Opinion ID: 1266769
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Which Out-of-State Convictions May Be Used

Text: While the State suggests that any out-of-state conviction that has elements similar to those required for an offense under West Virginia Code § 61-2-28 may be used for enhancement purposes, we believe that prosecution under this statute requires something more than just similarity of the elements. Our law should and does require, either that the elements of the foreign offense be the same as those required for a conviction under West Virginia law, or, alternatively, that the conduct resulting in the conviction in the foreign state be sufficient to support a conviction in this state. We reach this conclusion by looking at what the Legislature and this Court have said in the matter of enhanced penalties for another societal ill  driving a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol. In directing that convictions for drunk driving in other states be used to enhance penalties for subsequent convictions for drunk driving in this state, the Legislature has required that the prior out-of-state convictions have the same elements as West Virginia's criminal statutes on that subject. W. Va.Code § 17C-5-2( l )(3). Where the other state's drunk driving statutes have what this Court has called additional elementselements not found in West Virginia's enactmentsthis Court has permitted the out-of-state conviction to be used to enhance the penalty for a subsequent conviction in this state, if the factual predicate upon which the conviction was obtained would have supported a conviction under the West Virginia DUI statute. Syl. Pt. 2, in part, State ex rel. Conley v. Hill, 199 W.Va. 686, 487 S.E.2d 344 (1997). [9] In the case before us, some of the elements of the Michigan law are similar to, but not identical to, the elements required by West Virginia Code § 61-2-28. Other elements found in the Michigan statute are completely lacking in our statute. Following the approach adopted by this Court in Conley, we believe that the critical factor necessary for use of an out-of-state domestic violence conviction when the foreign state's statutory elements are not identical to oursas is the case hereis a demonstration of the factual predicates necessary for a conviction under West Virginia law, which requires a showing of all of the elements necessary for an offense committed in this state. Accordingly, we hold that an out-of-state conviction may be used as a predicate offense for penalty enhancement purposes under subsection (c) of West Virginia Code § 61-2-28 provided that the statute under which the defendant was convicted has the same elements as those required for an offense under West Virginia Code § 61-2-28. When the foreign statute contains different or additional elements, it must be further shown that the factual predicate upon which the prior conviction was obtained would have supported a conviction under West Virginia Code § 61-2-28(a) or (b) in order to invoke the enhanced penalty contained in subsection (c).