Commonwealth v. Griffith

• Decision Date: 02 November 2011
• Citation: 32 A.3d 1231
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant v. Michelle Necole GRIFFITH, Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

32 A.3d 1231

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant

v.Michelle Necole GRIFFITH, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued May 10, 2011.Decided Nov. 2, 2011.

John T. Adams, Reading, Alisa Rebecca Hobart, Berks County District Attorney's Office, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Hugh J. Burns, Jr., Philadelphia, Peter Carr, Ronald Eisenberg, Philadelphia, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, Joseph E. McGettigan III, Office of the District Attorney of Philadelphia County, Rufus Seth Williams, Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young, L.L.P., for Appellant Amicus Curiae, Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association.

Jill M. Scheidt, Rabenold Koestel Scheidt, Reading, for Michelle Necole Griffith.Karl Baker, Ellen T. Greenlee, Peter Rosalsky, Defender Association of Philadelphia, for Appellee Amicus Curiae, Defender Association of Philadelphia.John B. Mancke, Mancke, Wagner, Spreha & McQuillan, Harrisburg, for Appellee Amicus Curiae, PA Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.BEFORE: CASTILLE, C.J., SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, TODD, McCAFFERY, ORIE MELVIN, JJ.

OPINION

Justice McCAFFERY.

The issue presented in this case is whether expert testimony is required to convict a defendant of driving under the influence of a drug or combination of drugs, 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(d)(2), when the drugs in question are prescription medications. Because the Superior Court erroneously concluded that expert testimony was required under this statutory provision, we reverse.

On May 31, 2006, Michelle Necole Griffith (“Appellee”) was charged by criminal complaint with driving under the influence of a drug to a degree which impairs the ability to drive safely, pursuant to 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(d)(2), following an incident that took place on May 5, 2006.¹ The criminal complaint was based on an eyewitness's account of the reckless and dangerous manner in which Appellee was driving; ² on a police officer's observations of Appellee, including her failure to pass three field sobriety tests; and on the detection in Appellee's blood of Diazepam (Valium), at 95 nanograms per milliliter, and Nordiazepam, at 220 nanograms per milliliter, along with Appellee's acknowledgement that she had taken a different prescription medication, specifically, Soma 350, on the morning of the incident.³ Police also found prescription pill bottles for Soma in the open center console of Appellee's vehicle.⁴

A bench trial was held on March 7, 2007, at which only two individuals testified: the eyewitness who observed Appellee's reckless driving and then called 911, and Officer William H. Dillman, the experienced police officer who responded to the call. In addition, the parties stipulated that both Diazepam and Nordiazepam are Schedule IV controlled substances, and that the amounts found in Appellee's bloodstream were, respectively, just below or in the therapeutic range. The trial court convicted Appellee of violating subsection 3802(d)(2), and on June 25, 2008, sentenced her to serve not less than 90 days nor more than 5 years in prison, and to pay a fine of $1,500 as well as costs. ⁵

Appellee appealed to the Superior Court, asserting, inter alia, that the evidence was not sufficient to prove that she had violated subsection 3802(d)(2), because no expert testimony had been proffered to establish that the prescription medications detected in her blood were the cause of her impaired ability to drive safely. A divided panel of the Superior Court reversed Appellee's conviction. Although no member of the panel disputed the trial court's finding that Appellee was incapable of safely driving on the afternoon of the incident that led to her arrest, the majority held that the evidence was insufficient to sustain Appellee's conviction. Commonwealth v. Griffith, 985 A.2d 230, 235–36 (Pa.Super.2009). Under the majority's reasoning, the laboratory tests revealed only the presence of prescription medications in Appellee's blood, and it was improper for the fact-finder to infer the effect of those prescription medications on the human body in the absence of expert testimony. Id. at 236. The majority contrasted the generally understood intoxicating effect of alcohol with the various effects of prescription medications: the effect of alcohol “is widely known and recognized by the average layperson, [but] the same cannot be said [concerning the effects] of prescription medications.” Id. Accordingly, the panel majority set forth a rule requiring expert testimony as to the effects and interactions of prescription medications when such medications are the alleged intoxicants in a subsection 3802(d)(2) prosecution. Id.

