Oregon v. Leistiko
Annotate this CaseThe state charged Defendant Ronald Leistiko with, among other things, three counts of first degree rape. Each count involved a different victim and arose out of a separate incident. The state offered evidence that defendant had forcibly compelled a fourth woman to engage in sexual intercourse with him. The trial court ruled that the fourth woman's testimony was admissible, and the jury convicted Defendant of two of the three counts of rape. On appeal, the Court of Appeals upheld the admission of the fourth woman's testimony, relying in large part on The Supreme Court's decision in "Oregon v. Johnson" (131 P3d 173 (2006)). The Supreme Court allowed Defendant's petition for review and reversed the Court of Appeals decision in part. "[The Court] recognize[d] that inferring a plan or design from prior similar acts to prove that a defendant acted consistently with that plan is vulnerable to the claim that the prior bad acts are merely propensity evidence. . . .[T]he fourth woman's testimony was not sufficiently similar for it to be admissible to prove intent. It necessarily follows that her testimony also was not sufficiently similar for it to be admissible to prove a plan that would permit the jury to infer that defendant acted consistently with that plan - namely, that he forcibly compelled each of the victims to engage in sexual intercourse with him. None of the grounds that the state has advanced justified admission of the fourth woman's testimony. The trial court erred in admitting it."
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