Court Opinion

ID: 9674738
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:34:32.957181+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:29.471660
License: Public Domain

Caporale, J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. In my view the Randolph doctrine is applicable; consequently, I would remand the cause to the Third Judicial District Court, Lancaster County, for resentencing in accordance with 1982 Neb. Laws, L.B. 568.
The majority is correct in pointing out that a constitutional issue must be resolved before such a determination can be made.
U.S. Const, art. I, § 10, cl. 1, provides that no state shall pass any ex post facto law. Neb. Const, art. I, § 16, also provides that no ex post facto law be passed. An ex post facto law includes one which applies to events occurring prior to enactment of the law and which disadvantages the offender affected by it. Weaver v. Graham, 450 U.S. 24, 101 S. Ct. 960, 67 L. Ed. 2d 17 (1981); Lindsey v. Washington, 301 U.S. 397, 57 S. Ct. 797, 81 L. Ed. 1182 (1937); Marion v. State, 16 Neb. 349, 20 N.W. 289 (1884). See, also, State v. Steemer, 175 Neb. 342, 121 N.W.2d 813 (1963).
The question, therefore, becomes whether application of the sanctions imposed by L.B. 568 to the defendant-appellant would invoke the elements of ex post facto legislation. Since the application would relate to an event which occurred prior to the law’s enactment, the element of retroactivity obviously would be present. The sole ex post facto issue then becomes whether such application would be to the defendant’s disadvantage.
Defendant relies upon State v. Holloway, ante *872p. 426, 322 N.W.2d 818 (1982); Olson v. State, 160 Neb. 604, 71 N.W.2d 124 (1955); and Kroger v. State, 158 Neb. 73, 62 N.W.2d 312 (1954), to argue that where parts of a sentence are divisible, each part is to be viewed separately. The cases cited by him do not so hold. Holloway held that a court may not peremptorily direct that a fine be satisfied by crediting pretrial jail time against it without granting defendant an opportunity to pay the fine in accordance with law. That holding has no bearing at all on the issue at hand. Olson ruled that where the complaint charged an offense which did not authorize license suspension as part of the punishment, it was error to order such; consequently, that portion of the sentence was stricken. Kroger held that license suspension was authorized by each offense therein charged, and affirmed revocation. It is true that both Olson and Kroger state that where a part of a sentence is illegal an appellate court may, if the sentence is divisible, modify it by striking out the illegal part. That only says that if a sentence is legal in part and illegal in part, we may affirm that which is legal and strike that which is illegal. Neither Olson nor Kroger answers the instant question of whether, in determining if a punishment has been impermissibly enhanced, we must compare each separate part of the present multiconsequence punishment to each similar part of the former multiconsequence punishment, or whether the in toto effect of the present punishment is to be compared to the in toto effect of the former punishment.
Weaver v. Graham, supra, declared unconstitutional a state statute reducing the amount of “gain time” which accrued merely by virtue of the avoidance of disciplinary violations. The fact that other provisions were enacted whereby a prisoner might earn extra gain time at the discretion of correctional authorities based upon the prisoner’s behavior did not keep the new act from being more onerous than *873the repealed act. Without so stating in exact language, it is obvious the U.S. Supreme Court compared the in toto effect of the repealed statute with the in toto effect of the new statute. The Court then concluded the prisoner was disadvantaged by loss of the opportunity to automatically accrue as much gain time under the new act as he could have by the same passive conduct under the repealed statute. This in toto comparison is clarified in Justice Rehnquist’s concurrence. The requirement of an in toto comparison is also established in Dobbert v. Florida, 432 U.S. 282, 97 S. Ct. 2290, 53 L. Ed. 2d 344 (1977), rehearing denied 434 U.S. 882, 98 S. Ct. 246, 54 L. Ed. 2d 166. Under the statute pertinent at the time of the crime the death penalty was “presumed” unless the jury, in its unbridled discretion, made a recommendation of mercy. Under the statute in effect at the time of trial the jury rendered an advisory opinion following an evidentiary hearing on mitigating and aggravating circumstances, but the trial court made the final determination, which was then subject to review. The Supreme Court stated that the two statutory procedures must be compared in toto to determine if the new one might fairly be characterized as more onerous. The Court concluded that the new statute was, in fact, ameliorative and thus not ex post facto.
Although it is true that neither Weaver nor Dobbert applies the “in toto” concept to multiconsequence punishments, they do nonetheless establish the principle that for purposes of determining whether the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws has been violated, the proper method is to consider the total effect of the old punishment as. compared to the total effect of the new punishment.
The new statute in this case trades off the possibility of a fine of up to $10,000 for a fine certain of $500. It trades off imprisonment of up to 5 years for *874a period of no more than 6 months. In exchange for the fine in a sum certain and a reduced period of imprisonment, it trades off a 1-year license revocation for a lifetime revocation.
The in toto effect of L.B. 568 upon defendant would be to restore to him 18 months of liberty in exchange for the payment of $500 and the permanent loss of the privilege to drive. I find the in toto effect of L.B. 568 upon defendant to be less onerous than the sentence imposed under the former provisions of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 39-669.07 (Reissue 1978). Liberty is the most fundamental of human rights. It is guaranteed by the fifth and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution of our nation and by article I, § 3, of the Constitution of this sovereign state. In the course of human history blood has been shed to secure it. Indeed, it was our concern that defendant not be deprived of his liberty for a moment longer than the Legislature intended, which prompted us to consider this case in phases in the first instance. The license to operate a motor vehicle is, however, only a privilege granted with the understanding that such license may be revoked for cause by the state. Durfee v. Ress, 163 Neb. 768, 81 N.W.2d 148 (1957). I cannot conclude that the benefits of restoring 18 months of liberty do not substantially outweigh the detriment of having to part with $500 and of not being able to ever again personally drive himself about.
Nor is this a case such as presented in State v. Crisp, 195 Neb. 833, 241 N.W.2d 129 (1976), wherein we refused to apply the Randolph doctrine. In Crisp the former statutes dealing with rape had been repealed, new sexual assault offenses of various degrees created, and new penalties assigned to those new offenses. The situation presented here is one in which the designation of the offense was merely changed from a felony to a misdemeanor and the punishment modified.
*875Once it is determined the operation of L.B. 568 upon defendant is ameliorative, the applicability of the Randolph doctrine is inescapable because the intent of the Legislature may fairly be presumed to be that the punishment it now considers to fit the crime is to be applied retroactively to all constitutionally permissible cases. This is such a case.
Krivosha, C.J., and Boslaugh, J., join in this dissent.