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STATE v. KING (2021)

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

STATE of Oregon, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Susan KING, aka Susan M. King, Defendant-Appellant.

A168809

Decided: May 26, 2021

Before Armstrong, Presiding Judge, and Tookey, Judge, and Aoyagi, Judge.

Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender, Criminal Appellate Section, and Neil F. Byl, Deputy Public Defender, Office of Public Defense Services, filed the brief for appellant. Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General, and Michael A. Casper, Assistant Attorney General, filed the brief for respondent.

Defendant, who was found guilty by a nonunanimous jury verdict of first-degree manslaughter, contends that the trial court plainly erred in instructing the jury that it could return a nonunanimous verdict and in accepting a nonunanimous verdict. We agree. After the United States Supreme Court decided Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U.S. ––––, 140 S. Ct. 1390, 206 L. Ed. 2d. 583 (2020), the Oregon Supreme Court held that trial court acceptance of a nonunanimous verdict is plain error. State v. Ulery, 366 Or. 500, 504, 464 P.3d 1123 (2020). We exercise discretion to correct the error, for the reasons set forth in Ulery. We therefore do not reach defendant's second assignment of error. We reject defendant's first assignment of error without written discussion.

Reversed and remanded.

PER CURIAM

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STATE v. KING (2021)

Docket No: A168809

Decided: May 26, 2021

Court: Court of Appeals of Oregon.

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