Opinion
No. 79-08-2569-C, CA 18095
Argued and submitted January 30, 1981
Remanded for resentencing February 23, 1981
Appeal from Circuit Court, Malheur County.
Frank J. Yraguen, Judge.
Marilyn C. McManus, Deputy Public Defender, Salem, argued the cause for appellant. With her on the briefs was Gary D. Babcock, Public Defender, Salem.
Patrick J. Stimac, Certified Law Student, Salem, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the briefs were James M. Brown, Attorney General, John R. McCulloch, Jr., Solicitor General, William F. Gary, Deputy Solicitor General, and W. Benny Won, Assistant Attorney General, Salem.
Before Buttler, Presiding Judge, and Warden and Warren, Judges.
PER CURIAM
Remanded for resentencing.
Defendant was charged by a three-count indictment alleging unsworn falsification (ORS 162.085), unlawfully obtaining public assistance (ORS 411.630), and theft in the first degree (ORS 164.055), and was convicted on all three counts. The latter two crimes were merged at sentencing, with the result that defendant was sentenced separately on the theft and unsworn falsification convictions.
All of the acts were alleged to be a part of the same continuing act or transaction, and the state concedes that under State v. Cloutier, 286 Or. 579, 596 P.2d 1278 (1979), the trial court erred in not merging all three counts in sentencing. In Cloutier, the court held that an offense committed as one step in the commission of another offense "* * * in the course of a single criminal episode with a single criminal objective, * * *" should be merged with the more serious crime. 286 Or at 597.
Remanded for resentencing.