State ex rel. Town of Richmond v. Roode

812 A.2d 810, 2002 R.I. LEXIS 241, 2002 WL 31898917
CourtSupreme Court of Rhode Island
DecidedDecember 19, 2002
DocketNo. 2001-117-C.A.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 812 A.2d 810 (State ex rel. Town of Richmond v. Roode) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Town of Richmond v. Roode, 812 A.2d 810, 2002 R.I. LEXIS 241, 2002 WL 31898917 (R.I. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Was a municipality spinning its wheels when it accused the owner and operator of a certain tracked parcel of land of allowing this property to be used for motorized dirt-biking without first obtaining a license to do so? Yes, we hold, because the enabling legislation in question did not authorize the town to license this particular use of the property.

The Town of Richmond (town) appeals from a Superior Court judgment dismissing five consolidated criminal actions that it filed against defendants, property owner Baron Holdings, LLC (Baron) and its managing member, Leo R. Roode, III. The town accused defendants of violating a town ordinance by maintaining a race track on a parcel of Baron’s property in the town (the property) without first obtaining a license from the town to do so. After examining the parties’ prebriefing materials, a single justice of this Court ordered the parties to show cause why we should not decide the appeal summarily. After considering the parties’ written and oral submissions, we conclude that they have not done so and, thus, we proceed to decide the appeal at this time.

On appeal, the town contends that the trial justice erred in finding that the ordinance in question did not apply to the operation of motorized dirt bikes on the property. According to the town, enabling legislation authorized it to license all race tracks in the town in which the owners permitted combustion-engine vehicles, including dirt bikes, to operate. After considering the scope of this legislation, we respectfully disagree and conclude that the enabling legislation does not include the licensing of dirt-bike tracks within its ambit. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.

After the District Court found them guilty of violating the ordinance, defendants appealed the town’s five separate criminal complaints to the Superior Court. The parties submitted an agreed statement of facts to a trial justice, who noted that it “spells out the areas of agreement by the parties and limits the areas of disagreements to a handful.” According to the agreed facts, since 1994, defendants permitted one Kyle Roode and his friends to operate motorized “dirt bikes” on the property. The defendants also allowed the property to be shaped into a “track” for the dirt bikes to use. The town alleged that defendants installed dirt moguls (ridges) on the track — as well as a viewing stand and loudspeakers — and that they also displayed several corporate banners with slogans such as “Welcome Race Fans.” But defendants did not collect fees for admission to the track, nor did they record the times of the dirt-bike operators or award them any prizes. Nevertheless, according to the town, the residents abutting the property complained of excessive noise, smoke, and substantial amounts of dirt and dust blowing on their laundry lines and through their open windows in the summer.

Treating the pretrial oral argument of defendants’ counsel as a motion to dismiss the charges, the trial justice ruled that the ordinance regulated only go-karts because it specified that only vehicles with no more than three-horsepower engines could operate at a licensed track, see Richmond Town Ordinance § 5.40.110, whereas the motorized dirt bikes on the property operated with engines in excess of three horsepower. Further, the trial justice interpreted [812]*812the relevant enabling statute, P.L.1964, ch. 96, § 1, as authorizing the Town of Richmond to regulate only the “manag[ment] of go-carts and drag race tracks,” rather than all kinds of race tracks. In light of these determinations, the trial justice dismissed all counts against defendants with prejudice, and the town has appealed from that judgment.

Double Jeopardy

Initially, defendants assert that double-jeopardy considerations preclude the' town’s appeal. But we conclude that this argument lacks merit. The trial justice did not employ the parties’ agreed statement of facts to resolve this case after the trial was underway; rather, before the trial began, he used the agreed facts to determine whether, as a matter of law, the ordinance was even applicable to defendants. Further supporting this conclusion is the trial justice’s acknowledgment from the bench that the agreed statement of facts was not dispositive of all factual issues in the case. Given the pretrial context of his dismissal ruling, jeopardy had not yet attached. Therefore, double-jeopardy principles do not bar the town’s appeal. See State v. Pari, 546 A.2d 175, 179-80 (R.I.1988) (holding that jeopardy did not attach to a pretrial dismissal determination when the parties had reserved their right to a jury trial if the motion to dismiss was denied). Moreover, defendants specifically reserved their right to a jury trial in filing their appeal in the Superior Court. Rule 28(a) of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure requires any waiver of the right to a jury trial to take place in opeii court, in writing, and with approval of the court.1 Here, defendants failed to agree to any such waiver — nor did the court approve any waiver — leaving us with every indication that the parties would have proceeded to a jury trial on the merits of the case if the pretrial argument had not resulted in a dismissal.

The Motion to Dismiss

In assessing a motion to dismiss in a criminal case, the trial justice must examine the charges and attached exhibits to determine whether probable cause exists to find that defendants have committed the charged offenses. See State v. Aponte, 649 A.2d 219, 222 (R.I.1994) (per curiam) (quoting State v. Jenison, 442 A.2d 866, 875 (R.I.1982)). In this case, the probable-cause determination turned on whether the enabling legislation authorized the town to enact and apply the ordinance in question to the challenged activities on the property. The relevant enabling legislation— P.L.1964, ch. 96 — is entitled: “An Act * * * for the Issuing of Licenses to All Persons Operating and Managing Go-Kart and Drag Race Tracks in the Town of Richmond for the Racing of Vehicles Propelled by Internal Combustion Engines and Further to Provide by Ordinance for the Regulation of the Same” (the act). Section 1 of the act repeated the above language in authorizing the town to enact an ordinance to license operators of go-kart and drag-race tracks. The act also authorized the town to require liability insurance for such tracks, to enact safety measures, and to establish age limits for participants in go-kart races. P.L.1964, ch. 96, §§ 2-4. In addition, the act allowed the town to prescribe penalties for violators of the ordinance in the maximum amount of $200 for a fine or up to six months imprisonment. P.L.1964, ch. 96, [813]*813§ 5. The act’s authorization for the town to license go-kart and drag-race tracks, however, did not expressly allow the town to license other types of tracks and activities thereon that did not involve motor vehicles used for go-karting and drag racing.

Based on this authorization, the town enacted ordinance § 5.40 entitled “Race Tracks and Kart Tracks.” In defining the terms used in the ordinance, however, the town expanded upon the act’s authorization for the town to license drag-racing and go-kart tracks and extended it to require a license for “any track or strip * * * built or maintained for the operation of a [motor] vehicle.” Richmond Town ordinance § 5.40.010(a).

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Bluebook (online)
812 A.2d 810, 2002 R.I. LEXIS 241, 2002 WL 31898917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-town-of-richmond-v-roode-ri-2002.