Case Name: STATE of Louisiana, Respondent, v. Roy J. NEAL, Relator
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1977-07-01
Citations: 347 So. 2d 1139
Docket Number: No. 59153
Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Respondent, v. Roy J. NEAL, Relator.
Judges: SANDERS, C. J., dissents for the reasons assigned by SUMMERS, J.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 347
Pages: 1139–1145

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana, Respondent, v. Roy J. NEAL, Relator.
No. 59153.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
July 1, 1977.
Charley J. Schrader, Jr., Houma, for defendant-relator.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Norval J. Rhodes, Dist. Atty., John R. Walker, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-respondent.

Opinion:
TATE, Justice.
We granted certiorari, La., 341 So.2d 1131 (1977), to review the trial court's denial of a motion to quash the indictment of the relator for driving while intoxicated, second offender. La.R.S. 14:98. The substantial issue for our determination is whether a person can be charged as a second offender, when the second incident of driving while intoxicated occurs before the motorist has been convicted of an earlier offense.
The relevant facts are these:
On January 17, 1976, the defendant Neal was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. Before trial on that charge, he was again arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated on May 11, 1976.
Neal pleaded guilty to the January charge on October 22, 1976. Three days later, the prosecutor then filed an amended bill of information as to the May charge, by which amendment (on the basis that the October conviction on the January charge was the first offense) Neal was charged with driving while intoxicated, second offense, and thus subject to the greater penalties for a second offense.
The Issue
We grant certiorari to review the denial of the defendant's motion to quash the amended charge that, because of the October conviction, he was subject to prosecution on the May incident as a second offender. The issue, as articulated in the state's brief, is: "Can a defendant be charged and subsequently convicted for second offense DWI when the arrest upon which the second offense DWI is based occurred after the arrest for the first offense DWI but prior to conviction or guilty plea in first offense DWI?"
Interpretation of La.R.S. 14:98
The issue involves an interpretation of the statutory intent reflected by La.R.S. 14:98.
This enactment provides criminal penalties for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. After the first conviction, greater penalties are provided for subsequent offenses: for a "second conviction", fine and imprisonment not less than 125 days in the parish jail, 98 C; for a "third conviction," imprisonment for from one to five years in either the parish jail or the state penitentiary, 98 D; and for a "fourth conviction," imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than ten nor more than thirty years, 98 E.
The state contends that the statute unambiguously provides for enhanced punishments upon second, third, and fourth "convictions." The state points out that the statute does not specify that the first conviction need precede the second conviction.
Nevertheless, in our opinion, the preferable construction of La.R.S. 14:98 is that one cannot be guilty of the crime of driving while intoxicated, second offense, unless such crime is committed after a first conviction for this offense. We are re-enforced in this view by jurisprudential applications of the statute (by which the previous convictions are regarded necessary allegations and proof of the second offense crime itself), as well as by the most reasonable legislative intent reflected by a provision for greater punishment upon second and subsequent convictions.
Where an accused is charged as second, third, or fourth DWI offender, the information or indictment must allege the prior convictions. State v. Montgomery, 250 La. 326, 195 So.2d 285 (1967). Further, where there is a jury trial, this indictment charging the multiple offenses should be read to the jury. State v. Johnson, 250 La. 473,196 So.2d 797 (1967). The prior offense or offenses must be proved as part of the state's case, otherwise the conviction will be set aside. City of Monroe v. French, La., 345 So.2d 23 (1977).
Thus, the earlier conviction(s) must be alleged and proved as part of the state's case against an alleged second (or third or fourth) offender before a conviction as a multiple offender may be secured, so as to permit the imposition of the enhanced penalties for later offenses. See also State v. Bouzigard, 286 So.2d 633 (La.1973) (possession of marijuana, second offense).
If therefore the prior conviction is an essential allegation for conviction of the second-offense crime, an accused cannot be charged with the latter crime when arrested for the second incident if, at that time, he had not been before convicted of a first offense.
"Criminal conduct consists of: (1) An act or a failure to act that produces criminal consequences, and which is combined with criminal intent. " La.R.S. 14:8. Neither specific or general criminal intent, La.R.S. 14:10, to commit the crime of driving while intoxicated, second offense, can be inferred from driving while intoxicated, when one has never before been convicted for the offense — a necessary allegation of indictment and proof of the crime, which is not in existence at the time of the offense (and which may never arise, should for instance the accused be acquitted or never tried for the first offense).
Traditional American principles of criminal responsibility of an individual for his conduct do not permit the state to convert a formal charge against him for a less serious offense, into a charge for a more serious offense, on the legal basis of a change of status or other incident which occurs after the initial offense charged. Criminal conduct ordinarily subjects an individual to the imposition of criminal penalties applicable to the act at the time it is committed.
