2000 DWI Law Recodification

Transcription

1 0001 Loose-Leaf Rel. 003 VERSACOMP (4.2 ) COMPOSE2 (4.35) 06/18/02 (16:42) Group 0001 (Beg Group) J:\VRS\DAT\81864\1A.GML --- R81864.STY --- POST CHAPTER 1A 2000 DWI Law Recodification SYNOPSIS 1A.01 Overview 1A.02 Structural Changes 1A.03 Substantive Changes [1] General Provisions [2] Criminal Provisions [3] Procedural Provisions [4] Administrative Provisions [5] Miscellaneous Provisions [6] 2001 Amendments 1A.04 Correlation Chart 1A.01 Overview The 2000 Minnesota legislature made some significant changes to the structure and substance of the laws concerning drinking and driving. Further changes occurred with the 2001 session. The legislature recodified current Minnesota laws relating to impaired driving in an attempt to reorganize the existing laws in a more simple and logical manner. In addition, the legislature enacted some substantive changes to the existing impaired driving law. These changes include the creation of four degrees of the impaired driving crime, categorized by the presence of listed aggravating factors. Several other substantive changes cover impaired driving by commercial drivers, setting a uniform ten-year look back period, and increased penalties for certain first time offenders. The laws replaced by the 2000 law include those provisions of Minnesota Statutes, chapters 168 and 169, relating to impaired driving (sections to , plus related definitions in section ) and the administrative plate impoundment law (section ). The laws indirectly related to impaired driving, such as careless or reckless driving or criminal vehicular operation, are not affected by the 2000 recodification. The new provisions of the bill and the repeal of the pre-existing law became effective January 1, A 1

2 0002 Loose-Leaf Rel. 003 VERSACOMP (4.2 ) COMPOSE2 (4.35) 06/18/02 (16:42) Group 0001 J:\VRS\DAT\81864\1A.GML --- R81864.STY --- POST 29 1A 2 THE DRINKING DRIVER IN MINNESOTA 1A.02 1A.02 Structural Changes The primary changes in the law relate to the organization of the impaired driving laws. A new chapter of Minnesota Statutes, known as the Impaired Driving Code (chapter 169A) was created. This new chapter now houses the vast majority of impaired driving laws. Within chapter 169A, the impaired driving laws are organized into five categories: general provisions; criminal provisions; procedural provisions; administrative provisions; and miscellaneous provisions. The new chapter also divides sections of the pre-existing law into shorter statutory sections and subdivisions, and provides each separate section and subdivision with its own headnote. These changes were an attempt to make it easier for attorneys to find relevant portions of the laws. 1A.03 Substantive Changes [1] General Provisions Section 169A.03, subdivision 3, was added to define the aggravating factors subjecting an offender to more severe penalties to include the following: a prior impaired driving conviction or alcohol-related loss of license within the ten-year period preceding the current offense; an alcohol concentration of 0.20 or more at the time of the offense or within two hours of the time of driving; and driving while impaired with a child under the age of 16 in the vehicle, if the driver is more than 36 months older than the child. While these factors are the same as or similar to the enhancement provisions in the pre-existing law, the pre-existing enhancement factor of driving while impaired while also committing a railroad crossing violation is not included in the definition of aggravating factor. Sections 169A.09 and 169A.095 clarify that each qualified prior impaired driving incident within the ten-year look back period that is based on a separate course of conduct qualifies as a separate aggravating factor. [2] Criminal Provisions Section 169A.20, subdivision 1, establishes the new core DWI crime. This subdivision clarifies that an alcohol concentration of 0.20 or more is no longer

