct of the defendant.”
ORS 161.155 provides:
"A person is criminally liable for the conduct of another person constituting a crime if:
******
"(2) With the intent to promote or facilitate the commission of the crime he:
"(a) Solicits or commands such other person to commit the crime; or
"(b) Aids or abets or agrees or attempts to aid or abet such other person in planning or committing the crime; or
"(c) Having a legal duty to prevent the commission of the crime, fails to make an effort he is legally required to make.”
We have repeatedly held that a person is an accomplice for purposes of ORS 136.440 (formerly ORS 136.550) "if he could be indicted and tried for the same criminal act for which the defendant is being tried.” State v. Fitzgerald, 14 Or App 361, 367, 513 P2d 817 (1973) (emphasis supplied). The majority states that because Cartwright could only be criminally liable for *192the crime of theft by receiving (ORS 164.095), but not for the crime of theft in the first degree (ORS 164.055), he cannot be considered an accomplice to the criminal act for which the defendants were indicted. In essence, the majority concludes that theft by receiving is a different criminal act than theft by taking and, therefore, the proscription of ORS 136.440 regarding accomplice testimony is not applicable to this case.
The majority’s conclusion finds support in past decisions of the Supreme Court holding that a receiver of stolen property is not an accomplice for purposes of ORS 136.440. See State v. Duggan, 215 Or 151, 167, 333 P2d 907 (1958); State v. Moxley, 54 Or 409, 412, 103 P 655 (1909). However, the majority ignores the fundamental premise upon which the Supreme Court’s conclusion rested:
"* * * We are aware that there are respectable authorities that hold that a receiver of stolen goods is an * * * accomplice; but we think that logic and the better authority sustain the opposite view, especially in a State like ours, where the statute by its terms has made larceny and the receiving of stolen goods distinct and substantive offenses.” State v. Moxley, supra, 54 Or at 412. (Emphasis supplied.)
The distinction referred to by the Supreme Court no longer exists. In 1971 the Legislative Assembly enacted ORS 164.015, which provides:
"A person commits theft when, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate property to himself or to a third person, he:
"(1) Takes, appropriates, obtains or withholds such property from an owner thereof; or
"(2) Commits theft of property lost, mislaid or delivered by mistake as provided in ORS 164.065; or
"(3) Commits theft by extortion as provided in ORS 164.075; or
"(4) Commits theft by deception as provided in ORS 164.085; or
"(5) Commits theft by receiving as provided in ORS 164.095.”
*193The Criminal Law Revision Commission Commentary to the Proposed Oregon Criminal Code, § 124 (1970), stated that
"[t]he primary purpose of this section is to eliminate the traditionally distinct crimes of larceny, larceny by trick, embezzlement, obtaining property by false pretenses, receiving stolen property and extortion and to consolidate them into one crime called theft. ’ * * Commentary, supra at 132. (Emphasis supplied.)
The categorization of theft and theft by receiving as one crime is mandated by ORS 164.025(1), also enacted in 1971, which provides:
"Except for the crime of theft by extortion, conduct denominated theft under ORS 164.015 constitutes a single offense.”
This court has also recognized that ORS 164.015 defines only one crime and not several criminal acts. In State v. Jim/White, 13 Or App 201, 218, 508 P2d 462, rev den (1973), we stated:
"The intent of the legislature was that ORS 164.015 define one crime and not several * * *.”
The majority therefore errs when it concludes that theft by receiving and theft in the first degree are two distinct criminal acts for the purposes of ORS 136.440.
I would hold that Cartwright was an accomplice of the defendants for the purposes of ORS 136.440. I would also hold that Mrs. Foote was an accomplice of the defendants in her role as a lookout. See State v. Miller, 2 Or App 408, 410, 467 P2d 973, rev den (1970). Therefore, I would reverse the defendants’ convictions because the testimony of their accomplices was not corroborated by other evidence.

 "Except as otherwise provided by the statute defining the crime, a person is not criminally liable for conduct of another constituting a crime if:
"(1) He is a victim of that crime; or
"(2) The crime is so defined that his conduct is necessarily incidental thereto.” ORS 161.165.