Court Opinion

ID: 9733532
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:10:05.336442+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:42.215848
License: Public Domain

S. C. Gardner, J.
(concurring). I concur with the results reached by Judge Beasley but write separately. I do not concur with the reasoning on two issues. As stated by Judge Beasley, DUIL is not a lesser included or cognate offense of negligent homicide nor is DUIL an element of negligent homicide. Even so, defendant could not have been found guilty and sentenced on both counts.
The Michigan Supreme Court in Crampton v 54-A District Judge, 397 Mich 489, 502; 245 NW2d 28 (1976), established a criterion for double jeopardy in prosecutions for multiple charges growing from the same transaction or episode.
"Where one or more of the offenses does not involve criminal intent, the criterion is whether the offenses are part of the same criminal episode, and whether the offenses involve laws intended to prevent the same or similar harm or evil, not a substantially different, or a very different kind of, harm or evil.” (Footnote omitted.)
Applying this criterion to the charges against this defendant, neither DUIL, Crampton, supra, nor negligent homicide involve criminal intent. (MCL *59750.324; MSA 28.556, not wilfully or wantonly.) Both offenses occurred during the same episode and both statutes were enacted to prevent similar harm to the public.
In discussing DUIL the Court in Crampton, supra, said the purpose of the DUIL law is to protect the traveling public against danger from drivers not in control of themselves. From the reading of the negligent homicide statute it is obvious it was enacted for the same purpose. It would be double jeopardy to bring defendant to trial and sentence him on both charges.
As a clarification on revoking or suspending defendant’s driver’s license, a court does not have the power to revoke or suspend a driver’s license for either charge; only the Secretary of State can do that. The pertinent portion of the statute covering driving under the influence, MCL 257.625(4); MSA 9.2325(4), states "the court shall order the secretary of state to suspend * * *”. For negligent homicide the penalty is found in MCL 257.319(1); MSA 9.2019(1), "[t]he secretary of state shall immediately suspend”. Even though a court is not empowered to revoke or suspend a driver’s license, the court is empowered to prohibit a defendant from driving as a condition of probation. Detroit v Del Rio, 10 Mich App 617; 157 NW2d 324 (1968). A court may require and obtain possession of an operator’s license as a lawful condition of probation and, in doing so, does not infringe upon the exclusive statutory authority of the department of state to suspend or revoke an operator’s license. OAG, 1970, No 4454, p 124 (March 30, 1970). It was not unlawful for the court to prevent defendant from driving as a condition of probation.
On the remaining issues I concur in both results and reasoning.