Magee v. State

Decision Date23 May 1988
Docket NumberNo. 71A03-8709-CR-258,71A03-8709-CR-258
PartiesThomas E. MAGEE, Defendant-Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Plaintiff-Appellee.
CourtIndiana Appellate Court

Kenneth M. Hays, South Bend, for defendant-appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Amy Schaeffer Good, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for plaintiff-appellee.

HOFFMAN, Judge.

Thomas E. Magee appeals from his convictions of driving while suspended and reckless driving after a bench trial in St. Joseph Superior Court. The facts of this case, as taken most favorably to the verdict, are as follows: On the night of October 21, 1986, Corporal Joseph Farkas of the South Bend Police Department observed Magee driving his motorcycle at a speed in excess of 60 miles per hour in a posted speed limit zone of 20 miles per hour. Corporal Farkas also observed Magee failing to come to a complete stop at two stop signs and popping a wheelie for 20 feet. After Corporal Farkas pulled over Magee, Magee produced a valid Michigan driver's license, but a computer check of Magee's status in Indiana revealed that Magee's Indiana driver's license had been suspended in November of 1983.

Magee presents two issues for appellate review:

(1) whether there was sufficient evidence to support the conviction for driving while suspended; and

(2) whether there was sufficient evidence to support the conviction for reckless driving.

Magee first argues here that his valid Michigan driver's license permitted him to drive a motor vehicle in Indiana regardless of the 1983 suspension of his Indiana driver's license. As support for this argument, Magee relies on IND.CODE Sec. 9-1-4-27(3) (1982 Ed.), which provides that the following persons are allowed to drive a motor vehicle in Indiana even if they do not possess a valid Indiana driver's license:

"3. A nonresident who is at least sixteen (16) years and one (1) month of age, and has in his immediate possession a valid operator's license, issued to him in his home state or country, while operating a motor vehicle in this state only as an operator[.]"

Magee also relies upon this Court's decision in State v. Churchill (1979), 180 Ind.App. 349, 388 N.E.2d 586, where it was held that an Indiana driver whose Indiana license had been suspended for one year but later obtained a valid Colorado driver's license could drive on Indiana highways three years after his suspension without being guilty of driving while his license was suspended. The Churchill decision relied on the language of IND.CODE Sec. 9-1-4-52 (1977) as it read then:

"Any person whose license or permit issued under the provisions of this act has been suspended or revoked as provided by law, and who shall drive any motor vehicle upon the public highways while such license or permit is suspended or revoked, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."

The Churchill court reasoned that the prohibitions of this version of IND.CODE Sec. 9-1-4-52 did not extend to drivers with valid out-of-state drivers' licenses because the statute applies only to those drivers whose license to drive in Indiana--as opposed to their privilege to drive in Indiana--had been suspended or revoked. 180 Ind.App. at 351, 388 N.E.2d at 587.

The Churchill decision does not directly apply to Magee's situation, however, because IND.CODE Sec. 9-1-4-52 was amended in 1985 to proscribe drivers whose license or "driving privilege" had been suspended or revoked from driving on Indiana highways. See, IND.CODE Sec. 9-1-4-52 (1987 Supp.). See also, Heying v. State (1987), Ind.App., 515 N.E.2d 1125, 1128. Thus the appropriate query for this Court in reviewing Magee's conviction for driving while suspended is whether or not Magee's Indiana driving privileges were suspended as of October 21, 1986.

The record of proceedings reveals that Magee's license was suspended in November of 1983 under the version of IND.CODE Sec. 9-2-1-6 (1982 Ed.) which was in effect at that time and which explicitly allowed the Commissioner of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to suspend licenses for an indefinite period of time:

"Failure to satisfy judgment

Sec. 6. Proof required on judgments.

(a) The Commissioner shall also suspend the operator's or chauffeur's license and any and all of the registration certificates and registration plates issued to any person upon receiving authenticated report as hereinafter provided that such person has failed for a period of thirty (30) days to satisfy any judgment in amounts and upon a cause of action as herein stated.

(b) The judgment herein referred to shall mean any judgment in excess of one hundred dollars ($100) for damages because of...

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2 cases
  • Jackson v. State
    • United States
    • Indiana Appellate Court
    • August 13, 1991
    ...a shopping center parking lot and sped across the lot as customers entered and exited businesses open at that hour); Magee v. State (1988), Ind.App., 523 N.E.2d 432 (motorcyclist drove 40 miles over the speed limit, drove through two stop signs, popped a "wheelie" for twenty feet, and would......
  • Kennedy v. District of Columbia, 91-274.
    • United States
    • D.C. Court of Appeals
    • November 21, 1991
    ...of defendant who drove at 45 miles per hour in area posted for maximum speed of 25 miles per hour and made illegal U-turn); Magee v. State, 523 N.E.2d 432 (Ind.1988) (reckless driving conviction sufficiently supported by evidence that motorist had driven motorcycle in excess of posted speed......

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