Opinion ID: 853697
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Return to First Principles

Text: We think this case and others like it may be better resolved in a simpler way. The General Assembly has given us a relatively unadorned set of statutes. More or less, they say one who drives while suspended commits a crime. Judicial accretions to these statutes have created a labyrinth more complicated than we could have envisioned in Keihn and Burdine. We thus return to the first principle of Keihn and Burdine. To obtain convictions for driving while suspended or after being adjudicated an habitual violator, the State need prove what the statutes explicitly provide, (1) the act of driving, and (2) a license suspension or an HTV adjudication, plus the mens rea we have inferred: (3) that the defendant knew or should have known. Such a cleaner approach harmonizes many of the recent decisions, though perhaps not the language in them. Thus, as we ruled in Brown, the State cannot prevail when it proves only that it adjudicated someone as an HTV and does not prove that it mailed a notice or that the defendant otherwise knew of the adjudication. Similarly, the State can prevail when it proves the BMV mailed notices to a driver's last known address, inasmuch as such proof (or the defendant's fault in not providing a newer address) permits a finder of fact to enter a conviction by inferring the defendant's knowledge. Fields, 679 N.E.2d 898. This is not to say that failures in the BMV notification process leave a driver without remedy. It is conceivable that failure to mail a notice might afford a driver certain tardy remedies in the administrative process or in court, though we do not decide such today. A driver who knows of his suspension and still drives, however, commits the act which our legislature has made a criminal offense. This distinction is illustrated by Gentry v. State, 526 N.E.2d 1187 (Ind.Ct.App. 1988), trans. denied, Gentry, whose license had been suspended for life, continued to drive and was subsequently charged in two other courts for driving while under forfeiture. Through post-conviction relief Gentry managed to get seven of the underlying traffic offenses vacated. As a result, the court that accepted his guilty plea vacated its judgment effective back to the date of his conviction (thus vacating his conviction for driving while suspended as an habitual traffic violator and removing the penalty of suspension for life). Gentry then sought to dismiss two pending charges for driving under forfeiture on grounds that the conviction which resulted in the forfeiture no longer stood. The Court of Appeals refused, holding that a person who has been adjudged an HTV remains in that status until the BMV rescinds its designation, and that a person is not free to disregard that administrative determination. Id. at 1188. If a person who knew he had been adjudged an HTV drove a vehicle, then he has committed the offense of Operating a Motor Vehicle After License Suspended, a separate and distinct offense. Id. at 1189. The record shows no effort by Stewart to contact BMV or to inquire or seek any remedy during the time his suspension was pending or after it became effective. While defects in the administrative process may warrant relief under administrative law, it is not the province of criminal proceedings to correct such errors. We thus disapprove of Griffin v. State, 654 N.E.2d 911 (1995) (HTV conviction reversed because notice had not contained procedures for seeking judicial review), and Pebley v. State, 686 N.E.2d 168 (1997) (same). The Gentry court determined that the essence of the HTV offense was the act of driving after being so determined. Id. at 1189. The focus is not on the reliability or non-reliability of the underlying determination but on the mere fact of the determination. Id. at 1188. Quoting a Georgia appellate court, our court stated: `It follows that the crucial date, insofar as habitual violator status is concerned, is the date of driving, not the date on which the status is challenged or set aside. If the person is driving despite notification that he may not do so because he has been declared an habitual traffic violator, he is flaunting the law even if one or more of the underlying convictions is voidable.' Id. at 1189 (quoting State v. Bell, 182 Ga.App. 860, 357 S.E.2d 596, 598 (1987)). [3] The record in this case clearly shows that in 1993 the Bureau mailed Stewart a notice of his HTV adjudication, at the address last known to the Bureau. Under our holding in Keihn, Stewart had constructive knowledge that his license was suspended, yet he continued to drive. He thus committed the offense of driving while suspended as an HTV, a class D felony.