State v. Reeves
Case # A153520
Full Text of Opinion: http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/docs/A153520.pdf
Defendant Reeves was convicted of 15 counts of First-Degree Encouraging Child Sexual Abuse, ORS 163.684. Numerous images and videos were found on Reeves’ computer. The trial court determined that none of the counts merged because, under ORS 161.067(2), each charge involved a separate victim and, under ORS 161.067(3), the criminal acts comprising each charge were separated by a “sufficient pause” between each criminal act. Because the trial court concluded that the verdicts did not merge under ORS 161.067(3), it did not address the separate-victim question under ORS 161.067(2). The Court of Appeals disagreed with the trial court’s ORS 161.067(3) conclusion and remanded the case for the sentencing court to address the separate-victim question under ORS 161.067(2). In its first review, the Court of Appeals held that (1) a child’s anonymity does not make the child less than a victim; (2) the child’s victim status is determined based on whether the child was less than 18 years of age when the image was created; and (3) that the victims in this case, for purposes of merger analysis, are the children “depicted in the downloaded images that are the basis of the 15 counts on which the court rendered guilty verdicts.”
On remand, the trial court held to the Court of Appeal’s determination and found that each child was a separate victim even though the State had not identified each child, the child’s birthdate, the date of the offense, and that the child was living when Reeves committed the offense. Reeves now appeals that decision.
The Court of Appeals notes that its previous decision is binding and that the trial court complied with the Court of Appeals’ original decision. Accordingly, the 15 separate convictions are affirmed.