In re Jennings

Citation34 Cal.4th 254,95 P.3d 906,17 Cal.Rptr.3d 645
Decision Date23 August 2004
Docket NumberNo. S115009.,S115009.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court (California)
PartiesIn re Michael Lee JENNINGS on Habeas Corpus.

Rothschild, Wishek & Sands, Kelly Lynn Babineau and M. Bradley Wishek, Sacramento, for Petitioner Michael Lee Jennings.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Manuel M. Medeiros, State Solicitor General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Jo Graves, Assistant Attorney General, Carlos A. Martinez, Mathew Chan, Janet Neeley, David Andrew Eldridge, Stephen G. Herndon and Rachelle A. Newcomb, Deputy Attorneys General; Robert A. Ryan, Jr., County Counsel, and James G. Wright, Deputy County Counsel, for Respondent State of California.

WERDEGAR, J.

Petitioner invited some guests to his home and served them alcoholic beverages. One of the guests, only 19 years old, after leaving the party caused an automobile accident resulting in serious injury. Charged with violating Business and Professions Code1 section 25658, subdivision (c) (section 25658(c)), which prohibits the purchase of an alcoholic beverage for someone under 21 years old who, after drinking, proximately causes death or great bodily injury, petitioner sought to defend against the charge by claiming he did not know his guest was under the legal drinking age and in fact believed he was over 21 years old. The trial court and two levels of appellate courts ruled that because knowledge of age is not an element of the crime, a mistake of fact as to age is not a defense. We agree the People need not prove knowledge of age to establish a violation of section 25658(c), but we conclude petitioner was entitled to defend against the charge by claiming a mistake of fact as to age. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment.

FACTS2

On May 30, 2000, petitioner Michael Jennings, a supervisor for Armor Steel Company in Rio Linda, invited coworkers Charles Turpin, Curtis Fosnaugh, Daniel Smith and Donald Szalay to his home to view a videotape demonstrating some new machinery the company was to obtain. Szalay stopped at a convenience store and bought a 12-pack of beer to bring to the gathering. At petitioner's direction, his wife went to a store and purchased another 12-pack of beer. The five men sat in the garage and drank beer.

Some time later, the men went into the house where they watched the videotape and drank more beer. Around 6:00 p.m., the party broke up. Fosnaugh left driving a white Ford pickup truck. Turpin then left driving his Volkswagen Beetle, accompanied by Smith. Fosnaugh stopped at a stop sign at the intersection of E Street and 20th Street in Rio Linda. Turpin, intending to overtake and pass Fosnaugh on the left without stopping at the intersection, drove on the wrong side of the road. By his own estimate, Turpin was driving around 55 miles per hour. Unaware of Turpin's intention to pass on the left, Fosnaugh attempted to make a left turn, resulting in a major collision and serious injuries to Turpin, Smith and Fosnaugh.

Turpin, who had to be pried from his car with the Jaws of Life, told police responding to the scene that he drank about seven beers between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. The results of a preliminary alcohol screening test indicated Turpin had a blood-alcohol concentration of .124 percent. Later at the hospital, a blood test determined Turpin's blood-alcohol concentration to be .16 percent. Turpin was 19 years old. Fosnaugh was 20 years old.

Petitioner was charged with violating section 25658(c), purchasing alcohol for someone under 21 years old who consumes it and "thereby proximately causes great bodily injury or death to himself, herself, or any other person." The People moved in limine to exclude evidence that petitioner was unaware Turpin was not yet 21 years of age. Petitioner opposed the motion and made an offer of proof that he was ignorant of Turpin's age. Specifically, petitioner alleged that a few weeks before the accident, he was with several coworkers drinking beer in front of a local market after work when a police officer arrived and confronted Turpin, who was holding a beer. Petitioner alleged he heard Turpin tell the officer he was 22 years old. In addition, petitioner alleged that, although he was Turpin's supervisor, he did not process Turpin's employment application (which did not, in any event, have a space for the applicant's age), and Turpin's employment file did not have a photocopy of his driver's license.

The trial court granted the People's motion, ruling that section 25658(c) was a strict liability offense and ignorance of Turpin's age was not a defense. Petitioner then submitted the case on the police report subject to a reservation of the right to challenge on appeal the correctness of the trial court's evidentiary ruling. The trial court found petitioner guilty as charged. The court sentenced him to six months in jail, with sentence suspended and probation granted on conditions including service of 60 days in jail.

