Opinion ID: 2085464
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Defendant's Ex Post Facto Arguments

Text: Pereira argues that count 2 of the indictment should have been dismissed because it violates the ex post facto clauses of both the state and federal constitutions. Article I, section 10, of the United States Constitution prohibits any state from passing an ex post facto law. Likewise, article I, section 12, of the Rhode Island Constitution provides, that [n]o ex post facto law    shall be passed. [7] The United States Supreme Court has explained that the ex post facto clause is aimed at laws that `retroactively alter the definition of crimes or increase the punishment for criminal acts.' California Department of Corrections v. Morales, 514 U.S. 499, 504-05, 115 S.Ct. 1597, 131 L.Ed.2d 588 (1995) (quoting Collins v. Youngblood, 497 U.S. 37, 43, 110 S.Ct. 2715, 111 L.Ed.2d 30 (1990)). This Court has held that a violation of the ex post facto clause occurs when there is a retrospective application of law that disadvantages an offender `by altering the definition of criminal conduct or increasing the punishment for the crime.' Town of West Warwick v. Local 1104, International Association of Firefighters, AFL-CIO, CLC, 745 A.2d 786, 788 (R.I. 2000) (quoting State v. Desjarlais, 731 A.2d 716, 717-18 (R.I.1999)). [8] Here, Pereira argues that the Legislature doubled the quantum of punishment for the offense for which he was convicted and that therefore his prosecution under count 2 violates the rule set forth in Lindsey v. Washington, 301 U.S. 397, 57 S.Ct. 797, 81 L.Ed. 1182 (1937), because he was subject to a possible increase in penalty. In Lindsey, the state had charged the defendants with the crime of grand larceny. Id. at 398, 57 S.Ct. 797. The defendants were sentenced under an amended statute that had been amended after they had committed the crime. Id. at 398-99, 57 S.Ct. 797. In effect, the modification changed the penalty from a fifteen-year maximum sentence to a mandatory fifteen-year sentence. Id. at 400, 57 S.Ct. 797. The Court held that retrospectively applying a new more onerous penalty, one that removed the possibility of a sentence that would be less than fifteen years, violated the ex post facto clause. Id. at 401, 57 S.Ct. 797. The Court also ruled that it did not matter that under the old statute, the defendant might have received the same punishment, because the ex post facto clause looks to the standard of punishment prescribed by a statute, rather than to the sentence actually imposed. Id. It is significant, however, that the Court specifically reserved the question for the state to decide whether the defendants could be sentenced under the earlier statute. See id. at 402, 57 S.Ct. 797 (Whether, in consequence of the invalidity of the later act, as applied to [the] petitioners, they may be sentenced under the earlier, is a question for the state court). In our view, defendant's argument in this case puts the cart before the horse. Count 2 of the amended indictment charged Pereira with committing second-degree sexual assault of a victim thirteen years of age or younger, in violation of § 11-37-4(A), on a date between June 26, 1982 and May 10, 1984. At the time of the offense, the statute provided that second-degree sexual assault carried a punishment of not less than three (3) years and not more than fifteen (15) years. Section 11-37-5. On May 2, 1984, the General Assembly repealed § 11-37-4(A) and enacted § 11-37-8.3 and § 11-37-8.4, thereby changing the penalty for the same act to imprison[ment] for not less than six (6) years nor more than thirty (30) years. P.L.1984, ch. 59, §§ 1 and 2. Although the modified statute increased the possible penalty, it is significant that Pereira was not charged under this new statute in count 2; therefore, he was not subjected to the possibility of an increased penalty. Unlike Lindsey, the ex post facto clause is not implicated under these circumstances because Pereira was not charged with or penalized under a retrospective statute. Pereira, however, argues that the state could not have charged him with the repealed statute. He asserts that the old and new statutes are not the same; therefore, the simultaneous-repeal-and-reenactment exception to the common-law abatement doctrine does not apply. The common-law rule of abatement provides that when the Legislature repeals a statute, a defendant cannot thereafter be convicted under the repealed statute, absent a savings clause. State v. Souza, 456 A.2d 775, 779 (R.I.1983). The theoretical foundation for the