Court Opinion

ID: 9634308
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:08:31.037604+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:00.471541
License: Public Domain

*267HUTCHINSON, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with Mr. Justice Larsen that this statute is not void for vagueness under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution or otherwise and to that extent join his opinion. I am, however, unable to accept either his or Chief Justice Roberts’s resolution of the scienter problem. I believe the former will either prove unworkable, or emasculate the legislative intent to impose the sanction of a second degree misdemeanor on this offense by converting most prosecutions into summary offenses. The latter, in finding scienter in the act of driving after consuming alcoholic beverages sufficient to reach a .010% blood level, in reality eliminates the mental element of the crime by merging it into the act of alcoholic consumption. I believe the elimination of that mental element is unconstitutional for offenses graded as second degree misdemeanors.1 I would, instead, look to the general culpability sections of our Crimes Code. Since this offense is part of the Motor Vehicle Code, not the Crimes Code, we look first to 18 Pa.C.S. § 305 to determine whether the general requirements of culpability provided in 18 Pa.C.S. § 302 apply. Section 305 provides:
(a) When culpability requirements are inapplicable to summary offenses and to offenses defined by other statutes. — The requirements of culpability prescribed by section 301 of this title (relating to requirement of voluntary act) and section 302 of this title (relating to general requirements of culpability) do not apply to:
(1) summary offenses, unless the requirement involved is included in the definition of the offense or the court determines that its application is consistent with effective enforcement of the law defining the offense; or
(2) offenses defined by statutes other than this title, in so far as a legislative purpose to impose absolute *268liability for such offenses or with respect to any material element thereof plainly appears.
(b) Effect of absolute liability in reducing grade of offense to summary offense. — Notwithstanding any other provision of existing law and unless a subsequent statute otherwise provides:
(1) when absolute liability is imposed with respect to any material element of an offense defined by a statute other than this title and a conviction is based upon such liability, the offense constitutes a summary offense; and
(2) although absolute liability is imposed by law with respect to one or more of the material elements of an offense defined by a statute other than this title, the culpable commission of the offense may be charged and proved, in which event negligence with respect to such elements constitutes sufficient culpability and the classification of the offense and the sentence that may be imposed therefor upon conviction are determined by section 106 of this title (relating to classes of offenses) and Chapter 11 of this title (relating to authorized disposition of offenders).
As noted, the Legislature has graded violations of Section 3731 of the Motor Vehicle Code as misdemeanors of the second degree, not summary offenses. Therefore, the exception to the culpability requirements of 18 Pa.C.S. § 302 found in 18 Pa.C.S. § 305(a)(1) does not apply. Moreover, the court did not find a legislative intention to impose strict liability with respect to the second element of homicide by motor vehicle under Section 3732 of the Motor Vehicle Code, 18 Pa.C.S. § 3732,2 even though the Legislature there used the word “unintentional” to qualify the first element of the *269offense. See Commonwealth v. Field, 490 Pa. 519, 417 A.2d 160 (1980); Commonwealth v. Barone, 276 Pa.Superior Ct. 282, 419 A.2d 457 (1980).3 I do not therefore see how it can be found in Section 3731, the section under consideration here.4 As the United States Supreme Court said in Morissette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246, 72 S.Ct. 240, 96 L.Ed. 288 (1952), the “mere omission from a criminal enactment of any mention of intent should not necessarily be construed as dispensing with it.” Absent such “plain appearance” of a legislative purpose to impose absolute liability and reduce the grade of the offense to a summary under Section 305(b) of the Crimes Code the exception provided in Section 305(a)(2) of the Crimes Code does not apply. Instead, this case comes under the general culpability provisions of Section 302. Considering the scientific evidence set forth in Mr. Justice Larsen’s opinion I have no difficulty in concluding that consumption of alcoholic beverages in quantities sufficient to produce a blood level of .010% is at least grossly negligent, see 18 Pa.C.S. § 302(b)(4), thus permit*270ting the grading of this offense is a misdemeanor. See Commonwealth v. Barone, supra (opinion announcing the judgment of the court by Cercone, J.). Indeed, I believe those studies show the state of mind involved in such conduct rises to recklessness, imposing culpability under Section 106 definitions.5

. 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(a) offenses are graded as second degree misdemeanors. 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(e).

. Section 3732 provided that:
Any person who unintentionally causes the death of another person while engaged in the violation of any law of this Commonwealth or municipal ordinance applying to the operation or use of a vehicle or to the regulation of traffic is guilty of homicide by vehicle, a misdemeanor of the first degree, when the violation is the cause of death. (Emphasis added).

. In Commonwealth v. Barone, supra, President Judge Cercone joined by Judge Cavanaugh adhered to the view that the Commonwealth must show culpable negligence with respect to the second element of homicide by motor vehicle as defined by 18 Pa.C.S. § 302(b)(4). In Commonwealth v. Field, supra, this Court inexplicably declined to refer to the Crimes Code in order to determine the scienter requirement for the second element of homicide by motor vehicle. Likewise, we did not find that the Legislature intended to impose strict liability for both elements of the offense. Instead, we applied a scienter requirement approximating ordinary negligence, i.e. "whether the [defendant] knew or should have known he engaged in the conduct claimed to be in violation of that section.” If the court intended in Field to find an intent to impose absolute liability but save the statute by reference to the negligence standard in Section 305(b)(2) it failed to make that intention clear. Moreover, if such were our intent we seem to have used the incorrect standard of ordinary negligence rather than gross deviation from the standard of care, the more blameworthy culpability Section 302(b)(4) of the Crimes Code uses in defining culpable negligence.

. Section 3731(a)(4) provides that:
(a) Offense defined. — A person shall not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of any vehicle while:
(4) the amount of alcohol by weight in the blood of the person is 0.10% or greater.

. Unlike Judge Cercone we are not here required to use the 302(b)(4) gross deviation standard in order to distinguish the 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731 Vehicle Code offense from a related Crimes Code offense using recklessness or gross negligence. Cf. 75 Pa.C.S. § 3732 (Homicide by vehicle) and Crimes Code 18 Pa.C.S. § 2504 (Involuntary manslaughter).