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31 Or. App. 889

571 P.2d 1263

State v. Buller

Court of Appeals of Oregon

Decided December 5, 1977

Court of Appeals of Oregon · decided 1977-12-05

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“(1) A person . . . knowingly causes another person who is not his spouse to have sexual contact with him or another: (b) When the other person is less than fourteen years of age (2) For the purposes of this section, "sexual contact" means any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person done for the purpose of gratifying sexual desire of either party.”

quoted by 2 later decisions, including 33 Or. App. 157 - State v. Turner, 115 Wash. 2d 60 - State v. Camarillo

“The inclusion of the words `or other intimate parts' does not limit the touching to genitalia but is intended to include genitalia, breasts and whatever anatomical areas the trier of fact deems `intimate' in the particular cases which arise. Thus the ultimate decision of `intimate' parts is left to the community sense of decency, propriety and morality.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 33 Or. App. 157 - State v. Turner

Applies OR 163 § 163.305 · OR 163 § 163.415

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1977-12-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 16 later decisions — most recently February 1993

2 federal appellate · 12 state decisions

70197719801990decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

*[891] SCHWAB, C. J.

¶1 Defendant was convicted of the crime of sexual abuse in the second degree, ORS 163.415(1), which provides:

“A person commits the crime of sexual abuse in the second degree if he subjects another person to sexual contact ….
… »

¶2 Sexual contact is defined by ORS 163.305(7) as:

" 'Sexual contact’ means any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person not married to the actor or causing such person to touch the sexual or other intimate parts of the actor for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of either party.”

¶3 Defendant makes four assignments of error, but they all deal with but one issue: Can an intentional touching of buttocks through clothing constitute a touching of "intimate parts”? In Proposed Oregon Criminal Code 122, Commentary, §§ 115 and 116 (1970), the Criminal Law Revision Commission stated:

"… [T]he contact need not be directly with the person’s body; it is sufficient if the defendant touches the victim’s sexual or intimate parts through clothing … ”

¶4 It also stated at 122:

"The inclusion of the words 'or other intimate parts’ does not limit the touching to genitalia but is intended to include genitalia, breasts and whatever anatomical areas the trier of fact deems 'intimate’ in the particular cases which arise. Thus the ultimate decision of 'intimate’ parts is left to the community sense of decency, propriety and morality.”

¶5 The evidence in this case was sufficient to create a jury question as to whether the victim’s buttocks were "intimate parts.” Cf. People v. Thomas, 46 USLW 2238 (— App Div2d — (New York City 1977).

¶6 Affirmed.

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