State v. Taylor

Under ORS 161.07, guilty verdicts must merge when two crimes are committed against the same victims in the same criminal episode, and one is the predicate offense for the other. Martinez v. Cain, 458 P3d 670 (2020).

Defendant was found guilty of two counts of second-degree robbery and one count of unlawful use of a vehicle after he forced a salesperson out of the car during a test drive by claiming he was armed.  At trial, the court made a motion for judgment of acquittal sua sponte, but it was denied. On appeal, the Defendant argued that the trial court erred in not granting the motion for judgment of acquittal and in failing to merge the two robbery convictions. However, the Court's review was limited to errors of law because the Defendant did not raise the merger issues at trial.  Under ORS 161.07, guilty verdicts must merge when two crimes are committed against the same victims in the same criminal episode, and one is the predicate offense for the other. Martinez v. Cain,  458 P3d 670 (2020). The Court determined that the unlawful use of the vehicle was the predicate offense for the second-degree robbery and that the trial court erred in not merging the guilty verdicts. The Court reversed with instructions to merge the guilty verdicts into a single conviction for second-degree robbery and remanded for sentencing; otherwise affirmed.