Writing in dissent, Judge Maureen Lally–Green disagreed with the majority's pronouncement of a rule requiring expert testimony in subsection 3802(d)(2) prosecutions that involve prescription medications. In addition, Judge Lally–Green would have concluded that the evidence was sufficient to convict Appellee under subsection 3802(d)(2) given the circumstances of this case.

The Commonwealth filed a petition for allowance of appeal to this Court, which we granted as to the following issue:

Whether expert testimony is required to prove that the amount of a controlled substance found in a defendant's blood or urine caused the driving impairment under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(d)[ (2) ].

Commonwealth v. Griffith, 607 Pa. 100, 4 A.3d 608 (2010).

This issue sets forth a legal question, to wit, whether the evidence to establish a violation of subsection 3802(d)(2) can ever be sufficient in the absence of expert testimony as to causation. To resolve this question, we must interpret the relevant statutory provisions to ascertain the legislative intent. Because we are addressing a question of law, our standard of review is de novo and our scope is plenary. Commonwealth v. Hacker, 15 A.3d 333, 335 (Pa.2011); Commonwealth v. Dowling, 598 Pa. 611, 959 A.2d 910, 913 (2008).

The object of all statutory interpretation is to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the General Assembly. 1 Pa.C.S. § 1921(a); McGrory v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation, 591 Pa. 56, 915 A.2d 1155, 1158 (2007). In general, the best indication of legislative intent is the plain text of the statute. McGrory, supra. However, when the words of the statute are not explicit, the General Assembly's intent may be ascertained by considering other factors, including the occasion and necessity for the statute; the circumstances under which it was enacted; the mischief to be remedied; the object to be attained; a former version of the law or other statutes on a similar subject; and the consequences of a particular interpretation. 1 Pa.C.S. § 1921(c); Commonwealth v. Shiffler, 583 Pa. 478, 879 A.2d 185, 189 (2005). In ascertaining the General Assembly's intent, we presume that the legislators have not intended an absurd or unreasonable result, and that they intend to favor the public interest as against any private interest. 1 Pa.C.S. § 1922(1) and (5).

The statute at issue is the following:

(d) Controlled substances.—An individual may not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle under any of the following circumstances:

(1) There is in the individual's blood any amount of a:

(i) Schedule I controlled substance, as defined in ... The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act;

(ii) Schedule II or Schedule III controlled substance, as defined in The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act, which has not been medically prescribed for the individual; or

(iii) metabolite of a substance under subparagraph (i) or (ii).

(2) The individual is under the influence of a drug or combination of drugs to a degree which impairs the individual's ability to safely drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle.

(3) The individual is under the combined influence of alcohol and a drug or combination of drugs to a degree which impairs the individual's ability to safely drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle.

75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(d)(1)-(3) (emphasis added to subsection at issue here).

The Superior Court has interpreted subsection 3802(d) on several occasions. In Commonwealth v. Williamson, 962 A.2d 1200, 1204 (Pa.Super.2008), the Superior Court discussed the elements of a subsection 3802(d)(2) offense, emphasizing that to convict the defendant of this offense, “the Commonwealth only had to prove that[, while driving or operating a vehicle,] she was under the influence of a drug to a degree that impair[ed ...] her ability to safely drive[ ] or operate a vehicle.” Id. at 1204 (internal quotation marks omitted). After the defendant in Williamson was observed driving erratically, a police officer found her slumped over the steering wheel of her vehicle. Her movements were lethargic, her speech was slowed and incoherent, and she failed two field sobriety tests. In addition, she admitted to having taken two medications, Klonopin and Methadone, and a laboratory test revealed the presence in her urine of benzodiazepines, a class of drugs including Klonopin, Xanax, and Valium. Id. at 1201–02. Based on the above findings, she was charged with a violation of subsection 3802(d)(2). She filed a pre-trial motion to suppress the report of the urine test results on the grounds that it did not set forth the specific concentration of benzodiazepines detected. The trial court granted the suppression motion, and the Commonwealth appealed.

The Superior Court reversed the trial court's suppression order in Williamson, recognizing that subsection 3802(d)(2), by its plain text, does not require that any specific quantity of a drug be present in a defendant's blood or urine. Williamson, supra at 1204. The Superior Court summarized the evidence supporting the Commonwealth's case-in-chief in Williamson as follows: the laboratory test results, revealing the presence of benzodiazepine in the defendant-appellee's urine; her...