Opinion ID: 2633459
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The correct analysis for determining whether statutory alternatives constitute separate offenses or alternative means of proving a single offense

Text: In my view, a more appropriate analysis for determining whether statutory alternatives constitute alternative means or separate offenses can be found in United States v. UCO Oil Co., 546 F.2d 833 (9th Cir.1976), in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit addressed this issue. The Ninth Circuit articulated the following four factors: (1) the language of the statute; (2) the legislative history; (3) the nature of the proscribed conduct; and (4) the appropriateness of multiple punishment for the conduct charged in the indictment. Id. at 836-37; see also State v. James, 698 P.2d 1161, 1165-67 (Alaska 1985). Applying these factors, I conclude that the alternative theories of guilt presented to the jury in the instant case represent alternative means of proving a single offense. The first factor to be considered is the language of the statute itself. UCO Oil, 546 F.2d at 836. The defendant in this case was charged with numerous sexual assault offenses. HRS § 702-205 instructs that: The elements of an offense are such (1) conduct, (2) attendant circumstances, and (3) results of conduct, as: (a) Are specified by the definition of the offense, and (b) Negative a defense (other than a defense based on the statute of limitations, lack of venue, or lack of jurisdiction). I agree with the majority that, pursuant to HRS § 702-205(a), the prosecution was required to prove lack of consent as an element of the offenses charged in Counts I, II, and IV. I also agree that, with respect to the offense charged in Count III, and pursuant to HRS § 702-205(b), the prosecution was required to disprove the defense of consent. HRS chapter 702 discloses two means by which the prosecution may disprove the defense of consent. On the one hand, the prosecution may demonstrate that the Complainant did not consent to the sexual contact: In any prosecution, the victim's consent to the conduct alleged, or to the result thereof, is a defense if the consent negatives an element of the offense or precludes the infliction of the harm or evil sought to be prevented by the law defining the offense. HRS § 702-233 (1993). On the other hand, the prosecution may establish that any apparent consent was ineffective: Unless otherwise provided by this Code or by the law defining the offense, consent does not constitute a defense if: (1) It is given by a person who is legally incompetent to authorize the conduct alleged; or (2) It is given by a person who by reason of youth, mental disease, disorder, or defect, or intoxication is manifestly unable or known by the defendant to be unable to make a reasonable judgment as to the nature or harmfulness of the conduct alleged; or (3) It is given by a person whose improvident consent is sought to be prevented by the law defining the offense; or (4) It is induced by force, duress or deception. HRS § 702-235 (1993). A plain reading of the foregoing reveals that the statutory alternatives are not separate offenses. HRS § 702-205 indicates that both sections 702-233 and 702-235 are alternative means by which the prosecution might prove one of three requisite elements of an offense. See HRS § 702-205. It follows that these provisions are not, themselves, an offense. Common sense dictates a similar result. HRS §§ 702-233 and 702-235 describe mutually exclusive attendant circumstances. It should thus be impossible for the prosecution to disprove the defense of consent by one means without simultaneously rendering the alternative an impossibility. That these statutory alternatives cannot co-exist suggests that they are not independent offenses. The second factor to be considered in determining whether statutory alternatives create separate and distinct offenses is legislative history and statutory context. UCO Oil, 546 F.2d at 837. With respect to statutory context, the various offenses recognized by the Hawai`i Penal Code are set forth in HRS chapters 707 through 712. As the majority explains, HRS §§ 702-233 and 702-235 are not located within any of these chapters, but rather found in HRS chapter 702, entitled General Principles of Penal Liability. Majority opinion at 174, 29 P.3d at 364. Presumably, had the legislature intended the foregoing statutory alternatives to constitute independent offenses rather than alternative means of proving a single offense, they would be placed within one of the several chapters of the code defining such offenses. Moreover, and as the majority explains, HRS §§ 702-233 and 702-235 are based on Model Penal Code section 2.11 (1962), which explains that the concept of consent must be analyzed separately in the context of the particular offenses to which they apply. Majority opinion at 174-75, 29 P.3d at 364-65. The third factor to be considered is the nature of the proscribed conduct itself. UCO Oil, 546 F.2d at 837. The proscribed conduct in this case is the commission of sexual assault in the second, third, and fourth degrees. Our inquiry must therefore turn on whether the nature of the proscribed conduct differs upon application of the two statutory alternatives. In this case, it does not. Both sexual assault committed in the absence of consent and sexual assault committed following ineffective consent fall well within the conventional understanding of sexual assault. In fact, for purposes of HRS § 702-205, the alternative methods of disproving the defense of consent, as defined in sections 702-233 and 702-235, merge into the statutory definition of the underlying criminal offense as attendant circumstances. As the majority explains, it is not significant that the jury may have reached different conclusions regarding whether Complainant did not consent or any apparent consent was ineffective, i.e., meaningless, because such differences do not reflect disagreement as to the specific incident charged. Majority opinion at 176, 29 P.3d at 366. The fourth factor concerns the appropriateness of multiple punishment for the conduct charged in the indictment. UCO Oil, 546 F.2d at 837. Inasmuch as the absence of consent and the presence of ineffective consent are mutually exclusive concepts, this factor is not implicated in the instant case. Moreover, principles of double jeopardy would undoubtedly preclude a defendant punished for committing sexual assault absent consent from being prosecuted for the same incident, alleging on the second go-around the presence of ineffective consent, and vice versa. Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932); State v. Lessary, 75 Haw. 446, 865 P.2d 150 (1994).