Court Opinion

ID: 9637481
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:07:32.614517+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:56.444340
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION BY
Senior Judge KELLEY.
I respectfully dissent. I believe that Alexander, as a minor, was not able to make a knowing and conscious decision whether to submit to the chemical testing because he was misinformed about the penalties associated with a refusal. While it is undisputed that this Court has spoken to this issue in Weaver v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing, 873 A.2d 1 (Pa.Cmwlth.2005), Weaver did not involve a minor. That, I believe, is the key distinction.
It is clear that the laws of this Commonwealth treat juveniles differently than adults including the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa. C.S. §§ 101-9805. The Vehicle Code consistently makes a distinction between an adult and a minor and sets forth the definition of an adult as “a person 21 years of age or older” and a minor as “a person under 21 years of age.” See e.g., Section 1547 of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa. C.S. § 1547; Section 3801 of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa.C.S. § 3801.
In addition, in order to protect the rights of juveniles, the General Assembly enacted the Juvenile Act, 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 6301-6365. One of the primary purposes of the Juvenile Act is, “[cjonsistent with the protection of the public interest, to provide for children committing delinquent acts programs of supervision, care and rehabilitation which provide balanced attention to the protection of the community, the imposition of accountability for offenses committed and the development of competencies to enable children to become responsible and productive members of the community.” Section 6301 of the Juvenile Act, 42 Pa.C.S. § 6301(b)(2). In order to effectuate this purpose, the Juvenile Act prohibits the detention, commitment, or sentence to imprisonment of any child for a summary offense.1 See Sections 6303 and 6327 of the Juvenile Act, 42 Pa.C.S. § 6303; § 6327. Section 6303 of the Vehicle Code recognizes this prohibition by providing that “[n]o person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment for a violation of any provisions of this title constituting a summary offense committed while the person was under the age of 18 years.” 75 Pa.C.S. § 6303(b). Thus, while the possession of an operator’s license and operating a motor vehicle is considered a privilege in this Commonwealth, the Vehicle Code recognizes the unique status of a minor who is granted that privilege.
*655More importantly, while Section 1547(b)(2) of the Vehicle Code2 provides that a police officer has a duty to inform a person who refuses chemical testing that his or her operating privilege will be suspended upon refusal and that, upon conviction or plea for violating Section 3802(a)(1) of the Vehicle Code,3 he or she will be subject to the penalties provided in Section 3804(c) of the Vehicle Code,4 Section 3804(k)5 provides that the penalties set forth in Section 3804(c) do not apply to minors. Therefore, I reject the majority’s holding that the same principles set forth in Weaver apply to a juvenile.
It may be sufficient to conclude that all that is necessary in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 1547(b)(2) of the Vehicle Code in the case of an adult is for the police to inform a motorist that he or she will be in violation of the law and will be penalized for that violation if he or she should fail to accede to the officer’s request for a chemical test. But based on the foregoing discussion, it is not sufficient to make the same conclusion in the ease of a minor. To hold otherwise, erodes the protections afforded a minor under both the Juvenile Act, which as I stated previously herein, have been recognized by the General Assembly in the various provisions of the Vehicle Code. The Bureau simply promulgating a new DL-26 form to comply with the provisions of the Vehicle Code as the same applies to minors is all it would take to ensure that the rights of minors are being protected in this Commonwealth as was intended by the General Assembly.
Finally, I do not believe that the fact that a minor is granted an operator’s license before reaching majority vitiates the protections afforded a minor whether those protections involve a criminal or a civil penalty for a summary offense. It is well settled that one of those protections is the ability to make a knowing and conscious refusal for chemical testing. As stated by our Supreme Court in Commonwealth v. O’Connell, 521 Pa. 242, 252, 555 A.2d 873, 877 (1989), “[t]he law has always required that the police tell the arrestee the consequences of a refusal to take the test so that he can make a knowing and conscious choice.”
Accordingly, I would affirm the trial court’s order.

. I note that Section 6302 of the Juvenile Act defines a child as an individual who: (1) is under the age of 18 years; (2) is under the age of 21 who committed an act of delinquency before reaching the age of 18 years; or (3) was adjudicated dependent before reaching the age of 18 years and who, while engaged in a course of instruction or treatment, requests the court to retain jurisdiction until the course has been completed, but in no event shall a child remain in a course of instruction or treatment past the age of 21 years. 42 Pa.C.S. § 6302.

. 75 Pa.C.S. § 1547(b)(2).

. 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(a)(1).

. 75 Pa.C.S. 3804(c).

. 75 Pa.C.S. 3804(k).