- Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
- Area(s) of Law: Criminal Law
- Date Filed: 06-03-2020
- Case #: A169283
- Judge(s)/Court Below: Lagesen, P.J. for the Court; Powers, J.; & Kamins, J.
- Full Text Opinion
Defendant appealed the trial court’s findings of contempt on five counts of violating a restraining order. Defendant argued that all of his conduct had been charged under the same statute and same victim, therefore, violating a statutory provision. The State agreed that some of the charges should merge together but disagreed with Defendant on the assertion that all charges should merge. ORS 161.067(3) states that “when a criminal episode violates only one statutory provision and involves only one victim, repeated violations are separately punishable if they are separated from other such violations by a sufficient pause in the defendant’s criminal conduct to afford the defendant an opportunity to renounce the criminal intent.” The Court agreed with the State’s assertion upon viewing the evidence as a whole and held that there was enough time in between two groups of contacts made by Defendant to allow him a chance to renounce his criminal intent. Reversed and remanded for entry of judgment reflecting two findings of contempt; otherwise affirmed.