Randolph v. State
| Decision Date | 02 March 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. S97A1517,S97A1517 |
| Citation | 269 Ga. 147,496 S.E.2d 258 |
| Parties | , 98 FCDR 741 RANDOLPH v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Craig A. Gillen, Gillen, Daily & Cromwell, Atlanta, for Curtis A. Randolph.
John H. Petrey, Asst. Dist. Atty., Decatur, for the State.
This appeal presents a constitutional challenge to OCGA § 16-6-5.1(b). 1 Curtis A. Randolph was indicted in two counts for sexual assault against a person in custody. The indictment alleged that Randolph engaged in sexual contact with a student enrolled in high school, and that Randolph had supervisory and disciplinary authority over the student. One count alleged that the contact occurred prior to the beginning of classes for the 1996-1997 school year, and the other alleged contact occurring after the beginning of classes for that school year. Randolph filed motions to dismiss, contending that OCGA § 16-6-5.1(b) is unconstitutional because of a violation of the one-subject rule of the Georgia Constitution and because of vagueness. The trial court denied the motions, but certified its order for immediate review. This court granted Randolph's interlocutory appeal application, posing two questions: 1. Whether OCGA § 16-6-5.1 violates Art. III, Sec. V, Par. III, or Art. III, Sec. V, Para. IV of the 1983 Georgia Constitution; 2. Whether OCGA § 16-6-5.1 is unconstitutionally vague as applied to this case.
1. The offense of sexual assault against persons in custody came into being in 1983 (Ga. L.1983, p. 721), and the class of victims was enlarged in 1990 to include a person "who is enrolled in a school...." Ga. L.1990, p. 1003. The constitutional attacks based on Art. III, Sec. V, of the Georgia Constitution relate to the act by which OCGA § 16-6-5.1 was amended in 1990.
a. "No bill shall pass which refers to more than one subject matter or contains matter different from what is expressed in the title thereof." Art. III, Sec. V, Par. III, Ga. Const. 1983. The caption 2 of the amending act involved here read in pertinent part as follows: "To amend Chapter 6 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to sexual offenses, so as to change the definition of the offense of sexual assault against persons in custody...." Ga. L.1990, p. 1003. Randolph contends the constitutional provision quoted above was violated by the amending act because the caption did not give notice that the body of the act contains a prohibition against sexual contact with a person who is enrolled in a school and over whom the actor has supervisory or disciplinary authority. We disagree.
The purpose of this constitutional provision requiring that the act's title must alert the reader to the matters contained in its body is to protect against surprise legislation. [Cit.] ... [Cit.]
Mead Corp. v. Collins, 258 Ga. 239(1), 367 S.E.2d 790 (1988). The caption in question in this case expresses an intent to change the definition of the offense of sexual assault against persons in custody; the act itself changed the definition of that offense to include among the class of victims persons enrolled in a school. Thus, that which followed the caption definitely related to it, had a natural connection to it, and was not in conflict with it. Accordingly, there was no violation of the constitutional requirement.
The case of Nelson v. Southern Guaranty Ins. Co., 221 Ga. 804, 147 S.E.2d 424 (1966), relied upon by Randolph, does not require a contrary conclusion. In that case, this court was considering legislation the caption of which specified that its purpose was to provide for uninsured motorist insurance, but the body of which included a requirement unconnected with uninsured motorist coverage. Concluding that the questioned provision was violative of what is now Art. III, Sec. V, Par. III, this court held,
When the caption of an amendatory Act specifically limits the matters to be included in the amendment, and there is inserted in the body of the Act a completely unrelated provision of which the title gives no intimation, the constitutional prohibition against the passage of a law which 'contains matter different from what is expressed in the title thereof' [cit.] is violated.
Id. at 807, 147 S.E.2d 424. That holding is inapposite here because the caption of the amendatory act did not limit the matters to be included more specifically than to the subject matter of the statute being amended, and inclusion in the body of the amendatory act of a new category of victims was not unrelated to the matter addressed in the caption, but was instead the means by which the promise of the caption was fulfilled.
b. "No law or section of the Code shall be amended or repealed by mere reference to its title or to the number of the section of the Code; but the amending or repealing Act shall distinctly describe the law or Code section to be amended or repealed as well as the alteration to be made." Art. III, Sec. V, Par. IV, Ga. Const. 1983. What is required by that provision is "a reasonably clear and concise description of the subject matter of the affected statute...." Mead Corp. v. Collins, 258 Ga. 239(2), 367 S.E.2d 790, supra. The 1990 amending act is plainly in accord with the constitutional provision since it specifies the code section to be amended and the subject matter of that section, and sets out the alteration, a revision of subsection (b) of OCGA § 16-6-5.1 to include in the class of victims persons enrolled in a school.
2. Randolph bases his vagueness challenge on his contention that the phrases "enrolled in a school" and "supervisory or disciplinary authority" are too broad to put a person of ordinary intelligence on notice of the conduct which is forbidden. However, that approach to the issue of vagueness is inappropriate in the procedural posture of this case. State v. Hudson, 247 Ga. 36(1), 273 S.E.2d 616 (1981). Although the facts of this...
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