We agree with the relator that the consistent application of La.R.S. 14:98 over the years has been that prior convictions, in order to be available for imposition of a greater punishment as a subsequent offender, must precede the commission of the principle offense, that is, the latest prosecution in point of time. Indeed, this is the greatly preponderant interpretation of similar statutes throughout the nation, regardless of the phraseology of the statute (or whether it specifies that the earlier conviction^) must precede the latest offense), whenever enhanced penalties are provided for a subsequent offense, whether with regard to multiple-offender statutes or to driving-while-intoxicated or other statutes creating a greater degree of criminal liability for a repeater offense by wording similar to the present. Annotation, 24 A.L.R.2d 1247, 1248-49, see, e.g., 1270-73 (1952).
As summarized by this annotation, 24 A.L.R. 1248-49 many of the decisions note as legislative purpose the principle inherent in such a provision: " the legislature in enacting such a statute intended it to serve as a warning to first offenders and to afford them an opportunity to reform, and that the reason for the infliction of severer punishment for a repetition of offenses is not so much that defendant has sinned more than once as that he is deemed incorrigible when he persists in violations of the law after conviction of previous infractions."
In this regard, counsel for the defendant cogently observes in his brief: "The criminal law has a basic purpose to discourage the violation of the law. Its primary purpose is not to find excuses to put people in jail. The conviction and resultant punishment hopefully will discourage future violation. The increase of punishment for second and subsequent offenders presupposes that the prior punishment has not resulted in rehabilitation. If a second conviction is allowed for an offense occurring before the first conviction, we have done away with the rehabilitation concept implicit in recidivist statutes."
The interpretation, here urged by the state would permit the arrest of an offender for four offenses committed on the same day to result, upon conviction of the four offenses, in imprisonment for not less than ten years in the state penitentiary as a fourth offender. It would permit simultaneous charging of four offenses widely separated in time, for which the accused had never before been arrested, and his imprisonment for from ten to thirty years in the penitentiary upon his belated conviction of the charges.
In our opinion, our lawmakers did not intend that individuals be subjected to enhanced punishment, including to the penitentiary, when at the time the offense was committed the offender was subject only to fine or minor imprisonment. Consonant with the general purpose of enhanced punishment statutes, the most reasonable legislative intent to ascribe to the more serious punishment accorded for a subsequent "conviction"by La.R.S. 14:98 is that, if following conviction of the offense, the offender repeats the prohibited conduct, he is then subject to enhanced penalty — but not if, after the first conviction has put him on notice of the possibility of more severe punishment, the offender takes heed and reforms.
We conclude, therefore, that the district court was in error in denying the defendant's motion to quash the amended indictment, insofar as it alleged that for his May 11,1976 charge of driving while intoxicated he was subject to punishment as a second offender solely by virtue of his October, 1976 conviction of a similar offense. The motion to quash is granted, and the case is remanded to the district court for further proceedings in accordance with law.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
SANDERS, C. J., dissents for the reasons assigned by SUMMERS, J.
SUMMERS, J., dissents and assigns reasons.
MARCUS, J., dissents.
. La.R.S. 14:98 provides:
"A. Operating a vehicle while intoxicated is the operating of any motor vehicle, aircraft, vessel or other means of conveyance while under the influence of alcoholic beverages, narcotic drugs, central nervous system stimulants, hallucinogenic drugs or barbiturates.
"B. Whoever operates a vehicle while intoxicated is guilty of a crime and upon conviction shall be fined nor less than one hundred twenty-five dollars and not more than four hundred dollars or imprisoned in the parish jail for not less than thirty days nor more than six months or both.
"C. On a second conviction, the offender shall be fined not less than one hundred twenty-five dollars nor more than five hundred dollars and shall be imprisoned for not less than one hundred twenty-five days nor more than six months.
"D. On a third conviction, the offender shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not less than one year nor more than five years, and may be fined not more than one thousand dollars.
"E. On a fourth conviction, the offender shall be sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor for not less than ten nor more than thirty years.
"F. Provided that any offense under this statute committed more than five years prior to the commission of the ' crime for which the defendant is being tried shall not be considered in the assessment of penalties hereunder."
. In all the years the present statute has been part of our law, this is the first instance before this court in which the interpretation advanced by the state has been even suggested. So far as we can ascertain, the same is true as to other repeater offenses, such as La.R.S. 14:67 (theft), 14:99 (reckless operation of a motor vehicle), and 40:966 (possession of marijuana). Long ago, in construing Act 39 of 1921 (Extra-Session), we noted that the statutory language providing a greater penalty "for the second or subsequent offense" (Section 3) of a liquor-prohibition statute, "evidently has reference to an offense committed after conviction", State v. Sharp, 156 La. 531, 537, 100 So. 707 (1924) (Italics ours) — despite the lack of specific statutory language to that effect.