State v. Sommerville

2010 UT App 336, 248 P.3d 50, 670 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2010 Utah App. LEXIS 340
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedNovember 26, 2010
Docket20081042-CA
StatusPublished

This text of 2010 UT App 336 (State v. Sommerville) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Sommerville, 2010 UT App 336, 248 P.3d 50, 670 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2010 Utah App. LEXIS 340 (Utah Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

248 P.3d 50 (2010)
2010 UT App 336

STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee,
v.
Troy Munk SOMMERVILLE, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 20081042-CA.

Court of Appeals of Utah.

November 26, 2010.

*51 Charles A. Schultz, Brigham City, for Appellant.

Mark L. Shurtleff and Christine F. Soltis, Salt Lake City, for Appellee.

Before Judges DAVIS, McHUGH, and ROTH.

OPINION

ROTH, Judge:

¶ 1 This is an interlocutory appeal from the district court's denial of Defendant Troy Munk Sommerville's motion to dismiss a felony charge for driving under the influence of alcohol. We conclude that the trial court incorrectly interpreted Utah Code sections 76-1-402 and -403, which bar multiple prosecutions of offenses that arise out of a single criminal episode. We therefore reverse.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 In December 2006, Sommerville was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), see Utah Code Ann. § 41-6a-502 (Supp.2010).[1] He was also cited for following too closely, see id. § 41-6a-711, failure to remain at the scene of an accident, see id. § 41-6a-401, operating a vehicle without insurance, see id. § 41-12a-302, and driving on a suspended license, see Utah Code Ann. § 53-3-227 (Supp.2010). The offenses arose out of an investigation of a hit and run accident. For reasons not explained in the record, the arresting officer later issued another citation by mail for only the following too closely offense. Sommerville promptly paid the fine on that citation in January 2007. Sommerville was then formally charged by information in the Murray City Justice Court *52 (the justice court) for the remaining offenses related to the accident, which offenses were all misdemeanors.

¶ 3 When Murray City (the City) became aware that Sommerville had paid the fine for the following too closely offense, it moved to dismiss the remaining misdemeanor offenses. In so moving, the City asserted that Utah Code sections 76-1-401, -402, and -403 (the Single Criminal Episode Statute) barred subsequent prosecution of the offenses because they had arisen from the same criminal episode as the following too closely offense.[2]See Utah Code Ann. §§ 76-1-401, -402, -403 (2008). In February 2007, the justice court dismissed the offenses on the City's motion, including the misdemeanor DUI.

¶ 4 In April 2007, Salt Lake County charged Sommerville in the district court with felony DUI arising from the same December 2006 incident, on the basis that Sommerville had at least two prior DUI convictions on his record.[3]See generally Utah Code Ann. § 41-6a-503 (stating that the penalty for DUI is a third degree felony if "the person has two or more prior [DUI] convictions"). The information also charged Sommerville with the other misdemeanors that had been filed with the misdemeanor DUI in the justice court.[4] Sommerville moved to dismiss, asserting that both double jeopardy and res judicata barred subsequent prosecution of the offenses due to the justice court's dismissal of the same offenses under the Single Criminal Episode Statute. The district court dismissed the misdemeanor offenses[5] but declined to dismiss the felony DUI offense, reasoning that under the Single Criminal Episode Statute the felony DUI offense had not been within the jurisdiction of the justice court when it was dismissed. The district court further concluded that neither double jeopardy nor res judicata barred subsequent prosecution of the felony DUI offense. Sommerville appeals.

ISSUES AND STANDARD OF REVIEW[6]

¶ 5 Sommerville argues that the Single Criminal Episode Statute bars subsequent prosecution of the felony DUI offense. Statutory interpretation is a question of law, reviewed for correctness. See State v. Yazzie, 2009 UT 14, ¶ 6, 203 P.3d 984 ("[S]tatutory interpretation . . . [is] review[ed] for correctness, affording no deference to a lower court's legal conclusions."). Sommerville further argues that the justice court's dismissal of the misdemeanor DUI acts as a bar to subsequent prosecution of the felony DUI under both double jeopardy and res judicata. Because we conclude that the Single Criminal Episode Statute bars subsequent prosecution of the felony DUI offense, we do not reach Sommerville's double jeopardy and res judicata arguments raised on appeal.

ANALYSIS

¶ 6 The Single Criminal Episode Statute is designed to protect a defendant from multiple trials for offenses that are part of a "single criminal episode," which is defined as "all conduct which is closely related in time and is incident to an attempt or an accomplishment of a single criminal objective." Utah Code Ann. § 76-1-401 (2008). In furtherance of this objective, the Single Criminal Episode Statute bars "a subsequent prosecution for the same or a different offense arising out of" a single criminal episode "[i]f a defendant has been prosecuted for one or *53 more offenses arising out of [the same] criminal episode." Id. § 76-1-403(1). For this bar on subsequent prosecution to apply, certain criteria must be met: (1) the offenses charged in the subsequent prosecution must have arisen out of the same criminal episode as the offenses charged in the initial prosecution, see id.; (2) the initial prosecution must have resulted in an acquittal, conviction, or improper termination or must have been "terminated by a final order or judgment for the defendant . . . that necessarily required a determination inconsistent with a fact that must be established to secure conviction in the subsequent prosecution," id. § 76-1-403(1)(b)(i)-(iv); see also id. § 76-1-403(2)-(4) (defining acquittal, conviction, and improper termination); (3) all of the offenses must have been "within the jurisdiction of a single court," id. § 76-1-402(2)(a); and (4) the offenses charged in the subsequent prosecution must have been "known to the prosecuting attorney at the time the defendant [was] arraigned on the first information or indictment," id. § 76-1-402(2)(b).[7] In this case, we conclude that all of these criteria have been met and the Single Criminal Episode Statute therefore bars subsequent prosecution of the felony DUI offense.

I. The Offenses Are Part of a Single Criminal Episode

¶ 7 For the Single Criminal Episode Statute to bar subsequent prosecution of the felony DUI, the DUI offense must have been part of the same criminal episode as the other traffic offenses. See Utah Code Ann. § 76-1-403(1) (requiring the offenses charged in the former and subsequent prosecution to be part of the same criminal episode). To be part of a single criminal episode, the offenses must be "closely related in time" and be "incident to an attempt or an accomplishment of a single criminal objective." Id. § 76-1-401. See generally State v. Strader,

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Related

State v. Cornish
571 P.2d 577 (Utah Supreme Court, 1977)
State v. Yazzie
2009 UT 14 (Utah Supreme Court, 2009)
Salt Lake City v. Weiner
2009 UT App 249 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2009)
State v. Jeffries
2009 UT 57 (Utah Supreme Court, 2009)
State v. Cooley
575 P.2d 693 (Utah Supreme Court, 1978)
State v. Sosa
598 P.2d 342 (Utah Supreme Court, 1979)
Hupp v. Johnson
606 P.2d 253 (Utah Supreme Court, 1980)
State v. Strader
902 P.2d 638 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
2010 UT App 336, 248 P.3d 50, 670 Utah Adv. Rep. 15, 2010 Utah App. LEXIS 340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sommerville-utahctapp-2010.