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ORS 164.055

Applied in 449 court decisions — leading case Ewing v. California (2003)

Most recently applied in 346 Or. App. 795 - State v. Mayse (February 2026)

1971 c.743 §125; 1973 c.405 §1; 1983 c.740 §32; 1987 c.907 §4; 1991 c.837 §9; 1993 c.252 §5; 1993 c.680 §20; 2005 c.706 §10; 2009 c.16 §3; 2009 c.610 §6; 2013 c.24 §11; 2023 c.1…

How often courts cite this section

1973198019902000201020202026190
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) A person commits the crime of theft in the first degree if, by means other than extortion, the person commits theft as defined in ORS 164.015 and:

(a) The total value of the property in a single or aggregate transaction is $1,000 or more;

(b) The theft is committed during a riot, fire, explosion, catastrophe or other emergency in an area affected by the riot, fire, explosion, catastrophe or other emergency;

(c) The theft is theft by receiving committed by buying, selling, borrowing or lending on the security of the property;

(d) The subject of the theft is a firearm or explosive;

(e) The subject of the theft is a livestock animal, a companion animal or a wild animal removed from habitat or born of a wild animal removed from habitat, pursuant to ORS 497.308 (2)(c);

(f) The subject of the theft is a precursor substance; or

(g) During the commission of the theft, the person recklessly engages in conduct that creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury to another person.

(2) As used in this section:

(a) “Companion animal” means a dog or cat possessed by a person, business or other entity for purposes of companionship, security, hunting, herding or providing assistance in relation to a physical disability.

(b) “Explosive” means a chemical compound, mixture or device that is commonly used or intended for the purpose of producing a chemical reaction resulting in a substantially instantaneous release of gas and heat, including but not limited to dynamite, blasting powder, nitroglycerin, blasting caps and nitrojelly, but excluding fireworks as defined in ORS 480.111, black powder, smokeless powder, small arms ammunition and small arms ammunition primers.

(c) “Firearm” has the meaning given that term in ORS 166.210.

(d) “Livestock animal” means a ratite, psittacine, horse, gelding, mare, filly, stallion, colt, mule, ass, jenny, bull, steer, cow, calf, goat, sheep, lamb, llama, pig or hog.

(e) “Precursor substance” has the meaning given that term in ORS 475.940.

(3) Theft in the first degree is a Class C felony.

Official source: Oregon State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Oregon statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.