ORTEGA, P.J.
Following a conviction for criminal mischief in the second degree, ORS 164.354,
The relevant facts are as follows. Defendant entered an undeveloped piece of property located downstream from his home in order to lower two culverts (transverse drains allowing water to run through) running under a gravel road located on the property. Defendant believed that the two culverts, ostensibly designed to carry flood waters from Ash Creek beneath the gravel road and into a nearby creek, Fanno Creek, were placed too high to be effective and instead, during high water, inhibited water flow and caused a build-up of siltation, rising of the streambed, and flooding.
At trial, defendant testified that he initially tried to address the problem by raising his concerns with the engineering manager for the city and with the alleged owner of the property. When those efforts were unsuccessful, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He rented a backhoe and used it to dig channels from Ash Creek to one end of the two culverts and from the other end toward Fanno Creek. He then excavated the gravel road in order to dig a deeper channel in which to lower the culverts. In doing so, he uncovered, but did not damage, a city water main running parallel to the gravel road. At that point, defendant had already lowered one of the two culverts. After discovering the water main, defendant stopped trying to lower the second culvert.
Defendant subsequently was charged with first-degree criminal mischief, an intentional crime. In addition to the state's theory of the charged offense, the state also argued at trial that defendant acted recklessly, the mental state required for second-degree criminal mischief:
Thus, in addition to instructing the jury on the charged offense, the trial court, at the state's request, instructed the jury as to the lesser-included offense, second-degree criminal mischief, based on Uniform Criminal Jury Instruction (UCrJI) 2015:
The trial court, based on UCrJI 1036, then instructed the jury on "recklessly" as follows:
(Emphasis added.)
Defendant took exception, asserting that the trial court's instruction defining "recklessly" was improper because it included the language italicized above. Specifically, defendant argued that the trial court should only have instructed the jury regarding whether defendant acted recklessly with regard to the material element of the crime at issue — damage to property — which is a result and not a circumstance. By allowing the jury to consider whether defendant acted recklessly with regard to either a result (damage) or a circumstance, defendant argued, the instruction impermissibly allowed the jury to find defendant guilty if it found that he was reckless with regard to a circumstance, i.e., the existence of the water main, as opposed to finding that he recklessly damaged the property. In defendant's view, including the reference to whether a "circumstance exists" in the instruction was problematic, particularly in light of the state's theory at trial, which, according to defendant, was "that [defendant] should have known that something was down [in the ground], and in a general sense, that was a circumstance that he should have known existed."
Defendant reiterates the same arguments on appeal and, as he did below, relies on the Supreme Court's decision in State v. Crosby, 342 Or. 419, 154 P.3d 97 (2007). There, the defendant was charged with two counts of murder by abuse after her mother died from infected bedsores. Id. at 421, 154 P.3d 97. The jury, however, convicted the defendant of two lesser-included counts of first-degree manslaughter of a dependent person. Id. at 424, 154 P.3d 97. The defendant appealed, assigning error to the trial court's clarifying jury instruction on the definition of "recklessly." At trial, the court had instructed the jury that "a person commits [first-degree manslaughter] `if the person recklessly causes the death of a dependent person' under certain conditions." Id. at 422, 154 P.3d 97. The trial court, also instructed the jury that "recklessly" means that a "person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk either (1) [t]hat a particular result will occur; or (2) [t]hat a particular circumstance exists." Id. (citation omitted). In response to a question by the jury, and over the defendant's objection, the trial court told the jury that "[t]he phrase `that a particular circumstance exists' does not necessarily mean only one thing in this case. Based upon your application of all of the court's instructions and definitions, you should decide what circumstances should be considered in your deliberations." Id. at 423, 154 P.3d 97 (emphasis omitted). After examining the statutory definition of "recklessly," and the statute defining first-degree manslaughter of a dependent person, the Supreme Court concluded:
Id. at 435, 154 P.3d 97 (brackets in original).
The state responds that this case is distinguishable from Crosby because, unlike in that case, the jury here could not have misunderstood the material elements of the crime at issue as they applied to the facts. Moreover, the state contends that "the facts of this case are not as complicated as the facts in Crosby and the instructions at issue here were not given in response to a specific question from the jury."
In the state's view, this case is more closely analogous to State v. Woodman, 341 Or. 105, 138 P.3d 1 (2006). There, the defendant, who had been convicted of murder, argued, among other things, that the trial court's jury instruction on the definition of "intent" ("a conscious objective either to cause a particular result, or to engage in particular conduct") was erroneous. Id. at 117, 138 P.3d 1. Specifically, the defendant argued that the trial court, in
Id. (emphasis and third brackets in original). Thus, the defendant argued, the instructions permitted the jury to find him guilty of murder if it found that he had intentionally "`engage[d] in particular conduct' — sliding the knife to [his friend] — even if the jury believed that [the] defendant did not intend for [his friend] to use the knife to kill [the victim]." Id. (first brackets in original). The Supreme Court concluded that the intent instruction was accurate in the context of the jury instructions as a whole:
Id. at 119, 138 P.3d 1. The state contends that, like in Woodman, the instructions here, read as a whole, adequately apprised the jury of the applicable law.
For the reasons that follow, we agree with defendant that the trial court's jury instruction as to the meaning of "recklessly" as used in the second-degree criminal mischief statute was erroneous. In determining whether the trial court erred in giving a particular instruction, "we read the instructions as a whole to determine whether they state the law accurately." Id. at 118, 138 P.3d 1. An erroneous instruction amounts to reversible error if "the instruction probably created an erroneous impression of the law in the minds of the [jury] which affected the outcome of the case." Waterway Terminals v. P.S. Lord, 256 Or. 361, 370, 474 P.2d 309 (1970).
We first consider the statutory definition of "recklessly":
ORS 161.085(9) (emphasis added). Accordingly, then, we look to the substantive criminal statute at issue to determine whether the
We reject the state's argument that this case is analogous to Woodman. In concluding that the intent instruction there was accurate in the context of the jury instructions as a whole, the Supreme Court reasoned that,
341 Or. at 119, 138 P.3d 1 (emphasis added). As the Crosby court noted, in Woodman, "it did not make a difference whether one categorized `causing death' as a result or as conduct, so the court in Woodman did not decide that question." 342 Or. at 434, 154 P.3d 97. Here, however, the jury instruction, in stating that "a result in damage would occur or that a circumstance exists," did not adequately convey to the jury that "result" and "circumstance," as used in that sentence, mean the same thing — or, in other words, it did not identify "damage" as the object of "recklessly": damage. Accordingly, Woodman is not helpful here.
We further reject the state's argument that the facts of this case are not complicated given defendant's admission on appeal that he entered onto the subject property with a backhoe and dislodged a culvert and uncovered a water main. According to the state, defendant has failed to "explain how his admitted conduct (and conduct proven at trial) is not, at the very least, second-degree criminal mischief."
The state's argument ignores the mental state element of second-degree criminal mischief. Defendant's conduct was not criminal if he engaged in it without being aware of, or consciously disregarding, a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his conduct would result in damage to the property. To be sure, a jury could reasonably infer from the evidence that defendant was aware that digging up the culvert presented a risk of damaging the property and that he consciously disregarded that risk. However, the jury instructions invited the jury to convict if it found that defendant, though not aware that he might damage the property, was aware of and disregarded the risk that the water main might run through the spot where he was digging.
Reversed and remanded.