Court Opinion

ID: 9731422
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:45:03.21199+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:17.808379
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Chief Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
We concluded in Reiling v. Bhattacharyya, 276 N.W.2d 237 (N.D.1979), that a statute is applied retroactively when it is applied to a cause of action that arose prior to the effective date of the statute and it is applied prospectively when it is applied to a cause of action that arose subsequent to the effective date of the statute. If the amendments to section 29-04-03.1 and 29-04-03.2, NDCC, are applied here, they are applied retroactively. But we also said in Reiling that in view of section 1-02-10, NDCC, which orders that no part of the code is retroactive unless it is especially declared to be so, all statutes, substantive or procedural, are to be applied prospectively, i.e., to causes of action that arise after the effective date of the statute, unless the Legislature clearly expresses they are to be applied retroactively. In doing so, we reviewed our previous case law which applied procedural statutes retroactively and substantive statutes prospectively and we abandoned that case law in favor of the “bright line” test described above, i.e., no statute is retroactive unless the Legislature expressly declares it to be so.
The Legislature is, of course, free to apply statutes retroactively unless to do so would result in an ax post facto application. See definition of ex post facto in State v. Jensen, 333 N.W.2d 686, 693-694 (N.D.1983). Under that definition the extension of the applicable statute of limitations to a crime not yet barred by the statute of limitations in effect at the time the crime occurred, would not be ex post facto application. State v. Thill, 468 N.W.2d 643 (N.D.1991). State v. Pleason, 56 N.D. 499, 218 N.W. 154 (1928). See also State v. Haverluk, 432 N.W.2d 871 (N.D.1988).
The Legislature has, of course, expressly declared when statutes are to be retroactive. See, e.g., section 39-08-01.1, NDCC, enacted in 1983. [For purposes of Chapters 39-06.1, 39-08 and 39-20, previous conviction does not include any prior violation of section 39-08-01, NDCC, if offense occurred prior to July 1, 1981]. See also State v. Haverluk, supra [statutes providing increased penalties for repeat D.W.I. offenders not applied retroactively so as to violate ex post facto clause].
Because in this case the Legislature did not expressly apply the statutes increasing the statutes of limitations to crimes committed prior to the enactment of the statutes, I respectfully dissent, except as to the majority’s analysis of Rule 12, NDRCrimP, with which I concur.