District of Columbia v. Morrissey

Decision Date30 November 1995
Docket NumberNo. 95-CT-608.,95-CT-608.
Citation668 A.2d 792
PartiesDISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellant, v. Todd MORRISSEY, Appellee.
CourtD.C. Court of Appeals

Sidney R. Bixler, Assistant Corporation Counsel, with whom Garland Pinkston, Jr., Acting Corporation Counsel at the time the brief was filed, and Robert R. Rigsby, Deputy Corporation Counsel, and Rosalyn Calbert Groce, Assistant Corporation Counsel, were on the brief, for appellant.

Michael L. Fayad, with whom Grail P. Walsh, Washington, DC, was on the brief, for appellee.

Before SCHWELB, KING and REID, Associate Judges.*

SCHWELB, Associate Judge:

Todd Morrissey was charged with one count of underage possession of an alcoholic beverage in violation of D.C.Code § 25-130(a) (1995). The trial judge dismissed the information on the ground that it failed to state a misdemeanor offense. The District of Columbia contends on appeal that the offense charged is a crime which carries a maximum punishment of a year in prison and a fine of $1,000, as well as suspension of driving privileges. Although the statutory penalty appears disproportionate to the offense, we are compelled by the language and structure of the statute to agree with the District. Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the trial court and remand the case with directions to reinstate the information.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND1

On August 27, 1994, at about 9:10 p.m., Officer Avis Ray observed Morrissey and a companion walking away from Dixie Liquor Store, located at 3429 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. Morrissey, who is an undergraduate student at Georgetown University, was carrying two twelve-packs of beer. Officer Ray stopped Morrissey and his companion on the sidewalk, identified herself as a police officer, and asked whether they had proof of their age. Morrissey told Officer Ray that he was nineteen years old, and his friend indicated that he was eighteen. Officer Ray informed the young men that they were not old enough to purchase or possess alcohol legally in the District of Columbia. They told the officer that a stranger had bought the alcohol for them. Officer Ray seized the beer, and Morrissey and his friend were allowed to remain at liberty.

Five weeks later, on October 6, 1994, Morrissey was arrested on the Georgetown University campus pursuant to an arrest warrant. He was arraigned on the following day on a charge of underage possession of alcohol, in violation of D.C.Code § 25-130(a). Morrissey filed a motion to dismiss the information and, following a hearing, the trial judge issued a written order granting the motion. This appeal followed.

II. STATUTORY BACKGROUND

This case turns largely on the construction of, and interplay between, two sections of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, D.C.Code § 25-101 et seq. (1995) (the ABC Act). In order to understand the contentions of the parties and the decision of the trial judge, it is necessary to set forth the provisions in question.

Section 25-130, the statute under which Morrissey was charged, provides in pertinent part:

(a) No person who is under 21 years of age shall purchase, attempt to purchase, possess, or drink any alcoholic beverage in the District....
* * * * * *
(c) In addition to the penalties provided in § 25-132, any person who violates any provision of this section shall be subject to the following additional penalties:
(1) Upon the first violation, shall have his or her driving privileges in the District suspended for a period of 90 consecutive days....2

Section 25-132(a) provides in pertinent part that

any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter for which no specific penalty is provided ... upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1000 or imprisoned for not more than 1 year, or both.

Section 25-132(c) states that "prosecutions for violations of this chapter shall be on information filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by the Corporation Counsel...."3

Section 25-130 has been amended several times in recent years, and some of that history is relevant to the issue before us. Prior to 1993, the ABC Act did not prohibit underage possession of alcohol at all. Until that year, Section 25-130(b) set the drinking age at twenty-one and proscribed the consumption of alcoholic beverages in the District by persons under that age. D.C.Code § 25-130(b) (1991), subsequently amended by 40 D.C.Reg. 5820, 5821 (1993). At that time, Section 25-130(b) did not provide a specific penalty; consequently, underage drinking was subject to the residual penalties specified in Section 25-132.

Prior to the 1993 amendments, the ABC Act did prohibit minors from misrepresenting their age in order to obtain alcohol, and it contained its own misdemeanor penalties:

Any minor who falsely represents his age for the purpose of procuring any beverage shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be fined for each offense not more than $25 and, in default in the payment of such fine, shall be imprisoned not exceeding 10 days.

