Lock v. State

• Citation: 971 N.E.2d 71
• Decision Date: 26 July 2012
• Docket Number: No. 35S04–1110–CR–622.,35S04–1110–CR–622.
• Parties: Michael J. LOCK, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
• Court: Supreme Court of Indiana

971 N.E.2d 71

Michael J. LOCK, Appellant (Defendant below),
v.
STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).

No. 35S04–1110–CR–622.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

July 26, 2012.

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Matthew G. Grantham, Huntington, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Andrew A. Kobe, Tamara L. Weaver, Deputy Attorneys General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 35A04–1010–CR–641
MASSA, Justice.

Indiana's motor vehicle statutes provide a carve-out through which individuals whose driving privileges are suspended may still commute—provided the device they use to do so meets certain requirements. One requirement is that the “maximum design speed” of such a device may not exceed twenty-five miles per hour.

When the only evidence admitted at trial as to this requirement is that the defendant was traveling forty-three miles per hour on a flat, dry surface, is that evidence sufficient to sustain his conviction? We think so.

Facts and Procedural History

On June 27, 2009, Indiana State Police Trooper Pornteb Nathalang, on his motorcycle, pulled up behind Michael Lock on U.S. Highway 24 in Huntington County. Lock was riding a 2009 Yamaha Zuma with no license plate. Trooper Nathalang followed Lock for a quarter-mile at a constant speed on a flat, level surface and determined that Lock was traveling forty-three miles per hour.

Trooper Nathalang then pulled Lock over and learned that Lock's driving privileges were suspended for being a habitual traffic violator. Lock was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle as a habitual traffic violator, a class D felony,¹ and the State also cited him for two traffic infractions. At his bench trial, Lock and the State stipulated that Lock's Zuma had two wheels, an internal combustion engine with a cylinder capacity of forty-nine cubic

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centimeters, an engine rating of not more than two horsepower, and an automatic transmission. The parties also stipulated to Trooper Nathalang's radar track of forty-three miles per hour.

The trial court found Lock guilty of the class D felony, sentenced him to 180 days, and revoked his driving privileges for life.² Lock appealed, arguing first that the habitual traffic violator statute is unconstitutionally vague and second, that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction.

In a split opinion, the Court of Appeals reversed. Lock v. State, 952 N.E.2d 280, 281 (Ind.Ct.App.2011). Without addressing the constitutional challenge, it found that the State's evidence of the Zuma's speed—standing alone—was too speculative to affirm a conviction. Id. at 283. We granted transfer, thereby vacating the opinion of the Court of Appeals. Lock v. State, 962 N.E.2d 650 (Ind.2011) (table).

Standard of Review

In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we examine only “the probative evidence and reasonable inferences” that support the verdict. Drane v. State, 867 N.E.2d 144, 146 (Ind.2007). We do not assess witness credibility, nor do we reweigh the evidence to determine if it was sufficient to support a conviction. Id. Under our appellate system, those roles are reserved for the finder of fact. Instead, we consider only the evidence most favorable to the trial court ruling and “affirm the conviction unless ‘no reasonable fact-finder could find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” Id. at 146–47 (quoting Jenkins v. State, 726 N.E.2d 268, 270 (Ind.2000)). This evidence need not overcome every reasonable hypothesis of innocence; it is sufficient so long as “ ‘an inference may reasonably be drawn from it to support the verdict.’ ” Id. at 147 (quoting Pickens v. State, 751 N.E.2d 331, 334 (Ind.Ct.App.2001)).

A constitutional challenge, however, is reviewed de novo. But we are “a court and not a ‘supreme legislature.’ We have no right to substitute our convictions as to the desirability or wisdom of legislation for those of our elected representatives.” State v. Downey, 476 N.E.2d 121, 122 (Ind.1985). Thus, we approach such questions with the presumption that the statute is constitutional, and the challenger is burdened to prove otherwise. Brown v. State, 868 N.E.2d 464, 467 (Ind.2007). Any reasonable doubts and constructions as to the statute's validity are resolved in favor of constitutionality. State v. Lombardo, 738 N.E.2d 653, 655 (Ind.2000); Brady v. State, 575 N.E.2d 981, 984 (Ind.1991).

