Court Opinion

ID: 9718060
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:16:07.00104+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:57.115868
License: Public Domain

LIMBAUGH, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I see the interplay between sections 302.505.1, 302.541.2 and 302.545.1 in a different way. The amendment to section 302.505.1, and the provisions of new sections 302.541.2 and 302.545.1 were enacted in the same bill and on the same day, H.B. 1169 and 1271, 1996 Mo. Laws 599, 610, 614, 623, and should be read in pari mate-ria. State v. Knapp, 843 S.W.2d 345, 347 (Mo. banc 1992). For the convenience of the reader, I restate the text of those sections as follows:
The department shall suspend or revoke the license of any person upon its determination that the person was arrested upon probable cause to believe such person was driving a motor vehicle while the alcohol concentration in the person’s blood, breath, or urine was ten-hundredths of one percent or more by weight, based on the definition of alcohol concentration in section 302.500, or where such person was less than twenty-one years of age when stopped and was stopped upon probable cause to believe such person was driving while intoxicated in violation of section 577.010, RSMo, or driving with excessive blood alcohol content in violation of section 577.012, RSMo, or upon probable cause to believe such person violated a state, county or municipal traffic offense and such person was driving with a blood alcohol content of two-hundredths of one percent or more by weight.
Sec. 302.505.1, RSMo Supp.1996.
Any person less than twenty-one years of age whose driving privilege has been suspended or revoked solely for a first determination pursuant to sections 302.500 to 302.540 that such person was driving a motor vehicle with two-hundredths of one percent or more blood alcohol content is exempt from filing proof of financial responsibility with the department of revenue in accordance with chapter 303, RSMo, as a prerequisite for reinstatement of driving privileges or obtaining a restricted driving privilege as provided by section 302.525.
Sec. 302.541.2, RSMo Supp.1996.
Any person who is less than twenty-one years of age and whose driving privilege has been suspended or revoked, for a first determination under sections 302.500 to 302.540, that such person was driving with two-hundredths of one percent of blood alcohol content, shall have all official records and all recordations maintained by the department of revenue of such suspension or revocation *408expunged two years after the date of such suspension or revocation, or when such person attains the age of twenty-one, whichever date first occurs....
Sec. 302.545.1, RSMo Supp.1996.
There are two parts to sec. 302.505.1, which mandates the suspension of one’s driver’s license for driving with blood alcohol content. The first part applies to all persons, including those under 21, who drive with a BAC of more than .1%. Those persons must file proof of financial responsibility as a prerequisite to reinstatement, and they are not entitled to have the record of their suspensions expunged. The second part applies only to persons under 21 who drive with a BAC of .02% or more. Those persons are exempt from filing proof of financial responsibility, sec. 302.541.2, and are entitled to have the record of their suspensions expunged, sec. 302.545.1. To be sure, the second part of sec. 302.505.1 and the provisions of sec. 302.541.2and sec. 302.545.1 are unambiguous when read in isolation. However, when those provisions are considered in conjunction with the first part of sec. 302.505.1, which on its face applies to all persons (even those under 21), and when BAC exceeds .1%, so that both parts of sec. 302.505.1 appear to cover the situation, which part controls? This ambiguity should be resolved by resort to the apparent legislative intent behind the second part of sec. 302.505.1 which, at the least, is that persons under 21 are not to be treated any less severely than persons 21 or over.
Accordingly, I would hold that the first part of section 302.505.1 overrides the second part of that section to the extent that the second part purports to apply to persons under 21 who drive with a BAC of more than .1%. Those persons lose their license under the first part of section 302.505.1. Consequently, persons in that category do not qualify for the special treatment provided in sections 302.541.2 and 302.545.1, as those sections apply only to persons under 21 who come under the second part of section 302.505.1.
My analysis is essentially the same as the majority’s analysis in the Ballard case. However, the majority is unwilling to carry that analysis through to the circumstances of the Baldwin case. The majority holds that defendant Ballard was not entitled to invoke the “probable cause for the initial stop” requirement of the second part of section 302.505.1 because the first part of the statute, which only requires probable cause for the arrest, controls if, as with defendant Ballard, the under 21 driver had a BAC of .1% or more. In contrast, the majority holds that defendant Baldwin is entitled to relief under sections 302.541.2and 302.545.1, because those sections unambiguously apply to any person under 21 whose license was suspended for driving with a BAC of .02%.
Inexplicably, the majority fails to make the connection that the application of sections 302.541.2 and 302.545.1 is dependent on the application of the second part of section 302.505.1. In other words, sections 302.541.2and 302.545.1 come into play only if there has been a license suspension under the second part of section 302.505.1. If, indeed, the first part of section 302.505.1 overrides the second part of that section in cases involving persons under 21 with a BAC of .1% or more, as the majority correctly holds in Ballard’s case, then the first part of section 302.505.1 also overrides sections 302.541.2 and 302.545.1 in Baldwin’s case.
For these reasons, I would affirm the judgment in both the Ballard case and the Baldwin case.