Opinion ID: 577111
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The DWAI Convictions

Text: 113 Jakobetz asserts that the Supreme Court's ruling in United States v. Tucker, 404 U.S. 443, 92 S.Ct. 589, 30 L.Ed.2d 592 (1972), prohibited consideration of the 1989 DWAI conviction, because it was constitutionally invalid. Tucker prevents a sentencing court from relying on an unconstitutional conviction in arriving at its sentencing decision. Id. at 449, 92 S.Ct. at 593. Jakobetz argues that his attorney's entry of a guilty plea for the DWAI charge constituted a violation of Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969). Jakobetz raises this claim, as he did in the court below, without any prior judicial declaration that the DWAI conviction was invalid. 114 Tucker, however, left open the question of whether a defendant may collaterally attack the constitutionality of a prior conviction at a sentencing hearing without first obtaining a declaration of the conviction's invalidity from another court, and the commentary to the sentencing guidelines, recently amended, leaves the resolution of this question to the discretion of the federal courts. 115 The prior commentary to the relevant guidelines stated that convictions which the defendant shows to have been constitutionally invalid may not be counted in the criminal history score, United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual, § 4A1.2, comment. (n. 6) (Nov. 1989), and some other courts read this previous version to permit the sentencing court to entertain challenges to the validity of prior convictions without exhausting remedies in other fora. See U.S. v. Bradley, 922 F.2d 1290, 1297-98 (6th Cir.1991) (sustaining challenge to use of prior state conviction at federal sentencing hearing); U.S. v. Brown, 899 F.2d 677, 679-80 (7th Cir.1990) (affirming district court's determination that prior state convictions were valid); U.S. v. Landry, 709 F.Supp. 908, 913 (D.Minn.1989) (permitting offender to launch ultimately successful attack on validity of a prior conviction). At least one court held that the guidelines actually require the district court to hear such a challenge. See U.S. v. Jones, 907 F.2d 456, 469-70 (4th Cir.1990) (remanding case for resentencing because district court failed to entertain challenge to prior conviction), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 683, 112 L.Ed.2d 675 (1991). 116 The amendment to this commentary under which Jakobetz received his sentence notes that the discretion to determine whether the sentencing judge may entertain such challenges remains with the courts. It states that sentences resulting from convictions that a defendant shows to have been previously ruled constitutionally invalid may not be counted in the criminal history score. U.S.S.G., § 4A1.2, comment (n. 6) (Nov. 1990) (emphasis added). If an offender cannot supply such a ruling demonstrating the invalidity of a prior conviction, the new commentary leaves for court determination the issue of whether a defendant may collaterally attack at sentencing a prior conviction. Id. at § 4A1.2 comment. (backg'd.). 117 In short, the newly revised version of the guidelines clarifies the commission's position on defendants' direct challenges to the validity of prior convictions at sentencing: while defendants may always present the sentencing court with evidence that another court has ruled their prior convictions invalid and hence unsuitable for consideration as part of the criminal history score at sentencing, the court also retains discretion to determine whether a defendant may mount an initial challenge to the validity of such convictions. 118 Further consideration of this issue is unnecessary, however, as Jakobetz's claim concerning the alleged invalidity of his prior conviction is meritless. Jakobetz asserts that he never entered a plea of guilty to the charge nor waived any of his constitutional protections prior to the New York Court's finding of guilt. In addition to his failure to produce any prior ruling on the validity of his DWAI conviction, Jakobetz submitted to the court below nothing more than conclusory allegations that his prior DWAI conviction was constitutionally invalid. In these circumstances, Judge Billings correctly exercised his discretion when he rejected Jakobetz's challenge to the validity of the prior DWAI conviction. 119 Alternatively, Jakobetz argues that even if the conviction is considered a valid prior conviction, the DWAI conviction constituted a minor traffic infraction inappropriate for consideration under the guidelines. He notes that the DWAI charge to which he pled guilty had been reduced from a DWI charge, and that he received a fifteen-day sentence for the conviction. The reduced charge and the sentence's length, appellant argues, exclude the state DWAI conviction from consideration in the calculation of criminal history. 120 His argument fails, however, given § 4A1.2(c) of the guidelines, which enumerates those misdemeanor convictions which the sentencing judge may consider. Although that section does exclude misdemeanor sentences shorter than thirty days, the commentary to this section explicitly states that 121 convictions for driving while intoxicated or under the influence (and similar offenses by whatever name they are known) are counted. Such offenses are not minor traffic infractions within the meaning of § 4A1.2(c). 122 U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2, comment. (n. 5) (emphasis added). 123 The commission's decision to count prior DWI convictions and related offenses like Jakobetz's DWAI charge reflects the commission's determination that DWI offenses are of sufficient gravity to merit inclusion in the defendant's criminal history, however they might be classified under state law. See U.S. v. Lewis, 896 F.2d 246, 250 (7th Cir.1990). 124 Jakobetz's prior DWAI conviction merits similar treatment. In New York, the DWAI offense is a lesser included offense of DWI. N.Y. Vehicle and Traffic Law §§ 1192, 1196 (McKinney 1986). Section 4A1.2(c)'s restrictions on the consideration of misdemeanor convictions, then, do not constrain the sentencing judge's discretion to consider the DWAI sentence, and the court below acted properly in considering this prior conviction when calculating appellant's criminal history.