State v. Fernandez

• Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
• Area(s) of Law: Criminal Law
• Date Filed: 08-31-2011
• Case #: A140491
• Judge(s)/Court Below: Rosenblum, S.J. for the Court; Schuman, P.J.; & Wollheim, J.
• Full Text Opinion

The natural and probable consequence jury instruction may prejudice the jury, if the jury could infer without determining intent that one action was the natural and probable consequence of another action.

Defendant was convicted of first-degree assault, attempted murder, two counts of first-degree robbery, and felon in possession of a firearm. Defendant appealed the trial court’s jury instruction that Defendant’s actions were a “natural and probable consequences” of accomplice liability. The state argued that the instruction was unlikely to have prejudiced the jury and there was no harmful effect. The Court held that the instruction was prejudicial because the jury could have based the assault and attempted murder convictions on the premise they were the natural and probable consequences of the robbery without finding defendant intended to commit those crimes. Reversed in part, Affirmed in part.

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