State v. Campbell

564 S.W.2d 867, 1978 Mo. LEXIS 352
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedApril 14, 1978
DocketNo. 60190
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 564 S.W.2d 867 (State v. Campbell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Campbell, 564 S.W.2d 867, 1978 Mo. LEXIS 352 (Mo. 1978).

Opinion

BARDGETT, Judge.

Appellant Richard Campbell was convicted in the Court of Criminal Correction of the City of St. Louis for failing to display a driver’s license upon demand of a police officer. He was fined $5 plus court costs. The court of appeals, St. Louis district, affirmed his conviction. This court granted appellant’s application for transfer. Art. 5, sec. 10, Mo.Const., as amended 1970.

The facts in this case were stipulated to by the parties. After appellant was involved in an automobile accident, a police officer asked to look at his driver’s license. At this time appellant had a valid operator’s license but did not display it to the officer because he did not have the license in his possession. The information charged that appellant “did unlawfully fail to exhibit an operator’s license on demand of police officer contrary to the form of the Statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State.”

Appellant filed a brief in the court of appeals contending that it is not a violation of the law to fail to display a license upon demand of a police officer. The state, by letter to the clerk of the court of appeals, confessed error and indicated no brief would be filed. On March 8,1977, the court of appeals issued an opinion which reversed the judgment, adopting appellant’s theory. Subsequently, on March 18, 1977, the state moved for a rehearing for the reason that the correct statute under which appellant was convicted had not been brought to the court’s attention. Although the court of appeals denied the motion for rehearing, it did withdraw the original opinion and, on April 5, 1977, a new opinion was issued adopting the position of the state and affirming the judgment of the trial court.

The statutes relevant to our discussion of the issues presented here read as follows:

Section 302.181, subsec. (3), RSMo Supp. 1973, provides: “The license issued shall be carried at all times by the holder thereof while driving a motor vehicle, and shall be displayed upon demand of any officer of the highway patrol, or any police officer or peace officer, or any other duly authorized person, for inspection when demand is made therefor. Failure of any chauffeur or operator of a motor vehicle to exhibit his license to any duly authorized officer shall be presumptive evidence that such person is not a duly licensed chauffeur or motor vehicle operator.”

Section 302.020, RSMo 1969, provides: “(1) It shall be unlawful for any person . to: (2) Operate, other than as a chauffeur any motor vehicle, except farm tractor, upon any highway of this state unless he has a valid license as an operator under the provisions of this chapter .

Section 302.220, RSMo 1969, provides: “It shall be unlawful for any person to display or to permit to be displayed, or to have in his possession, any chauffeur’s license or motor vehicle operator’s license knowing the same to be fictitious or to have been cancelled, suspended, revoked or altered; to lend to or knowingly permit the use of by another any chauffeur’s license or motor vehicle operator’s license issued to the person so lending or permitting the use thereof; to display or to represent as one’s own any chauffeur’s license or motor vehicle op[869]*869erator’s license not issued to the person so displaying the same, or fail or refuse to surrender to the clerk of any circuit, criminal, magistrate or municipal court, or the director, any chauffeur’s license or motor vehicle operator’s license which has been suspended, cancelled or revoked, as provided by law; to use a false or fictitious name or give a false or fictitious address on any application for a chauffeur’s license or a motor vehicle operator’s license, or any renewal or duplicate thereof, or knowingly to make a false statement, or knowingly to conceal a material fact, or otherwise commit a fraud in any such application; to authorize or consent to any motor vehicle owned by him or under his control to be driven by any person, when he has knowledge that such person has no legal right to do so, or for any person to drive any motor vehicle in violation of any of the provisions of this chapter; to employ as a chauffeur of a motor vehicle, with knowledge that such person has not complied with the provisions of this chapter, or whose license as a chauffeur has been revoked, or suspended, during the period of such suspension; or who fails to produce his or her license upon demand of any person or persons authorized to make such demand.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Section 302.340, RSMo 1969, provides: “Whenever in this chapter the doing of anything is required or is prohibited or is declared to be unlawful, any person who shall be convicted of a violation thereof shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor

The court is presented first with the question of whether secs. 302.181, subsec. (3) and 302.020, make it unlawful to fail to present a driver’s license on demand of a police officer. On this issue, the state confessed error. The state also did not argue this point on appeal to this court. As there seems to be a general consensus that the court of appeals properly decided this issue, this court adopts as its own that part of the opinion of the court of appeals set out below:

“There is no clear legislative intent that simple failure to produce a license on demand under § 302.181(3), RSMo 1969, supra, is a crime. The purpose of § 302.181(3) is to assist in the enforcement of § 302.020 by providing a rule of evidence that failure to exhibit a license upon demand is ‘presumptive evidence that such person is not a duly licensed chauffeur or motor vehicle operator.’ See People ex rel. [on Complaint of] Keegan v. Meyer, 194 App.Div. 822, 186 N.Y.S. 434 (1921). In Meyer, supra, it was held that a statute similar to Missouri’s § 302.181(3) prescribed a rule of evidence only. Again in State v. Farren, 140 Ohio St. 473, 45 N.E.2d 413 (1942), similar statute was held to provide a “ result or penalty of its own and hence did not come under the general provisions of a misdemeanor statute. In State v. Eaton, 504 S.W.2d 12, 19 (Mo.1973), the court, although discussing these three statutes in connection with a probable cause for search and seizure question, stated that violation of § 302.020 under § 302.340 constituted a misdemeanor but the court did not say that violation of § 302.181(3) was a misdemean- or. See generally, 6 A.L.R.3d 506; 7 Am. Jur.2d § 98, pp. 668-69, § 126, pp. 686-87.

Failure to produce a license upon lawful demand would give the police probable cause to arrest a driver for a violation of § 302.020. See State v. Eaton, supra at 18 — 19[12]; United States v. Mahanna, 461 F.2d 1110, 1112-13[1] (8th Cir. 1972); Rodgers v. United States, 362 F.2d 358, 360-61[l] (8th Cir. 1966), cert. den., 385 U.S. 993 [87 S.Ct. 608, 17 L.Ed.2d 454]. It provides its own penalty or result in a presumptive rule of evidence to support a charge for violation of § 302.020 and such failure does not constitute a separate misdemeanor offense under § 302.181(3).”

The second question with which this court is presented is whether the appellant’s conduct is proscribed by sec.

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Bluebook (online)
564 S.W.2d 867, 1978 Mo. LEXIS 352, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-campbell-mo-1978.