common-law rule presumed that the Legislature by its repeal determined that the conduct in question should no longer be prosecuted as a crime. State v. Babbitt, 457 A.2d 1049, 1054 (R.I.1983) (citing Ex parte Mangrum, 564 S.W.2d 751, 753 (Tex.Crim.App. 1978)). This Court, however, has recognized an exception to the common-law abatement rule. See Babbitt, 457 A.2d at 1054. The simultaneous-repeal-and-reenactment exception to the abatement doctrine provides that when the Legislature repeals a statute, but simultaneously reenacts the provision without substantial changes, the new act should be considered a continuation of the old. Id. As a consequence, the Legislature is presumed not to have intended to pardon the behavior. Id.; see also Sobey v. Molony, 40 Cal.App.2d 381, 104 P.2d 868, 870 (1940) (When a statute, although new in form, re-enacts an older statute without substantial change, even though it repeals the older statute, the new statute is but a continuation of the old. There is no break in the continuous operation of the old statute, and no abatement of any of the legal consequences of acts done under the old statute.). Therefore, this Court need not rely on a savings clause or other expression of legislative intent to permit prosecutions under the old statute. Babbitt, 457 A.2d at 1054. In Babbitt, 457 A.2d at 1053, the indictment charged the defendant with violating the rape statute that was in effect at the time he committed the crime. However, after the commission of the crime, but prior to the indictment, the Legislature repealed the rape statute and reenacted it as the sexual-assault statute. Id. Because there was no pending prosecution at the time of the repeal, the later indictment was not covered by the general statutory savings provision. Id. This Court compared the old rape statute with the newly enacted sexual-assault statute and held that the reenactment did not reflect an intent to pardon violators of the old statute because every element of rape also was required to prove first-degree sexual assault under the new statute. Id. at 1054. The Court also held that certain changes to the statute were merely amendatory in nature, and did not substantially change the elements of the crime. Id. The new statute expanded the meaning of sexual penetration by force and substituted the word person for the words male and female, but there was never a time when the elements of the offense were not considered criminal. Id. In Souza, 456 A.2d at 779, the defendant was charged with a violation of the indecent-assault statute, which had been repealed before the indictment. The general savings clause also did not apply in that case because there was no pending prosecution at the time of the repeal. Id. Unlike in Babbitt, however, this Court held that the prosecution of the defendant under the repealed statute in that case was improper because when the General Assembly passed a new statute prohibiting the conduct, it included as a necessary element sexual gratification, something that was not required in the old statute. Souza, 456 A.2d at 780-81. We concluded that this was a substantial change[ ] that had the effect of abating all actions commenced under the old statute. Id. at 780. As in the cited cases, the state charged Pereira under a repealed statute after the General Assembly enacted new legislation thereby making the general savings provision inapplicable. See G.L. 1956 § 43-3-23 (saving clause applies to prosecutions pending at the time of the repeal). The defendant's argument, as we comprehend it, asserts that unlike Babbitt, the new statute was not the same as the old statute because there was an increased penalty; therefore, all actions under the old statute have abated. Conversely, the state argues that the old and new statutes are substantially the same and the increased penalty for the conduct in question supports the presumption that the Legislature did not intend to pardon defendant's conduct. We find the state's argument to be persuasive. The relevant section of the repealed statute provided as follows: A person is guilty of second degree sexual assault if he or she engages in sexual contact with another person and if any of the following circumstances exist: (A) The victim is thirteen (13) years of age or under. Section 11-37-4(A). The penalty for this offense was imprisonment for not less than three (3) years and not more that fifteen (15) years. Section 11-37-5. The new statute provided that [a] person is guilty of a second degree child molestation sexual assault if he or she engages in sexual contact