An Act To Amend the Habitual Offender and Felony Operating Under the Influence Laws
Sec. 1. 4 MRSA §164-A, as enacted by PL 1991, c. 549, §4 and as affected by §17 is amended to read:
§ 164-A. Acceptance of fine and guilty plea
The clerk of each division may accept a guilty plea to a criminal traffic offense upon payment of a fine and surcharge in accordance with a schedule of offenses and fines established by the Chief Judge. That schedule may not include the offense described in Title 29-A, section 2412-A. A person tendering payment of a fine without filing a signed waiver is deemed to have read and waived that person's rights, to understand that tendering payment is deemed a waiver and has the same effect as a judgment of the court and to understand that the record of the judgment will be sent to the Secretary of State.
Sec. 2. 29-A MRSA §2411, sub-§1-A, ¶D, as amended by PL 2005, c. 606, Pt. A, §1, is further amended to read:
(1) In fact causes serious bodily injury as defined in Title 17-A, section 2, subsection 23 to another person;
(1-A) In fact causes the death of another person; or
(2) Has either a prior conviction for a Class B or C crime under this section or former Title 29, section 1312-B or a prior criminal homicide conviction involving or resulting from the operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs or with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08% or greater.
Notwithstanding section 2402 and Title 17-A, section 9-A, subsection 3, for purposes of this paragraph the date of each prior conviction may precede the commission of the offense being enhanced by more than 10 years.
Sec. 3. 29-A MRSA §2412-A, sub-§1-B is enacted to read:
Sec. 4. 29-A MRSA §2412-A, sub-§3, ¶B, as amended by PL 2003, c. 673, Pt. TT, §5, is further amended to read:
Sec. 5. 29-A MRSA §2454, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 368, Pt. AAA, §19, is amended to read:
Sec. 6. 29-A MRSA §2557-A, sub-§1, ¶B, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 606, Pt. A, §11, is amended to read:
Sec. 7. 29-A MRSA §2557-A, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 606, Pt. A, §11, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:
Sec. 8. 29-A MRSA §2557-A, sub-§3-A is enacted to read:
Sec. 9. 29-A MRSA §2558, sub-§2, ¶C, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 606, Pt. A, §12, is amended to read:
Sec. 10. 29-A MRSA §2558, sub-§2, ¶D, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 606, Pt. A, §12, is amended to read:
Sec. 11. 29-A MRSA §2558, sub-§3-A is enacted to read:
summary
The bill makes several changes in the laws applying to persons driving with suspended or revoked licenses or persons charged with the most serious driving offenses, such as felony operating under the influence (OUI) and manslaughter.
1. It provides that a driver charged with operating after suspension (OAS) will not be authorized to plead guilty to the court clerk without a formal court appearance, and must appear before a judge for sentencing. The judge will then impose a sentence based upon the driver’s record and the circumstances of the offense.
2. It amends the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 29-A, section 2411, subsection 1-A, paragraph D in response to a recent court decision. In State v. Dwayne B. Stevens, 2007 ME 5, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court determined that Title 29-A, section 2411, subsection 1-A, paragraph D has a 10-year limitation on the use of prior convictions for manslaughter and Class B or C operating under the influence. To address that determination, this bill specifies that Title 17-A, section 9-A governs the use of prior convictions when determining a sentence, except that, for the purposes of the offenses in Title 29-A, section 2411, subsection 1-A, paragraph D, the date of each prior conviction may precede the commission of the offense being enhanced by more than 10 years. The section also incorporates a reference to the new Class B OUI offense enacted in 2006.
3. It increases the sentencing class in OAS for drivers whose licenses have been suspended as a result of convictions in which a death resulted: Class A manslaughter, Class B OUI and Class B OAS. Under current law the OAS offense is only a Class E crime.
4. It clarifies that a court looks back 10 years in determining whether to impose the mandatory fines applying to ordinary OAS cases.
5. It gives courts authority to revoke the driver’s license as part of the sentence for an adult or juvenile manslaughter defendant. Under current law only the Secretary of State may revoke a driver's license upon a manslaughter conviction. The court will be authorized to revoke a license for at least a 5-year period, but must also notify the Secretary of State, who may revoke the license for a longer period under Title 29-A, section 2454, subsection 2.
6. It clarifies a provision that was added by Public Law 2005, chapter 606. The current language in Title 29-A, section 2557-A, subsection 1, paragraph B would subject a driver to prosecution for a Class C habitual offender offense even if the driver’s previous record did not include such a conviction and the person's license is currently suspended instead of revoked as a habitual offender. The intent of the Public Law 2005, chapter 606 change was to specify that once a person is a felon, meaning the most serious habitual offender under the driving laws, the person continues to be a significant offender under those laws even when the person's license is suspended rather than revoked. The language in the bill makes this clear.
7. It rewrites the sentencing provisions of the habitual offender statute to make them consistent with the format in the aggravated operating after habitual offender revocation law added by Public Law 2005, chapter 606, while adding references to former Title 29-A, section 2557 that were inadvertently omitted from chapter 606.
8. It amends Title 29-A, sections 2557-A and 2558 to make the treatment of multiple offenses consistent with other prior conviction language. The bill adds language to each section to specify that when more than one offense or violation arises from the same incident, the offense or violations are treated as one offense.
9. It adds a reference to Title 29-A, section 2411 in 2 portions of the aggravated habitual offender laws enacted in Public Law 2005, chapter 606. A reference to prior OUI conviction was included in one sentencing provision of chapter 606 but inadvertently omitted from other provisions.