State v. Hull

827 A.2d 1001, 149 N.H. 706, 2003 N.H. LEXIS 106
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedJuly 21, 2003
DocketNo. 2002-297
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 827 A.2d 1001 (State v. Hull) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Hull, 827 A.2d 1001, 149 N.H. 706, 2003 N.H. LEXIS 106 (N.H. 2003).

Opinion

Nadeau, J.

The defendant, Gregg Hull, appeals his convictions for driving under the influence of liquor (DUI), third offense, see RSA 265:82 (Supp. 2002); RSA 265:82-b, 11(b) (Supp. 2002), and felony reckless conduct, see RSA 631:8 (1996), following a jury trial in the Superior Court (Hicks, J.). On appeal, he argues that the trial court erred by: (1) denying his motion in limine to exclude his prior Massachusetts conviction for operating under the influence of intoxicating liquor (OUI); (2) denying his motion to dismiss the charges for insufficient evidence; (3) denying his motion to set aside the reckless conduct verdict because his car was not a deadly weapon; and (4) denying his motion to set aside the reckless conduct verdict on double jeopardy grounds. We affirm.

The jury could have found the following facts. While driving on the Charles Bancroft Highway on April 22, 2001, the defendant struck Litchfield Police Officer Paul Paquette, from behind, with the mirror of his Ford pickup truck. The contact occurred while the officer was issuing a speeding ticket to another driver. The other driver heard the defendant’s truck hit the officer, saw the officer holding his shoulder as the truck tail lights passed, and heard the officer say he had been hit by the truck. The officer then called another unit to report he had been struck by a Ford pickup truck and pursued the truck to issue a citation.

Officer Paquette pulled the truck over approximately one mile from the spot where he had stopped the first driver for speeding. The officer told the defendant he had struck him with his truck and asked the defendant for his license and registration. The officer smelled a distinct odor of alcohol on the defendant’s breath and noticed that he slurred his speech. When the officer asked the defendant how much he had to drink he replied that he had not been drinking. The officer then asked the defendant to perform field sobriety tests (FST), to which the defendant agreed.

[708]*708By the time the defendant got out of the truck, Officer Dwyer had arrived. Both officers smelled alcohol on the defendant and observed that his eyes were red and bloodshot, his speech was slurred, he was unsteady on his feet, and he swayed as he tried to stand still. The defendant performed poorly on the walk-and-turn and the one-legged stand FSTs. Officer Paquette then read the defendant his administrative license suspension rights (ALS) and requested that he take a breathalyzer test. The defendant refused and Officer Paquette arrested him for drunk driving.

While Officer Paquette took the defendant to the station, Officer Dwyer stayed with the defendant’s truck until the tow truck came. While he was waiting, he examined the passenger side mirror and found that it was pushed in toward the vehicle, had fresh scuff-marks and was missing the dirt that covered the rest of the truck.

The defendant had a 1999 DUI conviction in New Hampshire and a 1995 OUI conviction in Massachusetts. Prior to trial, the defendant moved in limine to exclude evidence of his OUI conviction in Massachusetts, arguing it was not a “reasonably equivalent offense” to the New Hampshire DUI offense. See RSA 265:82-b, II. The trial court denied the defendant’s motion. At trial, the defendant moved to dismiss both indictments at the close of the State’s case. The trial court denied this motion too, finding that the evidence on each charge was sufficient to be submitted to the jury. After trial, the jury returned a guilty verdict on each indictment, which the defendant moved to set aside for violating double jeopardy and for being based upon insufficient evidence. Once again, the trial court denied these motions. This appeal followed.

I. Denial of Motion in Limine

The defendant argues the trial court should have excluded his prior Massachusetts conviction.

RSA265:82-b, II provides:

Upon conviction of any offense under RSA 215-A:11, RSA 265:82, or RSA 265:82-a, based on a complaint which alleged that the person has had one or more prior convictions under [those statutes], or RSA 630:3, II, or under reasonably equivalent offenses in an out-of-state jurisdiction, within 10 years ..., the person shall be subject to the following penalties ...:
(a) For a second offense:
(1) The person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(2) The person shall be fined not less than $500.
[709]*709(3) The person shall be sentenced to a mandatory sentence of not less than 10 consecutive days ... in the county correctional facility____
(b) For a third offense, any person convicted under this paragraph shall be subject to all the penalties of subparagraph (a) except that:
(1) The person’s driver’s license or privilege to drive shall be revoked indefinitely and shall not be restored for at least 5 years.

(Emphasis added.) The defendant argues that because the New Hampshire and Massachusetts offenses have different elements of proof and are subject to significantly different punishments, they are not “reasonably equivalent” under RSA265:82-b, II.

We are the final arbiter of the legislature’s intent as it is expressed in the words of a statute considered as a whole. State v. Rollins-Ercolino, 149 N.H. 336, 339 (2003). Our task is to construe the Criminal Code provisions according to the fair import of their terms and to promote justice. Id. In doing so, we first look to the plain language of the statute to determine legislative intent. Id. When the statutory language is subject to more than one reasonable interpretation, we examine the nature of the offense and the policy considerations for punishing the conduct in question. Id.

Neither the legislature nor this court has defined what constitutes a “reasonably equivalent offense” for sentencing purposes under our Criminal or Motor Vehicle Codes. In a different context, the department of safety has adopted a test of “making a comparison of the elements of the New Hampshire statute to the elements of the other jurisdiction’s statute. The text of the elements of the law of the other jurisdiction shall bo analogous but not necessarily exactly the same as the elements of the statutes [in New Hampshire].” N.H. Admin. Rules, Saf-C 5502.01 (registration of sexual offenders).

Other jurisdictions addressing whether offenses are “reasonably equivalent,” “substantially similar” or “like offenses” for subsequent offense or recidivist sentencing provisions apply similar tests to that articulated by the department of safety. See, e.g., Com. v. Corbett, 663 N.E.2d 259, 262-63 (Mass. 1996) (like offenses); Walter v. North Dakota State Highway Com’r, 391 N.W.2d 155, 159-60 (N.D. 1986) (equivalent offenses); Com. v. Shaw, 744 A.2d 739, 743-44 (Pa. 2000) (equivalent offenses); Cox v. Com., 411 S.E.2d 444, 445-46 (Va. Ct. App. 1991) (substantially similar offenses).

[710]

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Bluebook (online)
827 A.2d 1001, 149 N.H. 706, 2003 N.H. LEXIS 106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hull-nh-2003.