State v. Rosenstiel

ORS 161.067 requires merger of multiple guilty verdicts into a single conviction when the defendant violates "only one statutory provision" and when the conduct arises "from the same conduct or criminal episode."

Defendant appealed his conviction, assigning error to the trial court’s failure to merge all thirteen counts of felon in possession of a firearm into one conviction. The jury merged the thirteen counts into two but Defendant argued that all thirteen counts should have been merged together. ORS 161.067 requires merger of multiple guilty verdicts into a single conviction when the defendant violates "only one statutory provision" and when the conduct arises "from the same conduct or criminal episode" unless there are multiple victims or the offenses “were separated by sufficient pause that afforded defendant an opportunity to renounce his criminal intent.” The State conceded that the counts were in violation of one statute, involved one victim, and arose out of the same criminal episode. Reversed and remanded for resentencing.