DISCUSSION
A. Background

The regulation of alcoholic beverages in this country has taken a long and twisting path (see U.S. Const., 18th Amend. [prohibiting "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" within the U.S.]; id., 21st Amend. [repealing the 18th Amend.]), but regulation has now devolved to the states, who "enjoy broad power under § 2 of the Twenty-first Amendment to regulate the importation and use of intoxicating liquor within their borders." (Capital Cities Cable, Inc. v. Crisp (1984) 467 U.S. 691, 712, 104 S.Ct. 2694, 81 L.Ed.2d 580.) One active area of California's regulation of alcoholic beverages concerns underage drinkers. No citation to authority is necessary to establish that automobile accidents by underage drinkers lead to the injuries and deaths of thousands of people in this country every year. Nevertheless, the statistics are sobering. "In 2002, 24% of drivers ages 15 to 20 who died in motor vehicle crashes had been drinking alcohol." (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drving.htm [as of Aug. 23, 2004].) "Analysis of data from 1991-1997 found that, consistently, more than one in three teens reported they had ridden with a driver who had been drinking alcohol in the past month. One in six reported having driven after drinking alcohol within the same one-month time period." (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/teenmvh.htm [as of Aug. 23, 2004].) "In 2002, 25 percent of 16-20-year-old passenger vehicle drivers fatally injured in crashes had high blood alcohol concentrations (0.08 percent or more). Teenage drivers with BACs in the 0.05-0.08 percent range are far more likely than sober teenage drivers to be killed in single-vehicle crashes—17 times more likely for males, 7 times more likely for females. At BACs of 0.08-0.10, risks are even higher, 52 times for males, 15 times for females." (http://www.hwysafety.org/safety% 5Ffacts% 20qanda/underage.htm [as of Aug. 23, 2004].)

Given these facts, that our laws shield young people from the dangers of excess alcohol consumption is no surprise. Our state Constitution establishes the legal drinking age at 21, three years past the age of legal majority (see, e.g., Cal. Const., art. II, § 2 [must be at least 18 years old to vote]; Fam.Code, § 6500 [a "minor" is one under 18 years old]; Prob.Code, § 3901, subd. (a) ["adult" defined as one "who has attained the age of 18 years"]), both for purchases and personal consumption at on-sale premises. (Cal. Const., art. XX, § 22.) The "likely purpose" of this constitutional provision "is to protect such persons from exposure to the `harmful influences' associated with the consumption of such beverages." (Provigo Corp. v. Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Bd. (1994) 7 Cal.4th 561, 567, 28 Cal.Rptr.2d 638, 869 P.2d 1163.)

The Legislature has implemented this constitutional mandate in a number of ways. For example, section 25658, subdivision (a) (§ 25658(a)) makes it a misdemeanor to sell or furnish an alcoholic beverage to any person under the age of 21 years. Section 25658, subdivision (b) makes it a misdemeanor for an underage person to buy alcohol or consume an alcoholic beverage in any on-sale premises. Under a new law enacted in 2003, a parent who permits his or her minor child to drink an intoxicating beverage can under some circumstances be guilty of a misdemeanor. (§ 25658.2.)3

Of course, an underage person creates a potentially deadly situation when he or she drives after imbibing. Addressing that situation, the Legislature has provided penalties for persons under the age of 21 who drive with a blood-alcohol concentration much less than that prohibited for persons over 21 years old. For example, the Legislature has enacted what has been termed a "zero tolerance" law (Coniglio v. Department of Motor Vehicles (1995) 39 Cal.App.4th 666, 673, 46 Cal.Rptr.2d 123), making it unlawful for a person under 21 years old to operate a motor vehicle with as little as a 0.01 percent blood-alcohol concentration as measured by a preliminary alcohol screening device (Veh.Code, §§ 23136, 13390). Violation of this law carries civil penalties. An underage person who drives with a 0.05 percent blood-alcohol concentration is subject to a one-year loss of driving privileges as well as other administrative liabilities (id., §§ 23140, 13202.5, subds. (a) & (d)(4), 13352.6; see also id., § 23224 [possession of alcoholic beverages by an underage driver].) A driver 21 years old or older, by contrast, is not subject to criminal penalties until his or her blood-alcohol concentration rises to 0.08 percent or more. (Id., § 23152, subd. (b).) Irrespective of his or her blood-alcohol concentration, of course, a person of any age is subject to criminal penalties if he or she drives while "under the influence of any alcoholic beverage." (Id., § 23152, subd. (a).)

Specifically addressing the circumstance where an individual purchases alcohol for an underage person, section 25658(c) makes such purchase punishable where the underage...

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