State v. Sinner

207 N.W.2d 495, 60 A.L.R. 3d 350, 1973 N.D. LEXIS 172
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedApril 13, 1973
DocketCr. 437
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 207 N.W.2d 495 (State v. Sinner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Sinner, 207 N.W.2d 495, 60 A.L.R. 3d 350, 1973 N.D. LEXIS 172 (N.D. 1973).

Opinions

PAULSON, Judge.

Richard Walter Sinner [hereinafter petitioner] is applying to this court for a writ of habeas corpus under Chapter 32-22 of the North Dakota Century Code. He was confined in the Burleigh County jail by an order of the Burleigh County Court dated January 3, 1973, upon his conviction of driving while his operator’s license was suspended. The six-month jail sentence imposed on October 14, 1971, was suspended on condition that there would be no further traffic violations by petitioner. However, petitioner was convicted of subsequent traffic violations and, on July 26, 1972, said suspension order was revoked and the petitioner was ordered to commence serving his six-month sentence. Execution of this order was stayed for a period of six months to allow petitioner to challenge the constitutionality of the statutory procedure by which his driver’s license was suspended. This stay was conditioned on petitioner’s not operating a motor vehicle during the period of such stay, unless he first obtained a license to do so. Again, petitioner did not abide by the conditions imposed by the court and he was found guilty in Grand Forks Municipal Court on December 5, 1972, of speeding and driving while his license was suspended. Accordingly, on January 3, 1973, the Burleigh County Court revoked the stay of execution of its order of July 26, 1972, and ordered the petitioner to surrender himself to the Burleigh County sheriff to commence serving the six-month sentence imposed on October 14, 1971.

The petitioner then applied to the District Court of Burleigh County for a writ of habeas corpus, which writ was issued and, after a hearing, was quashed on January 17, 1973. Petitioner now applies for an original writ of habeas corpus from this court.

The petitioner raises several issues in his application for a writ of habeas corpus. The principal issue is that the statutory procedure by which his driver’s license was suspended by the Safety Responsibility Division of the North Dakota State Highway Department is unconstitutional as being vi-olative of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Specifically, the petitioner asserts that, prior to the suspension of his driver’s license, he is entitled to a hearing before the State Highway Department.

In support of his contention, the petitioner cites the recent United States Supreme Court decision in Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535, 91 S.Ct. 1586, 29 L.Ed.2d 90. In Bell, the United States Supreme Court dealt with Georgia’s Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act, Georgia Code Annotated § 92A-601 et seq. (1958), which provides that the motor vehicle registration and driver’s license of an uninsured motorist involved in an accident shall be suspended unless he posts security to cover the amount of damages claimed by aggrieved parties in reports of the accident. [498]*498The administrative hearing conducted prior to suspension did not deal with the issue of fault or liability for the accident. The United States Supreme Court held that, in order to comply with procedural due process under the Fourteenth Amendment, this pre-suspension hearing must deal with the liability of the driver for causing the accident, at least to the extent necessary to determine whether there is a reasonable possibility of judgments in the amounts claimed being rendered against the licensee.

The petitioner also cites Reese v. Kas-sab, 334 F.Supp. 744 (1971), wherein a three-judge Federal District Court held that the Pennsylvania point system for driver’s license suspension contravened the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Pennsylvania statute in question, 75 Pennsylvania Statutes § 619.1, provided for assessment of points against a licenseholder’s driving record for certain specified offenses. There was no hearing provided for at the time of each assessment of points nor prior to the time a driver’s license was mandatorily suspended for 60 days after a total of at least 11 points was accumulated against his driving record. The court in Reese v. Kassab, supra, held that the Pennsylvania point system for driver’s license suspension was appropriate so long as such system was administered in compliance with procedural due process as prescribed by the Fourteenth Amendment. However, the Reese court further held that, prior to the suspension of a driver’s license, procedural due process required an administrative hearing before the Department of Transportation of Pennsylvania.

The decisions covering the issue of the constitutionality of suspending a driver’s license without a pre-suspension hearing are not in accord. The Court of Appeals of Kentucky, in the case of Commonwealth of Kentucky, Department of Public Safety v. Thomas, 467 S.W.2d 335 (1971), held that the Kentucky statute which allowed discretionary suspension of a driver’s license without a pre-suspension hearing was unconstitutional. That statute, Kentucky Revised Statutes 186.570(1), provides in pertinent part:

“The department . . . may immediately suspend the license of any person . . . with or without hearing, and with or without receiving a record of conviction of that person of a crime, whenever the department has reason to believe that:” [The statute then lists seven causes for suspension.]

The license of the driver in the Thomas case, supra, was suspended under subsection (2) of KRS 186.570, which provides in pertinent part:

“The department may suspend the license of any resident upon receiving notice of the conviction of that person in another state of an offense there which if committed in this state would be grounds for the suspension or revocation of an operator’s license. . . . ”

The court in the Thomas case determined that there must be an evidentiary hearing prior to a discretionary suspension under KRS 186.570 in order to comply with the requirements of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The Court of Chancery of Delaware, in the case of Broughton v. Warren, Del.Ch., 281 A.2d 625 (1971), reached the opposite conclusion with regard to its discretionary suspension law. Section 2733(a), 21 Del. C, provides in pertinent part:

“(a) The Department may immediately suspend the license ... of any person without hearing and without receiving a record of conviction of such person of crime whenever the Department has reason to believe that such person— . . . ” [The statute then lists six causes for suspension.]

Subsection (b) of § 2733, Del.C., provides for a post-suspension hearing, as does our North Dakota § 39-06-33, N.D.C.C.

[499]*499The driver in the Broughton case, supra, had been convicted of four or five separate motor vehicle offenses, had received six warnings for speeding violations, had been in five accidents, and had had his license suspended twice. The Delaware court in the Broughton case, supra 281 A.2d at 628, quoted from the case of Bell v. Burson, supra 402 U.S. at 542, 91 S.Ct.

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State v. Sinner
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
207 N.W.2d 495, 60 A.L.R. 3d 350, 1973 N.D. LEXIS 172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sinner-nd-1973.