State v. Rutley

Defendant was convicted of violating ORS 475.999 by delivering a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school. He assigns error to the trial court’s denial of his motion for a judgment of acquittal on the ground that the state had to prove defendant’s culpable mental state with respect to the distance element of the offense and to the trial court’s refusal so to instruct the jury. We hold that proof of a culpable mental state was necessary and that the trial court erred in failing so to instruct the jury. Because the record contains sufficient evidence from which a rational trier of…