3 0003 Loose-Leaf Rel. 003 VERSACOMP (4.2 ) COMPOSE2 (4.35) 06/18/02 (16:42) Group 0001 J:\VRS\DAT\81864\1A.GML --- R81864.STY --- POST 54 1A DWI LAW RECODIFICATION 1A 3 a separate crime, but is treated as an aggravating factor. Commercial driving with an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or more is now included in this core crime and is no longer in a separate statute. The prohibition in pre-existing law against driving a school or Head Start bus with the presence of any alcohol in one s body is retained as a separate crime in section 169A.31, subdivision 1. All other commercial DWI crimes are included in the core DWI offense in section 169A.20. This means that commercial drivers will now be subject to the same sanctions as non-commercial DWI offenders. The 2000 law and the 2001 amendments next create four degrees of the impaired driving crime. Section 169A.27, subdivision 1, creates fourth degree driving while impaired as the core criminal provision and includes driving while impaired under any of the circumstances recognized in pre-existing law. This core DWI conduct with no aggravating factors is treated as a misdemeanor offense according to section 169A.27, subdivision 2. The crime of third degree driving while impaired is created by section 169A.26. This classification includes impaired driving with one aggravating factor present at the time the crime was committed. The new second degree crime is a gross misdemeanor offense and a person convicted of it is subject to the administrative penalty of plate impoundment and may be subject to monitoring requirements and certain mandatory minimum sentencing provisions. Section 169A.25 establishes the crime of second degree driving while impaired including impaired driving with two or more aggravating factors present at the time the crime was committed. The new second degree crime is also a gross misdemeanor offense. A person convicted of this offense is subject to custodial arrest and continued detention under section 169A.40, subdivision 3, as well as the administrative sanctions of plate impoundment and vehicle forfeiture. The offender may also be subject to monitoring requirements, mandatory minimum sentencing provisions, and restrictive pretrial release conditions. Section , effective August 1, 2002, creates a new felony offense of First Degree Driving While Impaired. This landmark legislation imposes felony sanctions upon a driver who commits a new violation within ten years of the first of three or more qualified prior impaired driving incidents, or who has previously been convicted of a felony under the new section. Qualified prior impaired driving incidents are defined under section 169A.03, subdivision 22 as including prior impaired driving convictions and prior impaired driving-related losses of license. Maximum penalties for the felony offense are seven years in prison plus a $14, fine. Under section 169A.25 and section 169A.26, the sanctions of vehicle forfeiture and plate impoundment now can be applied to first time offenders. These

4 0004 Loose-Leaf Rel. 003 VERSACOMP (4.2 ) COMPOSE2 (4.35) 06/18/02 (16:42) Group 0001 J:\VRS\DAT\81864\1A.GML --- R81864.STY --- POST 59 1A 4 THE DRINKING DRIVER IN MINNESOTA 1A.03 sanctions (except for plate impoundment, in certain cases) did not apply to firsttime offenders under pre-existing law. The pre-existing aggravated DWI crime (i.e. driving while impaired while one s license is revoked, suspended, or canceled due to an alcohol offense) is eliminated as a separate offense. The conduct will remain unlawful, however, and likely will be punished as a first or second degree driving while impaired crime. The new uniform ten-year look back provision for counting repeat offenses was added to section 169A.275 (mandatory penalties for repeat violators), section 169A.277 (long-term monitoring), section 169A.28, subdivision 1, (mandatory consecutive sentencing), and section 169A.31, subdivision 2, (gross misdemeanor commercial vehicle DWI). This uniform ten-year look back provision replaces look back provisions of varying duration in pre-existing law, ranging from five years to a period equal to the offender s lifetime. The gross misdemeanor school bus/head Start DWI, section 169A.31, subdivision 2, was also modified so that DWI while committing a railroad crossing violation is not included in the gross misdemeanor crime. Several language changes were made to clarify the criminal DWI law. Section 169A.33 modified the language defining the underage drinking and driving crime so as not to expand the crime to include underage persons operating motorboats and to make this crime more similar to school bus/head Start bus not a drop law. Section 169A.35, subdivision 1, was changed to define motor vehicle to avoid expanding the open bottle crime to include motorboats and snowmobiles and to clarify the open bottle law as applying to all public streets and highways, not just roads designated as highways. For purposes of the open bottle law only, section 169A.35, subdivision 1a has been added to clarify the definition of alcoholic beverage, incorporating both alcohol by volume and alcohol by weight quantitations. [3] Procedural Provisions Section 169A.40 was expanded to broaden application of the probable cause and fresh pursuit laws to include underage drinking and driving. In addition, section 169A.40, subdivision 3, now requires a peace officer to make a custodial arrest of a person if the officer has reason to believe the person is a first or second degree DWI offender. Section 169A.43, subdivision 4, requiring the court to provide criminal history information concerning prior impaired driving offenses at no charge was expanded to apply to any prosecutor responsible for prosecuting impaired driving offenses. Pre-existing law applied only to prosecutors responsible for prosecuting gross misdemeanor-level impaired driving offenses.

