Court Opinion

ID: 9960950
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-17 16:11:12.338318+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:20:07.740592
License: Public Domain

36                        April 17, 2024                No. 233

           IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE
                   STATE OF OREGON

                    STATE OF OREGON,
                     Plaintiff-Respondent,
                               v.
                 KEVIN GREGORY BRANNAN,
                     Defendant-Appellant.
                  Beaverton Municipal Court
                      2110018; A176827

     Juliet J. Britton, Judge.
     Submitted October 27, 2023.
   Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender, Criminal Appellate
Section, and Francis C. Gieringer, Deputy Public Defender,
Office of Public Defense Services, filed the brief for appellant.
   Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, Benjamin Gutman,
Solicitor General, and Joanna L. Jenkins, Assistant Attorney
General, filed the brief for respondent.
  Before Tookey, Presiding Judge, and Egan, Judge, and
Kamins, Judge.
     EGAN, J.
     Affirmed.
Cite as 332 Or App 36 (2024)                                                37

         EGAN, J.
         In this criminal case, defendant appeals his convic-
tion for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII),
ORS 813.010.1 On appeal, defendant presents four assign-
ments of error. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
         Defendant’s First Assignment of Error. Defendant
argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for
judgment of acquittal (“MJOA”), because the state did not
present evidence that defendant drove while intoxicated. “We
review the denial of an MJOA for whether a rational fact-
finder could find, after viewing the evidence in the light most
favorable to the state and making reasonable inferences and
credibility choices, that the state proved every element of
the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Davis, 261
Or App 38, 39, 323 P3d 276 (2014) (citation omitted).
         The DUII charge arose out of an incident in which,
at around 1:00 a.m., police officers found defendant in the
driver seat of a BMW, perceptibly intoxicated. The car was
located directly at an intersection, parked perpendicular in
the middle of the street, and blocking the south lane of travel
in a well-traveled area of Beaverton. The BMW’s hazard
lights and engine were on, and the key was in the ignition.
The responding officer turned off the car and removed the
key from the ignition. Another officer at the scene observed
that defendant moved slowly; he needed assistance getting
out of the car and standing up; and he spoke with a slow,
slurred speech. In addition, the officer smelled the odor of
alcohol coming from defendant. Inside the BMW, officers
found a still-cold, open can of beer in the center console, and
they found six open beer cans on the front passenger floor-
board. Defendant’s blood alcohol content (BAC), which was
tested about two-and-a-half hours after officers found him,
was 0.27.
         In this case, sufficient evidence existed for a jury
to find defendant guilty of DUII. The jury could reasonably
infer that defendant had been driving while intoxicated
based on the evidence just described. State v. Hedgpeth, 365
    1
      The legislature amended ORS 813.010 after defendant’s arrest. Or Laws
2021, ch 480, § 1. Because those amendments do not affect our analysis, we refer
to the current version of the statute in this opinion.
38                                                         State v. Brannan

Or 724, 731-32, 452 P3d 948 (2019) (“[A] court evaluating a
motion for judgment of acquittal does not base its decision
on whether any particular inference to be drawn from the
evidence is ‘more likely than not.’ Rather, * * * the evidence
in a case can give rise to more than one reasonable infer-
ence, and when it does, the factfinder is allowed to decide
the case.”).
         Defendant’s Second and Third Assignments of Error.
Defendant argues that the trial court erred when it permit-
ted two officers to testify at trial about their opinions as to
whether defendant drove to the place where they found him.
According to defendant, the officers’ opinions were not ratio-
nally based on their perceptions, and their opinions were not
helpful to the jury as required by OEC 701.2 We review the
admissibility of lay opinion evidence for an abuse of discre-
tion, State v. Lerch, 296 Or 377, 383, 677 P2d 678 (1984) (cita-
tion omitted), but when the court’s ruling “effectively limit[s]
the applicability of OEC 701[,]” we review for errors of law,
State v. Barnes, 208 Or App 640, 648, 145 P3d 261 (2006).
         In this case, we review for abuse of discretion,
because the trial court’s ruling did not limit the applica-
bility of OEC 701, and we determine that the trial court
did not abuse its discretion when it admitted the officers’
lay opinion testimony. First, the opinions were not specu-
lative, because they were rationally based on the officers’
observations and based on their knowledge from patrolling
that area.3 See State v. Davis, 351 Or 35, 54, 261 P3d 1197
(2011) (“The rational connection requirement means only
     2
         OEC 701 provides that:
     “If the witness is not testifying as an expert, testimony of the witness in the
     form of opinions or inferences is limited to those opinions or inferences which
     are:
     “(1) Rationally based on the perception of the witness; and
    “(2) Helpful to a clear understanding of testimony of the witness or the deter-
    mination of a fact in issue.”
    3
       One of the testifying officers is assigned to patrol the area where he found
defendant, and he drove past the location where he found defendant “between two
and six times” before responding to the call that evening. The other officer also
testified that he had driven by that location before, and the road where defendant
was found “is a busy street in Beaverton” and “no matter the time of day, there
[are] busy cars going by.”
Cite as 332 Or App 36 (2024)                                                39

