Commonwealth v. Stump

69 Va. Cir. 433, 2006 Va. Cir. LEXIS 95
CourtRoanoke County Circuit Court
DecidedJanuary 19, 2006
DocketCase No. CR05000946-00
StatusPublished

This text of 69 Va. Cir. 433 (Commonwealth v. Stump) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Roanoke County Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Stump, 69 Va. Cir. 433, 2006 Va. Cir. LEXIS 95 (Va. Super. Ct. 2006).

Opinion

By Judge Jonathan M. Apgar

These matters are before this Court on Defendant’s de novo appeal from his conviction in Roanoke City General District Court for driving under the influence of alcohol (“DUI”) in violation of Va. Code § 18.2-266. Defendant has filed a motion to dismiss this charge on the ground that the administrative suspension of his license for sixty days, pursuant to Va. Code § 46.2-391.2, renders a subsequent DUI prosecution and any associated criminal penalties violative of the Double Jeopardy clauses of the United States and Virginia Constitutions; U.S. Const., amend. V, cl. 2; Va. Const, art. I, § 8; and of Va. Code § 19.2-294.

Defendant further moves this Court to declare portions of Va. Code §§ 18.2-269 and 18.2-270 unconstitutional. He asserts that portions of these statutes are premised upon mandatory presumptions that impermissibly shift the burden of proof from the Commonwealth to the Defendant and thereby violate [434]*434his due process and confrontation rights under the U.S. and Virginia constitutions and his right to call for favorable evidence under the Constitution of Virginia. U.S. Const., amend. XIV, § 1, cl. 2; U.S. Const., amend. VI, cl. 2; Va. Const., art. I, § 8.

More fully discussed below, Defendant’s motion to dismiss the DUI charge is overruled because the civil penalty of a sixty-day administrative license suspension (“ALS”), coupled with a subsequent DUI prosecution, is not violative ofthe Double Jeopardy clauses or ofVa. Code § 19.2-294. This Court also declines to declare the applicable portions of Va. Code §§ 18.2-269 and 18.2-270 facially unconstitutional because they contain permissible inferences that do not shift the burden of persuasion to the Defendant, which are not mandatory presumptions as the Defendant contends. As such, the Commonwealth may submit evidence in reliance on these statutes so long as the fact-finder is free to assess all adduced evidence independently.

Facts

On the night of July 29, 2004, Defendant Carl Jackson Stump was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in violation of Va. Code § 18.2-266. Va. Code § 18.2-266 provides, in pertinent part:

It shall be unlawful for any person to drive or operate any motor vehicle . . . (i) while such person has a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or more by weight by volume or 0.08 grams or more per 210 liters of breath as indicated by a chemical test administered as provided in this article. ... A charge alleging a violation of this section shall support a conviction under clause[] (i).

Because this qualified as his second offense within ten years, his driver’s license was suspended for a sixty-day period pursuant to Va. Code § 46.2-391.2.

Va. Code § 46.2-391.2(A) provides, in pertinent part:

If a breath test is taken pursuant to § 18.2-268.2 or any similar ordinance and (i) the results show a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent or more by weight by volume or 0.08 grams or more per 210 liters of breath... and upon issuance of a petition or summons, or upon issuance of a warrant by the magistrate, for a violation of. . . 18.2-266 ... the person’s license shall be suspended immediately. . . . The period of suspension of the [435]*435person’s license or privilege to drive shall be seven days, unless the petition, summons, or warrant issued charges the person with a second or subsequent offense. If the person is charged with a second offense, the suspension shall be for 60 days. If not already expired, the period of suspension shall expire on the day and time of trial of the offense charged on the petition, summons, or warrant, except that it shall not so expire during the first seven days of the suspension.

Stump challenged the sixty-day ALS in the General District Court on double-jeopardy grounds, which was overruled by Judge M. Frederick King. He did not challenge the constitutionality of Va. Code §§ 18.2-266,18.2-269, or 18.2-270, as he does here. Stump was tried and convicted in the General District Court and, having appealed, is scheduled for a de novo trial on the DUI offense in this Court, pending the current pretrial motions.

Analysis

I. Motion to Dismiss the Va. Code § 18.2-266 DUI Charge

A. The Double Jeopardy Aspects of the Sixty-Day ALS in Va. Code § 46.2-391.2 Coupled with a Subsequent DUI Prosecution

The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that “no person [shall] be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” The double-jeopardy protections ' afforded in the Constitution of Virginia are co-extensive with those in the U.S. Constitution. Va. Const, art. I, § 8; Bennefield v. Commonwealth, 21 Va. App. 729, 739-40 (1996).

The clauses protect against multiple criminal punishments for the same offense in successive proceedings, among others. Hudson v. United States, 522 U.S. 93, 99 (1997). Civil penalties are not included within the constitutional meaning of the termjeopardy. Id. Ordinarily, legislatures may impose both civil and criminal sanctions for the same conduct without violating the defendant’s double-jeopardy rights, even when the civil sanction has some punitive effect. Id.; Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U.S. 391, 399 (1938). In rare cases, however, a sanction with the facade of a civil penalty may actually constitute a criminal penalty in violation of the clauses. Hudson, 522 U.S. at 99; United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 451 (1989). This is the crux of Stump’s argument.

[436]*436In Hudson v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court supplied the current test for determining whether a penalty, though called civil, is actually criminal. 522 U.S. at 99-100. Initially, it is a matter of statutory construction. Id. at 99. The first consideration is whether the legislature, “in establishing the penalizing mechanism, indicated either expressly or impliedly a preference for one label over the other.” Id.

Here, Virginia’s appellate courts have interpreted, and the legislative histoiy confirms, that the purpose of Va. Code § 46.2-391.2’s ALS requirements is civil in nature. The Court of Appeals, relying on Supreme Court of Virginia precedent, has said, when previously interpreting the General Assembly’s intent in codifying § 46.2-391.2’s ALS requirement, that “the purpose of revoking a driver’s license is not to punish the offender but to remove from the highways an operator who is a potential danger to other users.” Ingram v. Commonwealth, 29 Va. App. 759, 763 (1999) (quoting Prichard v. Battle, 178 Va. 455, 463 (1942)). Similarly, the Court of Appeals said that the ALS in Va. Code § 46.2-391.2 “is a remedial sanction because its purpose is to protect the public from intoxicated drivers and to reduce alcohol related accidents and, therefore... it does not constitute punishment for purposes of double jeopardy.” Ingram, 29 Va. App. at 763 (citing Tench v. Commonwealth, 21 Va. App. 200, 205-06 (1995)).

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Hooper v. California
155 U.S. 648 (Supreme Court, 1895)
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Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez
372 U.S. 144 (Supreme Court, 1963)
In Re WINSHIP
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County Court of Ulster Cty. v. Allen
442 U.S. 140 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Francis v. Franklin
471 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1985)
United States v. Halper
490 U.S. 435 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Hudson v. United States
522 U.S. 93 (Supreme Court, 1997)
United States v. Booker
543 U.S. 220 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. Norman K. Furlett
974 F.2d 839 (Seventh Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Robert S. Stoller
78 F.3d 710 (First Circuit, 1996)
Brame v. Commonwealth
476 S.E.2d 177 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1996)
Ingram v. Commonwealth
514 S.E.2d 792 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1999)
Bennefield v. Commonwealth
467 S.E.2d 306 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1996)
Tench v. Commonwealth
462 S.E.2d 922 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
69 Va. Cir. 433, 2006 Va. Cir. LEXIS 95, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-stump-vaccroanokecty-2006.