I. The Statutory Scheme Is Not Unconstitutionally Vague.

A fundamental aspect of our nation's jurisprudence is that criminal statutes must “give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice that his contemplated conduct is forbidden so that ‘no man shall be held criminally responsible for conduct which he could not reasonably understand to be proscribed.’ ” Brown, 868 N.E.2d at 467 (quoting Healthscript, Inc. v. State, 770 N.E.2d 810, 816 (Ind.2002)); see also Jordan v. DeGeorge, 341 U.S. 223, 230, 71 S.Ct. 703, 95 L.Ed. 886 (1951) (“This Court has repeatedly stated that criminal statutes which fail to give due notice that an act has been made criminal before it is done are unconstitutional deprivations of due process of law.”). Accordingly, we have said that due process requires that a penal statute “clearly define its prohibitions.” Brown, 868 N.E.2d at 467. If it

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fails “to provide notice enabling ordinary people to understand the conduct that it prohibits” or “authorizes or encourages arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement” then it is subject to invalidation. Id. Additionally, “there must be something in a criminal statute to indicate where the line is to be drawn between trivial and substantial things so that erratic arrests and convictions for trivial acts and omissions will not occur.” Downey, 476 N.E.2d at 123. “It cannot be left to juries, judges, and prosecutors to draw such lines.” Id.

Lock argues that Section 9–30–10–16 is unconstitutionally vague because it failed to put Lock on reasonable notice that driving the Zuma was illegal. (Appellant's Br. at 5–9.) The relevant portion of the statute provides that “[a] person who operates a motor vehicle ... while the person's driving privileges are validly suspended ... and the person knows that the person's driving privileges are suspended ... commits a Class D felony.” Ind.Code § 9–30–10–16(a). Lock appears to concede that this statute is constitutionally sufficient on its face, (Appellant's Br. at 6), but instead contends that it is unconstitutionally vague as applied to him because of its interplay with several related provisions.

First, the Indiana Code provides that, for the purposes of Chapter 9–30–10, the definition of motor vehicle “does not include a motorized bicycle.” Ind.Code § 9–13–2–105(d) (2010). A “motorized bicycle,” in turn, is defined as

a two (2) or three (3) wheeled vehicle that is propelled by an internal combustion engine or a battery powered motor, and if powered by an internal combustion engine, has the following:

(1) An engine rating of not more than two (2) horsepower and a cylinder capacity not exceeding fifty (50) cubic centimeters.

(2) An automatic transmission.

(3) A maximum design speed of not more than twenty-five (25) miles per hour on a flat surface.

The term does not include an electric personal assistive mobility device.

Ind.Code § 9–13–2–109 (2010) (emphasis added). There is, however, no statutory definition of “maximum design speed,” nor have our courts defined the phrase. This definition gap is the focus of Lock's constitutional argument because “the Zuma's ‘maximum design speed’ determines whether it is a ‘motorized bicycle,’ which in turn ultimately determines whether [he] ran afoul of the habitual traffic violator statute.” (Appellant's Br. at 7.)

However, a criminal statute does not need to provide an express or explicit list of prohibited conduct with scientific precision, however much we might think it helpful. “Condemned to the use of words, we can never expect mathematical certainty from our language.” Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 110, 92 S.Ct. 2294, 33 L.Ed.2d 222(1972). Instead, we have repeatedly said that a criminal statute survives a vagueness challenge “ ‘if individuals of ordinary intelligence could comprehend it to the extent that it would fairly inform them of the generally proscribed conduct.’ ” Brown, 868 N.E.2d at 467 (quoting Klein v. State, 698 N.E.2d 296, 299 (Ind.1998)); see also Lombardo, 738 N.E.2d at 656.

Because our analysis on this issue turns on how an ordinary person would interpret the statute, resort to legal definitions and scientific sources is less desirable than consultation of standard language dictionaries. See Brown, 868 N.E.2d at 467. And doing so shows that a person of ordinary intelligence would interpret this statutory definition of “motorized bicycle” to exclude any devices whose highest possible speed—as conceived of, planned, or devised

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—is more than twenty-five miles per hour.³

But there remains the question of by whom the design must be made—either by a manufacturer or a subsequent modifier, or both. Lock argues that “maximum design speed” is “an integrated scientific phrase that quantifies the speed that the maker of the vehicle intended, not the speed the vehicle could actually go.” (Appellant's Br. at 10.) But at oral argument,...