Court Opinion

ID: 9858348
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 16:20:46.935884+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:53:57.525910
License: Public Domain

UHLENHOPP, Justice
(dissenting).
Suppose that on a single occasion a person with no previous convictions for driving violations operates a car (1) while intoxicated, (2) in excess of the statutory limit, and (3) while his driver’s license is suspended, and is convicted of all three offenses. Under the court majority’s construction of § 321.555(1), this hypothetical driver would be an instant habitual offender. I agree with the District Judge that a person who commits simultaneous offenses is not an “habitual” offender. “Habitual” connotes more than a single occasion. It means “customary” or “usual.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1961). I would therefore affirm the judgment.