D.C.Code § 25-130(a) (1991), subsequently amended by 40 D.C.Reg. at 5821. Because the earlier version of Section 25-130(a) contained its own specific penalties, the residual misdemeanor penalties in Section 25-132(a) were inapplicable.

In 1993, the Council of the District of Columbia amended Section 25-130(a) to add a prohibition against the possession, purchase or attempted purchase of alcoholic beverages by minors in the District. 40 D.C.Reg. at 5821. The Council also added a penalty provision, Section 25-130(e), which made all violations of Section 25-130 subject to various civil penalties, including suspension of driving privileges in the District for up to one year and a fine of between $100 and $300. Id. The Council stated in the preamble to the statute that its purpose in amending the ABC Act was "to establish stricter penalties, including suspension of driver's licenses for up to 1 year, for violations of the underage drinking provisions." Id. at 5820.

Section 25-130 was amended again in 1994 to read as it does today. The 1994 amendments eliminated the fine of $100 to $300 and added a cross-reference to the residual penalties in Section 25-132. The preamble to the legislation described the purposes of the relevant 1994 amendments as being "to make it illegal for persons under 21 years of age to purchase or possess alcoholic beverages; and to add the penalty of suspension of driving privileges in the District for up to 1 year for minors violating provisions of the act." 41 D.C.Reg. 1658 (1994).

III. THE TRIAL JUDGE'S ORDER

The trial judge dismissed the information in this case on the ground that it "failed to state a misdemeanor offense."4 The judge discerned a conflict between the language of Section 25-130(c) and the language of Section 25-132(a). He observed that violators of Section 25-130 are subject to loss of driving privileges "in addition to the penalties provided in § 25-132." See D.C.Code § 25-130(c). He noted that the penalties in Section 25-132, on the other hand, are residual penalties that are available, by the terms of Section 25-132, only for violation of "provisions of this chapter for which no specific penalty is provided." See D.C.Code § 25-132(a). The judge concluded that, because Section 25-130 contains its own specific penalties, "under the plain language of both Section 25-130 and Section 25-132, the residual misdemeanor penalties cannot apply."

The trial judge stated that this interpretation of the statutory language was supported by a review of the legislative history. In addition, because the penalties under District law for possession of controlled substances,5 driving while intoxicated,6 and distribution of alcohol to minors7 are all less severe than the residual misdemeanor penalties set forth in Section 25-132(a), the judge was of the opinion that "the classification of underage possession of alcohol as a misdemeanor offense under Section 25-132(a), which carries a penalty of up to one year in jail, is contrary to any logical and rational punishment scheme."

Alternatively, the trial judge concluded that the conflicting language in Sections 25-130(c) and 25-132(a) creates an "ambiguity" to which the rule of lenity must be applied:

To the extent that Sections 25-130 and 25-132(a) present an ambiguity as to the applicable penalty, the court is obliged to adopt the most lenient interpretation of the statute. Such an interpretation in this case leads the court to conclude that the case must be dismissed for failure to state a misdemeanor offense.

The judge did not explain explicitly why his view that the residual misdemeanor penalties were inapplicable justified the dismissal of the information. Apparently, however, he was of the opinion that a statute punishable solely by suspension of driving privileges must be non-criminal in character.

IV. LEGAL DISCUSSION
A. Scope of Review.

The dispositive issue in this case—whether underage possession of an alcoholic beverage is a criminal offense—is one of statutory construction. The related issue whether Section 25-130 violations are punishable by the residual misdemeanor penalties in Section 25-132(a) likewise depends on the proper interpretation of various provisions of the ABC Act. The construction of a statute raises a "clear question of law," and we review the trial court's ruling de novo. Office of People's Counsel v. Public Serv. Comm'n of the District of Columbia, 520 A.2d 677, 681 (D.C.1987); Railco Multi-Constr. Co. v. Gardner, 564 A.2d 1167, 1169 (D.C.1989) (legislative intent is a "question of law").8

B. The Statutory Language.

Whether the information was properly dismissed depends on whether the conduct with which Morrissey was charged constitutes a criminal offense. If, as the District contends, the prohibition against underage possession of alcoholic beverages is punishable by imprisonment and a fine, that offense is plainly a crime, and the...

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