State v. Rogers

To establish the mental state of knowingly, the State must show “when defendant made the relevant statements, [he/she/they] knew that [he/she/they] were creating a risk of public inconvenience, annoyance and alarm.” State v. Nelson, 367 or App 621, 626 (2014).

Defendant appealed a conviction for harassment under ORS 166.065(1)(C) and the denial of her motion for judgment of acquittal. Defendant argued that the State failed to present sufficient evidence for the finder of fact to reasonably conclude that Defendant intentionally conveyed a threat to the alleged victim and intended that threat to cause alarm. To establish the mental state of knowingly, the State must show “when defendant made the relevant statements, [he/she/they] knew that [he/she/they] were creating a risk of public inconvenience, annoyance and alarm.” State v. Nelson, 367 or App 621, 626 (2014). The Court held the State failed to provide sufficient evidence of Defendant’s intent. A person who makes a threatening Facebook post which is viewable only by the author’s friends and not the person who is the subject of the threat may be convicted under ORS 166.065(1)(C) only if the finder of fact can reasonably infer (1) one or more of the people that sent screenshots of the post to the subject of the threat were Defendant’s friends on Facebook, (2) Defendant was aware of the mutual friends and acquaintances, and (3) Defendant desired that the threat would be communicated to the subject of the post via these friends and acquaintances. The Court held that the State failed to present evidence to show Defendant’s conscious objective that the alleged victim see the threatening post. Reversed and remanded.