that the opinion or inference advanced by the witness is one
which a normal person could form on the basis of observed
facts.” (Citation and internal quotation marks omitted.)).
Second, the lay opinion evidence was relevant to helping
the jury understand the officers’ testimony—that they
believed defendant drove—particularly after defendant, on
cross examination, asked the officers about whether they
had observed defendant driving or observed the vehicle in
motion.4 See State v. Wright, 323 Or 8, 17, 913 P2d 321 (1996)
(“The concept of ‘helpfulness’ in OEC 701 subsumes a rele-
vancy analysis.”).
         Defendant’s Fourth Assignment of Error. Defendant
requests that we review whether the trial court plainly
erred by allowing the prosecutor to shift the burden of proof
during the state’s closing arguments. See ORAP 5.45(1) (“No
matter claimed as error will be considered on appeal unless
the claim of error was preserved in the lower court and is
assigned as error in the opening brief in accordance with
this rule, provided that the appellate court may, in its dis-
cretion, consider a plain error.”). For an error to be plain,
the error must (1) be one of law; (2) be obvious and not rea-
sonably in dispute; and (3) appear on the face of the record.
State v. Gornick, 340 Or 160, 166, 130 P3d 780 (2006) (cita-
tion omitted). A prosecutor’s improper comments constitute
plain error “only if they are so prejudicial that they deprived
defendant of a fair trial.” State v. Chitwood, 370 Or 305,
317, 518 P3d 903 (2022). Even if the error is plain, we must
exercise our discretion whether to consider the error, and
such a decision “should be made with utmost caution.” Ailes
v. Portland Meadows, Inc., 312 Or 376, 382, 823 P2d 956
(1991).
         Defendant’s theory at trial was that the state
could not prove that defendant drove, because no witnesses
observed defendant driving. The state’s theory of the case
was that, even though there was no direct evidence that
defendant drove while intoxicated, the circumstantial evi-
dence proved that defendant drove. During the prosecutor’s
closing arguments, the prosecutor said,
    4
      The state argues that defendant did not preserve his arguments relating
to OEC 701(2), i.e., that the lay opinion testimony was not “helpful.” We assume
without deciding that that error was preserved.
40                                               State v. Brannan

        “Now on redirect with both of the officers, I asked them
     what seemed like may be funny questions to get to the basic
     premise that a car doesn’t wind up parked on a public road-
     way with the engine running, unless somebody drove it there.
        “There was nobody else on scene, apart from the defen-
     dant, who could have done so. Nobody came forward and
     said, ‘I was driving the car.’
        “And while the Defense absolutely has no obligations
     to put on any evidence at all, there was no evidence to the
     contrary that the defendant was driving the car. Because
     understand right, that the questions and statements of
     the lawyers—that’s not evidence. What is evidence are the
     observations of the people who were there, as well as the
     direct and circumstantial evidence that points to the exis-
     tence of a certain fact.
        “So, ladies and gentlemen, we all know that a car doesn’t
     magically just show up, parked in the way that it was on
     this public roadway, with the defendant happening to be
     behind the wheel of the car. It—it is just unreasonable, I
     submit, to conclude that anyone other than the defendant
     got it there.”
(Emphasis added.) In response, defendant argued:
        “Sure, somebody drove it there, it didn’t get there on its
     own. If someone else drove the car and my client encoun-
     tered him. Maybe my client was nowhere near the car to
     begin with and walked up and sat down and was impaired
     and that’s where he was encountered by officers.
        “The fact is, the fact that we can play unlimited vari-
     ance on this theme shows that there is reasonable doubt
     here. Reasonable doubt is based on common sense and rea-
     son as the Judge told you. And there’s not—again, no proof
     that it’s my client’s car, no proof that he is the registered
     owner.”
During the state’s rebuttal arguments, the prosecutor
responded to defendant’s claims that “someone else drove
the car”:
         “And [defense counsel] also kind of g[a]ve you this list
     of maybes. Right? And said that that’s got to be reason-
     able doubt. But keep in mind that reasonable doubt has the
     word reasonable in it. Right? So, in order to play any sort
     of role, the inference that you make has to be a reasonable
Cite as 332 Or App 36 (2024)                                         41