5 0005 Loose-Leaf Rel. 003 VERSACOMP (4.2 ) COMPOSE2 (4.35) 06/18/02 (16:42) Group 0001 J:\VRS\DAT\81864\1A.GML --- R81864.STY --- POST 69 1A DWI LAW RECODIFICATION 1A 5 The conditional release provisions for certain repeat offenders, section 169A.44, were changed to reflect the new uniform ten-year look back provision. In addition, section 169A.48 covering immunity from liability was broadened to include all impaired driving changes. Finally, section 169A.45 and section 169A.46 were modified to combine evidence provisions and available affirmative defenses for DWI law and commercial DWI law into one section. [4] Administrative Provisions Section 169A.52, subdivision 4, clarifies that, although commercial DWI (driving with an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or more) has been included in the core DWI crime, revocation of the driver s personal driver s license will not occur under the implied consent law unless the alcohol concentration is 0.10 or more. The driver will still lose his or her commercial driving privileges, however, under section Thus, the driver s license sanctions for commercial drivers are the same as under pre-existing law. Section 169A.54, subdivision 7, makes it clear that the administrative license revocation sanctions for a DWI conviction do not apply to a commercial driver unless the driver s alcohol concentration was 0.10 or more. The definition for administrative plate impoundment law, section 169A.60, subdivision 1, was modified to reflect the ten-year look back provision and to make the law applicable to, among others, any offender whose DWI crime was accompanied by one or more aggravating factors (i.e. first or second degree DWI). Finally, section 169A.63, subdivision 1, expanded forfeiture law to apply to, among others, any offender who is convicted of first or second degree DWI. [5] Miscellaneous Provisions The miscellaneous provisions added in 2000 contain only minor technical and structural changes from the pre-existing DWI laws. [6] 2001 Amendments Legislative amendments made in 2001 have caused the misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor violations to be renamed. Because first degree driving while impaired is now a felony under section 169A.24, effective August 1, 2002, the numerical degrees of the gross misdemeanor and misdemeanor violations have been lowered. Effective August 1, 2002, first degree driving while impaired under the 2000 recodification (a gross misdemeanor) will become second degree driving while impaired; second degree driving while impaired (a gross misdemeanor) will become third degree driving while impaired; and third degree driving while impaired (a misdemeanor) will become fourth degree driving while impaired. The old misdemeanor gross misdemeanor statutory numbers under the 2000 recodification remain the same (section 169A.25, section 169A.26, section 169A.27).

6 0006 Loose-Leaf Rel. 003 VERSACOMP (4.2 ) COMPOSE2 (4.35) 06/18/02 (16:42) Group 0001 J:\VRS\DAT\81864\1A.GML --- R81864.STY --- POST 80 1A 6 THE DRINKING DRIVER IN MINNESOTA 1A.04 1A.04 Correlation Chart The following chart lists where each pre-existing statute is recodified under the 2000 legislation. Existing Law New Law A , subd A A.01, subd A.01, subd. 2, , subd A.20, subd , subd. 1(a) 169A.20, subd , subd. 1(b) 169A , subd. 1(c) 169A , subd. 1(d) 169A , subd A , subd. 10(a) 169A , subd A , subd A , subd A , subd A , subd A , subd. 3(b) 169A , subd. 3(c) 169A , subd. 3(d) 169A , subd. 3(e) 169A , subd. 3, para. (d) 169A , subd. 3, para. (f) 169A.43, subd , subd. 3, para. (j) 169A.43, subd , subd. 3, para. (k) 169A.43, subd , subd. 4, para. (a) 169A.54, subd. 1, , subd. 4, para. (c) 169A.54, subd , subd. 4, para. (d) 169A.54, subd , subd. 4, para. (e) 169A.54, subd , subd. 4, para. (f) 169A.54, subd , subd A , subd. 5(a) 169A , subd. 5(b) 169A , subd A , subd A.54, subd , subd A.54, subd , subd A , subd A.20, subd , subd. 1, para. (b) 169A.31, subd. 1

7 0007 Loose-Leaf Rel. 003 VERSACOMP (4.2 ) COMPOSE2 (4.35) 06/18/02 (16:42) Group 0001 (End Group) J:\VRS\DAT\81864\1A.GML --- R81864.STY --- POST 127 1A DWI LAW RECODIFICATION 1A 6.1 Existing Law New Law , subd A.54, subd , subd. 5, para. (a) 169A.31, subd , subd. 5, para. (b) 169A.31, subd A.54, subd A A , para. (a) 169A.33, subd. 2, , para. (b) 169A.33, subd , para. (c) 169A.33, subd , para. (d) 169A.33, subd A , subd A.35, subd , subd A.35, subd. 2, , subd A.35, subd. 4, , subd A.35, subd , subd A.35, subd , subd. (8) 169A.52, subd , subd A.55, subd , subd. 2(a) 169A.51, subd , subd. 2(b) 169A.51, subd , subd. 2(c) 169A.51, subd , subd. 2, para. (a) 169A.51, subd , subd. 2, para. (b) 169A.51, subd , subd. 2, para. (c) 169A.51, subd , subd A.51, subd , subd. 4, para. (a) 169A.52, subd , subd. 4, para. (b) 169A.52, subd. 2 (Text continued on page 1A 7)

8 0008 Loose-Leaf Rel. 003 VERSACOMP (4.2 ) COMPOSE2 (4.35) 06/18/02 (16:42) Group 0001 J:\VRS\DAT\81864\1A.GML --- R81864.STY --- POST 188