State v. Gray

1990 OK CR 81, 803 P.2d 718, 61 O.B.A.J. 3365, 1990 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 80, 1990 WL 205527
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 18, 1990
DocketS-89-590
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1990 OK CR 81 (State v. Gray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Gray, 1990 OK CR 81, 803 P.2d 718, 61 O.B.A.J. 3365, 1990 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 80, 1990 WL 205527 (Okla. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

OPINION

JOHNSON, Judge:

The State, under 22 O.S.1981, § 1053(1) has appealed the decision of the Washington County District Court, which dismissed the second page of the Information in Case No. CRF-88-35, finding that juvenile traffic convictions could not be used to enhance punishment once a person reached adulthood. Initially, we find that the State, in its appellate brief, has cited the wrong statute for its authority to appeal. The appeal from an adverse ruling of a magistrate dismissing the second page of the Information is properly appealed under 22 O.S.Supp.1989, § 1089.1, which the State properly announced after the preliminary hearing, and after the district court affirmed the magistrate on appeal. Thus, we accept the State’s appeal under 22 O.S. Supp.1989, § 1089.1.

The question this Court must decide was very aptly stated by the Honorable Janice P. Dreiling, Associate District Judge of Washington County, at the preliminary hearing: Can prior juvenile convictions for Driving and Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Intoxicating Liquor, under the traffic exception in Title 10 O.S.1981, § 1112, later be used for enhancement when the juvenile becomes an adult? The magistrate and district court held that they could not. We hold that they can and REVERSE.

I.

Richard Ryan Gray was eighteen (18) years old when he was arrested on the present charge of Driving and Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Intoxicating Liquor, in Case No. CRF-88-35. At the preliminary hearing, the prosecution and defense counsel stipulated to the evidence which formed the basis for the underlying charge alleged in the first page of the Information. The dispute of this appeal concerns the second page of the Information, wherein the prosecution attempted to use Mr. Gray’s prior juvenile traffic convictions for enhancement of punishment.

At the preliminary hearing, the State offered certified copies of Judgment and Sentence and Docket Sheets in CRM-85-282, which showed that Mr. Gray pled guilty and was convicted of Driving and Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Intoxicating Liquor. Mr. Gray was sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars ($100.00) plus court costs.

The State then offered certified copies of Judgment and Sentence and Docket Sheets in CRM-85-468, which showed that Mr. Gray pled guilty and was convicted of Driving and Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Intoxicating Liquor. Mr. Gray was sentenced to pay a fine of [720]*720one hundred dollars ($100.00) plus court costs and to attend a D.U.I. school.

Finally, the State offered certified copies of Judgment and Sentence and Docket Sheets in CRF-85-256, which showed that Mr. Gray pled guilty and was convicted of Driving and Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Intoxicating Liquor. Case No. CRF-85-256 was later amended to a misdemeanor charge and Mr. Gray was sentenced to pay a fine of two hundred dollars ($200.00) and serve twelve (12) months in the custody of the Washington County Sheriff, which was suspended.

Defense counsel objected to the introduction of the juvenile convictions and asked that they be closed pursuant to 10 O.S. 1981, § 1506. The State responded that the convictions used in the second page of the Information were not adjudications under any juvenile proceeding, but rather, were district court Informations and convictions. The magistrate dismissed the second page, finding that the statute was not designed to reach back and use a conviction that a child received before they reached the age of eighteen for the purpose of enhancing a charge and their ultimate penalties once they reach adulthood.

II.

Every person who is convicted of a violation of 47 O.S.Supp.1988, § 11-902(A)(2) shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor for the first offense and shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than ten (10) days nor more than one (1) year, and a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1000.00). See 47 O.S.Supp.1988, § 11-902(C). Any person who within ten (10) years after a previous conviction of this section is convicted of a second or subsequent offense shall be deemed guilty of a felony and shall be sentenced to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than one (1) year and not to exceed five (5) years, and a fine of not more than Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00). Thus, if faced only with the charge on the first page of the Information, Mr. Gray could be found guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to incarceration in the county jail for not more than one (1) year. If his prior juvenile convictions were used for enhancement on a second page, Mr. Gray could be found guilty of a felony and subject to at least one (1) year and no more than five (5) years in the custody of the Department of Corrections.

III.

Under 10 O.S.Supp.1989, § 1112(a), a child who is charged with having violated any state statute or municipal ordinance other than those enumerated in Section 1104.2 of Title 10, shall not be tried in a criminal action but in a juvenile proceeding. However, § 1112(a) further provides, nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction by another division of the district court or by municipal courts in cases involving children wherein the child is charged with the violation of a state or municipal traffic law or ordinance, (emphasis added) Thus, where juveniles are charged with violations of state or municipal traffic law or ordinances, the criminal division of the district court and the municipal court are free to exercise concurrent jurisdiction with the juvenile division of the district court. Fanshier v. City of Oklahoma City, 620 P.2d 1347, 1349 (Okl.Cr.1980).

IV.

In D.M.T. v. Edmiston, 560 P.2d 976, 977 (Okl.Cr.1977), we held that the crime of Negligent Homicide is not a violation of a State traffic law that is excepted from juvenile proceedings under Section 1112, even though the statute is placed within the Traffic Code. We stated that those statutes to which a stigma of criminality attaches are within the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Division of the District Court. Finally, we explained that traffic violations that are exempt from juvenile jurisdiction are generally non-criminal in nature or ma-lum prohibition. Id. at 978.

In Mook v. City of Tulsa, 565 P.2d 1065, 1067 (Okl.Cr.1977), a case involving a juvenile charged under a City of Tulsa reckless [721]*721driving ordinance, we stated that in general, a child charged with having violated any state statute or municipal ordinance shall be tried in the juvenile division of the district court rather than in a criminal action. However, the criminal division of the district court and the municipal court are free to exercise concurrent jurisdiction with the juvenile division in cases wherein children are charged with violations of state or municipal traffic laws or ordinances. We concluded that the Juvenile Act compelled the conclusion that no child be sentenced to incarceration in a criminal action in the absence of certification proceedings. Id.

Finally, in Fanshier v. City of Oklahoma City, supra, we found the reasoning of Mook to be controlling in our holding that the D.U.I. ordinance is similarly “traffic in nature”, (emphasis added) We also found persuasive the Legislature’s statutory placement of the crime of Driving Under the Influence in the Motor Vehicle Code of traffic laws.

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State v. Gray
1990 OK CR 81 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1990 OK CR 81, 803 P.2d 718, 61 O.B.A.J. 3365, 1990 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 80, 1990 WL 205527, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gray-oklacrimapp-1990.