Title: Ex Parte Phillips

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

771 So. 2d 1066 (2000)
Ex parte W.A. PHILLIPS.
Re W.A. Phillips
v.
State.
1981083.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
March 10, 2000.
*1067 David Cromwell Johnson of Johnson, Liddon, Bear & Tuggle, Birmingham, for petitioner.
Bill Pryor, atty. gen., and Sandra J. Stewart, asst. atty. gen., for respondent.
COOK, Justice.
W.A. Phillips was charged with hunting over a baited field, in violation of § 9-11-244, Ala.Code 1975. At trial, Phillips denied having any knowledge that the field in which he was hunting was baited. The trial court, over Phillips's objection, held that hunting over a baited field is a strict-liability offense. The trial court then instructed the jury that if Phillips had hunted over a baited field he could be found guilty even without proof that he baited the field or even knew that it was baited. The jury found Phillips guilty, and he appealed. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Phillips's conviction, stating that hunting over a baited field is a "public-welfare offense" that requires no culpable mental state. Phillips v. State, 771 So. 2d 1061 (Ala.Crim.App.1998).
Section 9-11-244, Ala.Code 1975, provides:
Section 9-11-244 does not set out a culpable mental state. The Court of Criminal Appeals, relying on Morissette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246, 72 S. Ct. 240, 96 L. Ed. 288 (1952), and Walker v. State, 356 So. 2d 672 (Ala.1977), held:
771 So. 2d  at 1065. Section 9-11-244 does not designate a culpable mental state, and the intent of the statute is clearly to prohibit the taking or killing of protected birds or other animals lured to an area by bait. However, the punishment for violating § 9-11-244 is not insignificant. Nor *1068 would the requirement of a culpable mental state render the statute unenforceable.
Traditionally, public-welfare offenses do not result in "grave damage to an offender's reputation." The State argues that "a conviction for hunting over bait is no more abhorrent than a conviction for a traffic violation." The state's analogy is too broad. Traffic violations come in all shapes and sizes. For example, a traffic citation for illegal parking rarely, if ever, damages the reputation of the offender. However, a citation for reckless driving or driving under the influence does damage the reputation of the offender. Hunting over a baited field has the potential to damage the reputation of the offender, because it carries the potential of jail time. A second conviction under § 9-11-244 can result in a fine and up to six months of jail time. § 9-11-246, Ala.Code 1975. Anytime an offender must serve a jail sentence, his reputation is invariably damaged. Thus, hunting over a baited field is not as benign an offense as illegal parking.
The Court of Criminal Appeals stated, and the State argues here, that if § 9-11-244 were held not to state a strict-liability offense, then the statute would be difficult to enforce. However, requiring some level of mental culpability would not render the statute any more difficult to enforce than any other statute. The language of § 9-11-244 is very similar to the language in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, 16 U.S.C. § 703 et seq. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act also seeks to prevent the taking of protected birds over a baited field and, like § 9-11-244, it does not set out a culpable mental state. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in United States v. Delahoussaye, 573 F.2d 910 (5th Cir.1978), resolved the same issue that is now before this Court. Even though the Migratory Bird Treaty Act does not set out a level of mental culpability required for a person to be found guilty of violating that Act, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held:
573 F.2d  at 912. Requiring, for one to be convicted of violating § 9-11-244, that he either knew or should have known that the area over which he was hunting was baited does not render § 9-11-244 unenforceable. Requiring such a low level of mental culpability simply requires the State to prove that with reasonable investigation the hunter could have discovered the bait. The imposition of a low-level standard of mental culpability also protects a hunter who performed the necessary investigation, but was unable to detect the presence of bait, perhaps because he was barred by a property line. Imposing a low level of mental culpability also protects the spirit and intent of the statute, to prevent the taking or killing of protected birds or animals lured to an area by bait.
*1069 Furthermore, this Court is not overstepping its bounds by declining to interpret § 9-11-244 as a strict-liability statute. Section 13A-2-4(b), Ala.Code 1975, states:
(Emphasis added.) The commentary to § 13A-2-4 states: "Subsection (b) explicitly states a policy adverse to arbitrary use of `strict liability' concepts. An express statement is required in the statute defining the offense if strict liability is being imposed."
The State argues that § 13A-2-4 should not apply to § 9-11-244 because § 9-11-244 was enacted in 1951 and § 13A-2-4 was enacted in 1977. However, the Legislature revised § 9-11-244 in 1991. If the Legislature had intended § 9-11-244 to state a strict-liability offense, it could have added an express statement to that effect in 1991. The Legislature did not add such an express statement. Therefore, we must assume that the Legislature was aware of § 13A-2-4, when it revised § 9-11-244, and chose not to make the offense a strict-liability offense. In the absence of an express statement by the Legislature indicating an intent to make hunting over a baited field a strict-liability offense, we decline to make a criminal conviction resulting in up to six months' jail time "an unavoidable occasional consequence of ... hunting." Delahoussaye, 573 F.2d  at 912.
Because we conclude that a conviction under § 9-11-244 requires a showing that the defendant either knew or should have known that the area over which he was hunting was baited, the trial court erred in instructing the jury that Phillips could be found guilty even without proof that he baited the field or knew that the field was baited. Therefore, we remand this case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
HOOPER, C.J., and MADDOX, HOUSTON, SEE, LYONS, JOHNSTONE, and ENGLAND, JJ., concur.
BROWN, J., recuses herself.[*]
[*]  Justice Brown was a member of the Court of Criminal Appeals when that court considered this case.