Opinion ID: 1188816
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Equal Protection and Separation of Powers

Text: The trial court made a finding that some DUI defendants, charged after appellants were charged, have already had jury trials. Thus, appellants claim they have been treated differently than similarly situated individuals in violation of their equal protection rights under both the United States and Hawai`i constitutions. When a denial of equal protection of the laws is alleged, the initial inquiry is whether the legislation is subjected to a strict scrutiny or a rational basis test. Baehr v. Lewin, 74 Haw. 530, 571, 852 P.2d 44, 63, reconsideration and clarification granted in part, 74 Haw. 645, 852 P.2d 74 (1993). If either a suspect class or fundamental right is involved, the court applies a strict scrutiny analysis. Id. Otherwise, the rational basis standard traditionally applies, that is, whether the statute has a rational relationship to a legitimate government interest. Id. at 572, 852 P.2d at 64. Act 128 does not divest the appellants of a constitutional right to trial by jury because that right never applied to petty offenses. In enacting the statute, the legislature merely clarified its original view that first-time DUI offenses are constitutionally petty. Therefore, no fundamental constitutional right being implicated, the court applies a rational basis standard of review. Act 128 passes a rational-basis review. The purpose of the reduction in penalties is to make clear that first-offense DUI is constitutionally petty. The state interest is to allow non-jury trials for first-offense DUI charges and, therefore, alleviate the current backlog that is overwhelming the judicial system, and ... allow for timely adjudication of repeat offenders who pose the greatest risk to the community and public safety. Sen. Stand.Comm.Rep. No. 1107, in 1993 Senate Journal, at 1177. Thus, we hold that the state interest is legitimate and the Act is rationally related to the interest. See Meyer v. Jones, 106 N.M. 708, 713, 749 P.2d 93, 98 (1988) (right of jury trial for DUI in magistrate court while no right in metropolitan court in same state not an equal protection violation). Moreover, if the court does not apply Act 128 retroactively, defendants charged after enactment of the Act could argue that they are being denied equal protection. If we were to subscribe to the selective-retroactive application theory proffered by the appellants, those charged after Act 128 would have nonjury trials while those charged before would be entitled to jury trials although all would face the same reduced penalties. Indeed, this is one tenet relied on by the United States Supreme Court in Griffith, in deciding to apply all new criminal decisions retroactively. See Griffith, 479 U.S. at 322-23, 107 S.Ct. at 713 ([s]elective application of new rules violates the principle of treating similarly situated defendants the same.... [T]he problem with not applying new rules to cases pending on direct review is `the actual inequity that results when the Court chooses which of many similarly situated defendants should be the chance beneficiary' of a new rule. (Citation omitted) (Emphasis in original)). Lastly, appellants raise a separation of powers argument. They argue that the legislature cannot usurp the judicial branch's power by denying jury trials to first-time DUI offenders. This argument plainly fails because Act 128 itself does not eliminate the jury trial right; this court's interpretation of Act 128 determines whether, as a matter of constitutional law, a defendant must be given the right to a jury trial. Because the legislature does not answer this question for the court, we find no merit to appellants' separation of powers argument. As we indicated previously, the legislature's mere labeling of a criminal offense as petty does not necessarily make it so. It is the judicial branch that independently determines whether such a label is justified.