Com. v. James

• Decision Date: 08 December 2004
• Citation: 863 A.2d 1179
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, Appellant v. Evan JAMES, Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

863 A.2d 1179

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, Appellant v. Evan JAMES, Appellee.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted May 25, 2004.

Filed December 8, 2004.

Michael W. Streily, Deputy District Attorney, Karen T. Edwards, Asst. Dist. Atty., Pittsburgh, for Commonwealth, appellant.

John A. Knorr, Pittsburgh, for appellee.

Before: HUDOCK, JOYCE, MUSMANNO, KLEIN, BENDER, BOWES, GANTMAN, McCAFFERY, and PANELLA, JJ.

OPINION BY McCAFFERY, J:

¶ 1 In this appeal, we have been asked by Appellant, the Commonwealth, to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion in granting the motion of Appellee, Evan James, for a writ of habeas corpus. Specifically, we must decide whether the Commonwealth presented adequate evidence to hold Appellee for trial for a violation of 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3731(a)(1) and (4)(i), commonly known as "driving under the influence." Under the circumstances of this case, we hold that the Commonwealth did, in fact, proffer evidence sufficient to defeat Appellee's motion. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for trial.

¶ 2 The record reveals the following facts¹ and procedural history. On August 8, 2002, Appellee parked his vehicle in a lot near a bar. Apparently he did not pay the required fee, because the manager called for tow trucks to remove both his vehicle and another one from the lot. Two tow trucks responded, and Appellee's vehicle was hoisted by one of them. Because the vehicle had front-wheel drive, the two front wheels of Appellee's vehicle were placed on a raised platform, where they were then secured with bars and straps. While the tow truck driver was waiting for the other tow truck to leave the parking lot, Appellee approached in a belligerent state. As described by the tow truck operator:

Mr. James come running up cussing and cursing, telling me to let his vehicle down.... At that time, he reached in my truck, grabbed my hat, threw it half way across the lot. Then he went back, jumped in his car, started the vehicle up.... Starts revving up his engine saying he's not going anywhere.... We call the police to come. He gets out of the vehicle, goes to my wheel lift, starts undoing my strap, takes my pin out, throws it across the lot. At that time the other driver stops him. I went over and grabbed my pin, put it back in my lift, redid the strap. He got back in, started revving his engine up some more, threw it in reverse, hit his gas, and hopped his car half way off my lift.

(N.T. at 8-9). Appellee's actions, in fact, damaged the tow truck. The police arrived while Appellee was still sitting in the car, and the tow truck operator described Appellee's actions to the police. Because Appellee appeared intoxicated to the police, they gave him two field sobriety tests, both of which he failed. He later registered a 0.165% on a breath analysis test.

¶ 3 As a result of Appellee's actions in the parking lot, he was charged with two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol ("DUI").² Following his preliminary hearing, Appellant filed a Motion for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, seeking dismissal of the charges. After a hearing on October 2 and 9, 2002, the trial court granted the motion and dismissed the charges. The Commonwealth has appealed, and raises the following issue for our review:

WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT MISAPPLIED THE LAW TO THE FACTS PRESENTED AS TO WHETHER APPELLEE WAS IN "ACTUAL PHYSICAL CONTROL" OF THE MOVEMENT OF HIS VEHICLE WITHIN THE MEANING OF 75 PA.C.S.A. § 3731(a), AND THUS MANIFESTLY ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN GRANTING APPELLEE'S REQUEST FOR HABEAS CORPUS RELIEF AND DISMISSING HIS DUI CHARGES?

(Appellant's Brief at 4).

¶ 4 Our standard of review for a grant of a habeas corpus petition is as follows:

The decision to grant or deny a petition for writ of [habeas corpus] will be reversed on appeal only for a manifest abuse of discretion.... Our scope of review is limited to deciding whether a prima facie case was established.... [T]he Commonwealth must show sufficient probable cause that the defendant committed the offense, and the evidence should be such that if presented at trial, and accepted as true, the judge would be warranted in allowing the case to go to the jury.

Commonwealth v. Giusto, 810 A.2d 123, 125 (Pa.Super.2002), appeal denied, 573 Pa. 664, 820 A.2d 703 (2003) (quoting Commonwealth v. Saunders, 456 Pa.Super. 741, 691 A.2d 946, 948 (1997)). When deciding whether a prima facie case was established, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, and we are to consider all reasonable inferences based on that evidence which could support a guilty verdict. Commonwealth v. Packard, 767 A.2d 1068, 1071 (Pa.Super.2001). The standard clearly does not require that the Commonwealth prove the accused's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at this stage. Id.

