Opinion ID: 1252231
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Heading: The Six-Year Revocation Issue.

Text: On November 6, 1996, defendant pleaded guilty to OWI, first offense, in violation of Iowa Code section 321J.2 (1995). He was sentenced to thirty days in jail. In addition, his operating privileges were revoked for six years pursuant to Iowa Code section 321J.4(3)(a), and his motor vehicle was ordered to be impounded. Prior to the 1996 offense that gave rise to the present appeal, defendant had been previously convicted for OWI on two occasions. Both of these occasions were more than six years prior to the 1996 violation. Relying on the provisions of section 321J.2(3), defendant asserts that the prior convictions should not be counted in determining whether his license is subject to the six-year revocation imposed by Iowa Code section 321J.4(3)(a). The latter statute provides: Upon a plea or verdict of guilty of a third or subsequent violation of section 321J.2, the court shall order the department to revoke the defendant's motor vehicle license or nonresident operating privilege for a period of six years. Iowa Code § 321J.4(3)(a). Section 321J.2(3) provides: No conviction for, deferred judgment for, or plea of guilty to, a violation of this section which occurred more than six years prior to the date of the violation charged shall be considered in determining that the violation charged is a second, third, or subsequent offense. Defendant's contention that section 321J.2(3) eliminates OWI convictions occurring more than six years prior to the date of his 1996 OWI violation from consideration in applying section 321J.4(3)(a) is contrary to our holding in State v. Pettit, 360 N.W.2d 833 (Iowa 1985). In that case, we interpreted the language upon plea or verdict of guilty of a third or subsequent violation of this section, as contained in the statutory predecessor to section 321J.4(3)(a) (Iowa Code section 321.281(9)(a) (1983)) to refer to multiple OWI violations irrespective of the degree of those offenses. We concluded in Pettit that the statutory predecessor to section 321J.2(3) (Iowa Code section 321.281(2) (1983)) concerning convictions more than six years old only applied for purposes of determining whether the violation of which a defendant has been convicted is an enhanced offense, i.e., second, third, or subsequent offense OWI. Pettit, 360 N.W.2d at 835-36. We found that, in applying section 321.281(2), all prior OWI convictions were to be considered irrespective of when they occurred. Id. Although these sections have subsequently been renumbered and there have been minor wording changes not affecting their substance, the principles considered in Pettit are equally applicable to the current statutory scheme. The district court did not err in imposing the six-year license revocation.