State v. Perkins

“[A] trial court’s failure to deliver [jury] instructions . . . that the defendant acted with a culpable mental state with respect to the value of the property he took [is erroneous].” State v. Shedrick, 370 Or. 255, 270 (2022).

This case is on remand from the Supreme Court for reconsideration. Defendant was convicted, in part, for aggravated first-degree theft. On appeal, Defendant assigned error to this court’s affirmation of the trial court’s failure to instruct the jury to find an appropriate “mental state of criminal negligence with respect to the property-value element of the offense.” A Supreme Court decision released while Defendant’s appeal was pending addressed a similar jury instruction. There, the Supreme Court found “a trial court’s failure to deliver [jury] instructions . . . that the defendant acted with a culpable mental state with respect to the value of the property he took [is erroneous].” State v. Shedrick, 370 Or. 255, 270 (2022). Applying Shedrick, the Court found that a trial court must instruct a jury to find at least criminal negligence as to the property-value element in a theft charge. Further, the Court reasoned that the omission of an element “essential to guilt” is a constitutional error. Therefore, it could not determine “beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury’s verdict would have been the same” had the jury instruction been provided. Reversed and remanded.