¶ 5 Additionally, when interpreting a statute, our courts must give plain meaning to the words therein. See 1 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 1901, 1903. "It is not a court's place to imbue the statute with a meaning other than that dictated by the plain and unambiguous language of the statute." Commonwealth v. Engle, 847 A.2d 88, 91 (Pa.Super.2004) (quoting Commonwealth v. Tate, 572 Pa. 411, 413, 816 A.2d 1097, 1098 (2003)).

¶ 6 In this case, Appellee was charged with violating Sections 3731(a)(1) and (4)(i)³ of the Vehicle Code, which provide in pertinent part as follows:

(a) Offense defined.-A person shall not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of any vehicle in any of the following circumstances:

(1) While under the influence of alcohol to a degree which renders the person incapable of safe driving.

* * * * * *

(4) While the amount of alcohol by weight in the blood of:

(i) an adult is 0.10% or greater;..."

75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3731(a). See also Commonwealth v. Johnson, 833 A.2d 260, 263 (Pa.Super.2003) (citing Commonwealth v. Woodruff, 447 Pa.Super. 222, 668 A.2d 1158, 1161 (1995)) (defining the offense of DUI).

¶ 7 The evolution of Section 3731 sheds interpretive light on what the legislature intended when it chose to use particular and specific terms for the statutory language in each amendment. Former 75 P.S. § 1037, which was enacted in 1959, made it "unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle ... while under the influence of intoxicating liquor." In Commonwealth v. Kallus, 212 Pa.Super. 504, 243 A.2d 483, 485 (1968), an intoxicated motorist had attempted to free his car from a snow bank where it was stuck and incapable of movement, and this Court was asked to determine the meaning of the word "operate." The car in question "was so firmly embedded in the snow that it was impossible for its operating mechanisms to remove it therefrom or move it therein." Id. at 484. The question on appeal was whether the defendant was operating the vehicle. Id. at 485. In affirming the conviction, this Court explained "that it is not necessary that the vehicle itself must be in motion but that it is sufficient if the operator is in actual physical control of the movements of either the machinery of the motor vehicle or of the management of the movement of the vehicle itself." Id. ¶ 8 In 1976, Section 1037 was repealed by 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3731, which provided that a "person shall not drive any vehicle while ... under the influence of alcohol." In Commonwealth v. Brown, 268 Pa.Super. 206, 407 A.2d 1318, 1320 (1979), the Court concluded that by substituting the word "drive" for "operate," the legislature meant for the Commonwealth to present evidence that the vehicle had been in motion at the time in question in order to prove a violation of the statute. We held that proof that the car "was in motion at the time in question" satisfied proof of "driving." Id. In subsequent caselaw, we determined that the Commonwealth could rely on wholly circumstantial evidence which created an inference that the vehicle had been in motion in order to meet its evidentiary burden. See Commonwealth v. Matsinger, 288 Pa.Super. 271, 431 A.2d 1043, 1045 (1981).

¶ 9 In 1982, the legislature broadened the scope of Section 3731(a) via an amendment which provided that a "person shall not drive, operate, or be in actual physical control of the movement of any vehicle while ... under the influence of alcohol...." Commonwealth v. Bobotas, 403 Pa.Super. 136, 588 A.2d 518, 521 (1991). The version of Section 3731(a) at issue in the case sub judice retains this language.⁴

¶ 10 Additionally, we note that the concepts of "drive," "operate" and "actual physical control" have been given substance in the Pennsylvania Suggested Standard Jury Instructions for driving under the influence of alcohol:

Meaning of "drive," "operate," and "actual physical control"

(a) The crime of driving under the influence can be committed not only by a person who literally drives a vehicle but also by one who "operates" or is "in actual physical control of the movement" of a vehicle. A person does not drive unless he or she actually has the vehicle moving; however, a person may operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of a standing vehicle. These terms are broader than the term drive because the law is concerned with the threat to public safety of motorists who might drive under the influence, as well as those who actually do drive under the influence.

[(b) A person operates or is in actual physical control of a vehicle if he or she is in physical control of either the machinery of the vehicle or the management of the vehicle's movement.]

PA.SSJI (CRIM.) 17.3731C (emphasis both added and in original).

¶ 11 Instantly, the trial court dismissed the charges against Appellee on the basis that "[Appellee] lacked actual physical control of the movement of his vehicle." (Trial Court Opinion, 1/21/03, at 3). It is our determination, however, based on the plain and unambiguous meaning of the words of the statute⁵ and in conjunction with case law, that the Commonwealth presented a prima facie case that Appellee had, in fact,...