with another person thirteen (13) years of age or under. Section 11-37-8.3, as amended by P.L.1984, ch. 59, § 2. An enhanced penalty for this crime was enacted, providing for imprisonment for not less than six (6) years nor more than thirty (30) years. Section 11-37-8.4. Significantly, the definition of sexual contact remained substantively the same: the intentional touching of the victim's or accused's intimate parts, clothed or unclothed, if that intentional touching can be reasonably construed as intended by the accused to be for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification or assault. See P.L.1984, ch. 152, § 1 (amending § 11-37-1). A comparison of the repealed and new statutes clearly demonstrates that the legislation was reenacted without substantial changes and that the elements of the crime remained the same. It is equally clear that the penalties were increased. Under the new statute, a violator is subject to a longer minimum sentence and is also in jeopardy of a longer maximum sentence. In our opinion, this increase in penalty is in no way a manifestation that the General Assembly wished to excuse this type of conduct or to designate it as no longer criminal in nature. See Sekt v. Justice's Court of San Rafael Tp., 26 Cal.2d 297, 159 P.2d 17, 23 (1945) (where the later statute increases the punishment the Legislature has clearly demonstrated its intent that the act should be punished, and since the offender cannot be punished under the new law because of the ex post facto provision of the Constitution, he will be held under the old law. It is presumed from the very purpose of the amendment that the Legislature intended that all offenders should be punished   .). A continued intent to proscribe and punish is evident under these circumstances; the higher penalty is amendatory in nature and only operates prospectively. See State v. Broadway, 157 N.C. 598, 72 S.E. 987, 987-88 (1911) (holding amendment to a statute increasing the criminal penalty operated prospectively only, otherwise it would violate the ex post facto clause; therefore, prosecutions under old statute remained viable). But see State v. Mullen, 740 A.2d 783, 786 (R.I.1999) (holding state cannot prosecute defendant under old sodomy statute when Legislature amended statute with manifest intent to decriminalize such activity between consenting adults). It is beyond debate that Pereira's alleged act of sexual contact with his niece, when she was between the ages of six and nine years old, was a crime when it was committed and remained criminal under the new statute. It certainly is true that the General Assembly cannot enhance the sentences of those committing proscribed acts under the repealed statute without violating the ex post facto clause. See Lindsey, 301 U.S. at 400-01, 57 S.Ct. 797 (increasing mandatory minimum sentence attached to a crime increases the possible penalty). However, it would be counterintuitive to conclude that the Legislature, by increasing the punishment attached to the acts, meant to pardon all previous offenders. See Sekt, 159 P.2d at 23. Therefore, we hold that Pereira's prosecution under the old statute, with its less onerous penalty, was proper and that there has been no violation of the ex post facto clauses of either the state or federal constitutions. [9] Although he has not articulated it with precision, defendant also appears to argue that his prosecution of sexual assault set forth in count 2 abated because the old and new statutes contained different statutes of limitation. We see no merit in this argument. At the time Pereira committed the assault of his niece alleged in count 2 (between June 26, 1982 and May 10, 1984), the statute of limitations for second-degree sexual assault was three years. See G.L.1956 § 12-12-17. On June 25, 1985, the General Assembly removed the limitations period for the offense of second-degree child molestation sexual assault. See P.L.1985, ch. 195, §§ 1-2 (amending § 12-12-17). Clearly, when the General Assembly removed the statute of limitations, it did not substantially change the elements of the crime. See Babbitt, 457 A.2d at 1054. It is beyond argument that the statute of limitations is not an element of the offense of sexual assault and it does not define the conduct prohibited. Furthermore, the statute of limitations was not amended until the year after the repeal and reenactment of the sexual-assault statute. Therefore, the change to the statute of limitations did not amount to a substantial change that would abate prosecutions under the sexual-assault statute.