State v. Clemente-Perez

Summary

The Oregon Supreme Court held that a person may be “within” a vehicle under ORS 166.250(1)(b) when at least part of the person’s body extends into the vehicle’s interior while possessing a concealed, readily accessible handgun. The court also held that the statute’s “place of residence” exception applies to a house or other structure in which the person lives, and the evidence did not establish that defendant lived in his pickup truck or the area where it was parked. The court affirmed the Court of Appeals and the circuit court judgment.

Holdings

1. Defendant adequately preserved his argument that ORS 166.250(1)(b) requires the person possessing the handgun to be within a vehicle.
2. The phrase 'within any vehicle' modifies the person, not merely the handgun; a person violates ORS 166.250(1)(b) if the person, or some portion of the person's body, is in the interior part of a vehicle while knowingly possessing a concealed and readily accessible handgun.
3. The evidence was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that at least some portion of defendant's body was inside the truck when he possessed the handgun.
4. A person's place of residence under ORS 166.250(2)(b) is the house or other structure in which the person lives, subject to the possibility that an appropriately connected outbuilding could qualify under circumstances not presented here. A pickup truck and stand-alone awning on residential property do not qualify without evidence that the person lived there or used them as residential or domestic quarters.

Questions Presented

1. Whether defendant preserved his argument that ORS 166.250(1)(b) required proof that he was within the vehicle when he possessed the handgun.
2. Whether ORS 166.250(1)(b) requires the person possessing the concealed, readily accessible handgun, or only the handgun, to be within a vehicle.
3. Whether a person is within a vehicle when some portion of the person's body extends into the vehicle's interior.
4. Whether the place-of-residence exception in ORS 166.250(2)(b) extends to a pickup truck or the surrounding residential property where the truck is parked.

Disposition

affirmed