Barden v. Commonwealth

771 S.E.2d 699, 64 Va. App. 700
CourtCourt of Appeals of Virginia
DecidedMay 12, 2016
DocketRecord No. 1027-14-4
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 771 S.E.2d 699 (Barden v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barden v. Commonwealth, 771 S.E.2d 699, 64 Va. App. 700 (Va. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

ALSTON, Judge.

Kenneth Barden (“appellant”) appeals his conviction of driving under a suspended or revoked license, in violation of Code § 46.2-301, because the evidence adduced at trial failed to establish that his driver’s license was suspended or revoked at the time he was operating a motor vehicle. For the reasons expressed below, we agree and reverse appellant’s conviction under Code § 46.2-301(B).

BACKGROUND

The facts in this matter are not in dispute. On November 6, 2013, appellant was driving in Loudoun County when he was stopped by Officer Clark McDaniel. During the course of the stop, Officer McDaniel used the computer in his patrol car to access appellant’s Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) record, which listed appellant’s driver’s license status as “revoked.” When asked whether he possessed a driver’s license, appellant responded that he did not. Appellant was arrested and subsequently charged with driving on a suspended or revoked license, in violation of Code § 46.2-301(B).1

At appellant’s bench trial, the Commonwealth introduced appellant’s DMV record as an exhibit. The transcript reflects that on February 15, 2008, appellant was convicted of driving while intoxicated, a first offense, and that the trial court suspended his driver’s license for a period of twelve months. [703]*703Shortly thereafter, upon receipt of appellant’s conviction order, the Commissioner of the DMV, pursuant to Code § 46.2-389,2 revoked appellant’s license for a term ending on February 8, 2009.

According to his transcript, appellant was again convicted of driving while intoxicated on February 25, 2008. As before, the trial court suspended appellant’s license for twelve months, and the Commissioner revoked appellant’s license upon receipt of appellant’s conviction order. Appellant’s transcript lists the “term” of this revocation as February 18, 2009.

In addition to the two periods of revocation, appellant’s transcript lists five separate suspensions (each for an indefinite period) incurred by appellant for failing to pay fines and court costs associated with prior court proceedings (including appellant’s two convictions for driving while intoxicated).3 During trial, appellant introduced receipts proving that he paid in full his past due fines and court costs relating to all of the prior convictions approximately two months before he was stopped by Officer McDaniel. Appellant testified, however, that he had not paid any reinstatement fees; nor had he applied for a new or renewal driver’s license at the time he was stopped.

At the close of the evidence, appellant argued that he was not driving on a suspended or revoked license when he was stopped by Officer McDaniel because the periods of suspension and revocation had ended. According to appellant, his indefinite suspensions terminated upon payment of his past due fines and court costs, while each of his revocations expired on set dates prior to when he was stopped — February 8, 2009 [704]*704and February 18, 2009, respectively. Because Code § 46.2-301(B) penalizes driving only during the period of suspension or revocation, appellant asserted that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. Appellant further asserted that his failure to reapply for a new or renewal license had no bearing on whether the periods of suspension and revocation ended prior to when he was stopped. At most, appellant contended that he was guilty of violating Code § 46.2-300, which punishes as a Class 2 misdemeanor any person who drives without a valid license on a highway in the Commonwealth.

Following the parties’ closing arguments, the trial court convicted appellant of driving after his privilege was suspended or revoked. In reaching its decision, the trial court noted that Code § 46.2-100 draws a distinction between suspension and revocation: While the trial court recognized some “merit to [appellant’s] argument about suspension — the idea that ... it might be self-curing, that you pay and you no longer have that suspension because it was only suspended indefinitely until you pay,” the trial court found no support for appellant’s argument that a revocation terminated prior to restoration of one’s driver’s license. Relying on appellant’s DMV transcript, which identified appellant’s then-status as revoked, the trial court found appellant guilty of driving on a revoked license.

This appeal followed.

ANALYSIS

Appellant contends that the trial court erred by finding the evidence sufficient to support his conviction of driving under a suspended or revoked license. According to appellant, his license was neither suspended nor revoked when he was stopped by Officer McDaniel. This is so, appellant says, because the period of his license suspension terminated upon payment of his outstanding court costs, and his period of revocation ended years prior to his arrest for driving under a revoked license. Although appellant concedes that he did not formally reapply to have his license reinstated or renewed [705]*705after the term of his suspension and revocation ended, he contends that his failure to reapply for a reinstated license is immaterial to his conviction under Code § 46.2-301(B), because “the revocation provisions [of Chapter 3 of Title 46.2] separate the termination of the revocation from the reinstatement of one’s [license]” and “revocation must end before reinstatement may occur.” Appellant’s Br. at 12. In other words, appellant asserts that, although he was an unlicensed driver at the time he was stopped,4 he was not guilty of driving under a revoked license because Code § 46.2-301(B) penalizes driving on a suspended or revoked license only “until the period of suspension or revocation has terminated,” id. at 4, and both periods expired before the date of his stop. Accordingly, appellant contends that the Commonwealth did not meet its burden of proving a violation of Code § 46.2-301(B).

In response, the Commonwealth contends that the suspension and revocation of appellant’s license remained in effect at the time of his arrest, because “a suspension or revocation does not end automatically by operation of law, but instead continues until a new license is applied for and issued.” Commonwealth’s Br. at 8. According to the Commonwealth, this conclusion follows primarily from Code § 46.2-411(C), which states that “[an] order of suspension or revocation shall remain in effect and the driver’s license, ... shall not be reinstated and no new driver’s license, ... shall be issued or granted unless such person, in addition to complying with all other provisions of law, pays to the Commissioner a reinstatement fee.”5 Because the Commissioner was not permitted to [706]*706issue appellant a new or renewal license until appellant satisfied these statutory prerequisites, which appellant admittedly did not complete following the terms of his suspension and revocation, the Commonwealth asserts that appellant’s suspension and revocation remained in effect at the time of his stop.

The issue presented in this appeal raises a question of statutory construction, which we review de novo. Kirby v. Commonwealth, 63 Va.App. 665, 669, 762 S.E.2d 414, 416 (2014). Our review is guided by well-settled principles.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
771 S.E.2d 699, 64 Va. App. 700, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barden-v-commonwealth-vactapp-2016.