Opinion ID: 2090292
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Forgiveness Period

Text: Defendant also argues that the court erred in admitting his 1981 conviction under the recidivism charge because it fell outside 23 V.S.A. § 1210(d)'s amended forgiveness period. To support its enhanced charge, the State alleged three prior convictions, dated August 18, 1981, October 21, 1985, and November 13, 1990. Defendant moved to strike the 1981 conviction on the ground that it was more than fifteen years old. Before 1991, the statute's enhanced penalties applied to a person convicted of violating § 1201 twice within the preceding fifteen years. A 1991 amendment deleted this forgiveness period for future cases, but specifically continued its application for convictions rendered before the amendment: With respect to section 1210 of Title 23, the 15-year forgiveness period used to determine third convictions shall be considered a right which has accrued to the operator if the prior convictions occurred at any time prior to July 1, 1991. 1991, No. 55, § 19(5). Defendant argued that this savings clause prohibited the State's use of his 1981 conviction for purposes of the recidivism charge. The State countered that the savings clause conferred no benefits on defendant because he had been convicted three times before the date of the amendment. The court agreed with the State, and all three prior convictions were admitted into evidence and submitted to the jury, which returned a guilty verdict on the enhanced recidivist charge. We decline to reach this issue because § 1210(d) requires only two prior convictions for the enhanced penalties to apply. Defendant's 1985 and 1990 convictions are admissible, being less than fifteen years old. Any confusion as to which convictions the jury weighed in its deliberations was harmless. See V.R.Cr.P. 52(a) (Any error, defect, irregularity or variance which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded.). `[I]t is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury would have returned a guilty verdict regardless of the error' if the court admitted only the 1985 and 1990 convictions. See State v. Fuller, 168 Vt. 396, 408, 721 A.2d 475, 484 (1998) (quoting State v. Hamlin, 146 Vt. 97, 106, 499 A.2d 45, 52 (1985) (citations omitted)). Thus, it is unnecessary to decide whether the court should have excluded defendant's 1981 conviction. Affirmed.