  one. It has to be reasonable, based on your common sense
  and based on your experience.
     “So when he says—and it’s also got to be based on evi-
  dence, too. So when he says, ‘Well, maybe somebody else
  drove the car to where it is.’
     “Perfect. Where’s the evidence of that.
     “ ‘Well, maybe, you know, [defendant], just kind of got
  into a car that belongs to somebody else, and it was still
  running.’
     “Where’s the evidence of that. There isn’t any evidence
  that any of these possible, plausible, maybe type excuses
  that [defense counsel] wants you to kind of bite off on, are
  the case.
     “The * * * chain of circumstances that the state has
  spelled out in this is unbroken and uncontested. Because,
  keep in mind, that just because [defense counsel]’s kind of
  getting * * * up here and talking about these maybe’s, and
  talking about what it’s not illegal to do, you know, he’s got to
  convince you with evidence. Something more than just him
  getting up here and saying stuff, because we can play that
  game all day long.
     “And the reality is, is that the evidence in this case has
  established that chain of circumstances that points to the
  existence of the fact that it was the defendant who was
  driving the car. No one else there.
     “* * * * *
     “But that’s just the thing. That evidence sword that
  [defense counsel] is talking about, that * * * establishes the
  facts on which you’ve got to make all of your decisions in this
  case, has to be based on evidence. The only evidence that
  you’ve heard in this case and evidence that has gone com-
  pletely uncontested is that proof of a chain of circumstances.
      “You’re all reasonable people. You’re all capable of
  applying your common sense and reason. And I submit to
  you that when there’s no one else, when there’s no evidence
  of any of these alternative explanations, and the only evi-
  dence that does exist points to the existence of the fact that
  the defendant was driving the car, that that is proof beyond
  a reasonable doubt.”
(Emphases added.)
42                                           State v. Brannan

         On appeal, defendant argues that those comments
“improperly implied that defendant had a burden to pro-
duce evidence by drawing attention to defendant’s failure to
present additional witnesses or physical evidence to support
his defense theory.” A prosecutor’s comments are improper
if they raise “ ‘a realistic possibility of confusing the jurors
about the ultimate standard or burden of proof.’ ” State v.
Mayo, 303 Or App 525, 531, 65 P3d 267 (2020) (quoting State
v. Totland, 296 Or App 527, 531, 438 P3d 399, rev den, 365
Or 502 (2019)). “In arguing that the state has met its bur-
den to prove all elements of a crime beyond a reasonable
doubt, a prosecutor ‘may attempt to persuade the jury that
it should believe one version of the events and not another.’ ”
Totland, 296 Or App at 530-31 (quoting State v. Purrier, 265
Or App 618, 620-21, 336 P3d 574 (2014)). We do not review a
prosecutor’s arguments in a vacuum, but rather, we review
the arguments in context to determine whether they would
have misled the jury about the state’s burden to prove defen-
dant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Purrier, 265 Or App
at 621.
         When viewing the closing arguments in context, the
purported error is not obvious or beyond dispute, because
the jury reasonably could have understood the prosecutor’s
arguments that defendant had “to convince [the jury] with
evidence,” as an argument about how the jury should assess
defendant’s theory of the case—that someone other than
defendant drove the car to the location where it was found—
in light of the evidence presented during trial. See Purrier,
265 Or App at 622 (“In our view, it is unlikely that the jury
would have understood the prosecutor’s subsequent state-
ments about the parties’ competing ‘stories’ as anything
other than advocacy about how the jury should assess the
credibility of the witnesses, including the victim.”); see also
State v. Monsebroten, 106 Or App 761, 766, 809 P2d 1366,
rev den, 311 Or 482 (1991) (“The state explained the lack of
evidence to support those speculations throughout its rebut-
tal argument. The prosecutor’s comment did not imply that
defendant had the burden to prove anything, only that the
state had met its burden of proof and that there was no con-
tradictory evidence. * * * Taken in context, the jury was not
Cite as 332 Or App 36 (2024)                              43

likely to draw any prejudicial inference from the prosecu-
tor’s comment.”).
          Defendant argues that our holding in Mayo, involv-
ing a preserved error, requires that we determine on plain
error that the prosecutor impermissibly shifted the burden
of proof. We conclude that Mayo is distinguishable from this
case. In Mayo the prosecutor’s arguments implied that the
defendant should have presented corroborating evidence—
beyond the defendant’s own testimony—to support his the-
ory of the case. 303 Or App at 537-38 (“The prosecutor’s
comments were that defendant failed to provide additional
evidence to corroborate his testimony that he did not have
knowledge of the methamphetamine. * * * [T]he prosecu-
tor’s argument improperly shifted the burden to defendant
by inviting the jury to convict defendant for failing to call
witnesses to create a reasonable doubt about his knowledge
of the methamphetamine in his backpack.”). In this case,
however, the jury could have understood the prosecutor to
be explaining that the evidence before the jury did not sup-
port defendant’s theory of the case, and defendant, during
closing arguments, had not pointed to any evidence in the
record to support his theory.
        Therefore, the error is not plain, because it is not
obvious or beyond dispute that the prosecutor’s arguments
were improper.
        Affirmed.