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307 Or. App. 839

State v. Abeln

Court of Appeals of Oregon

Decided December 9, 2020

Court of Appeals of Oregon · decided 2020-12-09

Applies OR 137 § 137.103 · OR 137 § 137.106 · OR 163 § 163.415 · OR 163 § 163.427

Portion of judgment awarding restitution on Count 1 reversed · Decided 2020-12-09

                                  839

  Submitted March 11; portion of judgment awarding restitution on Count 1
 reversed, remanded for resentencing, otherwise affirmed December 9, 2020


                   STATE OF OREGON,
                    Plaintiff-Respondent,
                              v.
                MICHAEL PAUL ABELN,
                   Defendant-Appellant.
              Washington County Circuit Court
                   17CR59932; A167479
                               
477 P3d 436


  Andrew Erwin, Judge.
  Kenneth A. Kreuscher filed the brief for appellant.
   Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, Benjamin Gutman,
Solicitor General, and Jeff J. Payne, Assistant Attorney
General, filed the brief for respondent.
  Before Lagesen, Presiding Judge, and Powers, Judge, and
Kamins, Judge.
  PER CURIAM
   Portion of judgment awarding restitution on Count 1
reversed; remanded for resentencing; otherwise affirmed.
840                                            State v. Abeln

        PER CURIAM
         Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for
two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, ORS 163.427, and
one count of third-degree sexual abuse, ORS 163.415. At
the outset, we reject without discussion defendant’s first
two assignments of error. For his third, he assigns error
to the trial court’s awards of restitution in the amounts of
$2,968.15 to Child Abuse Response and Evaluation Services
Northwest (CARES), which conducted a child abuse evaluation of the victim, and $451.85 to Subrogation Services, Inc.
For purposes of his appeal, defendant treats the amounts
awarded to both organizations as going to CARES, explaining that “[t]he record does not indicate whether the subrogation funds are directly related to the funds claimed by
CARES Northwest, but those appear to be the only potential
insurance related costs for the restitution.” He argues that
CARES does not meet the statutory definition of a victim
under ORS 137.103 for purposes of awarding victim restitution under ORS 137.106.
         In response, the state concedes that, under State v.
White, the trial court erred in awarding the $2,968.15 in restitution to CARES and agrees that this court should reverse
the restitution award and remand for resentencing. 
296 Or App 445, 450-52
, 
439 P3d 569
, rev den, 
365 Or 195
 (2019)
(concluding under similar circumstances that CARES was
neither a victim nor suffered economic damages for purposes
of crime victim restitution). As for the amount awarded to
Subrogation Services, Inc., the state contends that defendant has not assigned error to it.
         We accept the state’s concession regarding the
$2,968.15 in restitution to CARES, and reverse and remand
for the reasons stated in White and our subsequent cases
following White. Id.; see also State v. Boza, 
306 Or App 279
,
473 P3d 1161
 (2020) (accepting the state’s similar concession
based on reasoning in White). As for the amount awarded to
Subrogation Services, Inc., we understand defendant to have
assigned error to that amount, but the record is such that
we are unable to determine whether the trial court awarded
that amount based on its erroneous view that CARES was
eligible to recover restitution. Because we are remanding,
Cite as 
307 Or App 839
 (2020)                          841

the trial court may address that point, with the benefit of
the parties’ arguments, on remand.
        Portion of judgment awarding restitution on Count 1
reversed; remanded for resentencing; otherwise affirmed.

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