State of Oregon v. Lance T. Harriston

Oregon City, Oregon criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with first-degree rape.



Defendant was charged in two separate indictments with offenses relating to incidents in July 2019 and June 2020, respectively, involving his then-girlfriend. The indictments were consolidated before trial over defendant's objection. Defendant waived his right to a jury trial, and the charges were tried to the court. Defendant was acquitted of the charges relating to the 2019 incident, which were two counts of strangulation. As for the 2020 incident, he was convicted of first-degree rape, ORS 163.375 (Count 1), first-degree sexual abuse, ORS 163.427 (Count 3), second-degree sexual abuse, ORS 163.425 (Count 4), and first-degree burglary, ORS 164.225 (Count 5), and he was acquitted of first-degree sodomy and strangulation.



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Legal issue Can the convictions for first-degree rape and second-degree sexual abuse be merged when both charges involve the same conduct and victim?



Key Phrases Consolidation of indictments. Harmless error analysis. Merger of guilty verdicts. Plain-error review. Judicial discretion.

Convictions on Counts 1 and 4 reversed and remanded for entry of conviction for one count of first-degree rape; remanded for resentencing; otherwise affirmed.