Salt Lake City v. Ohms, 930580

• Decision Date: 18 August 1994
• Docket Number: No. 930580,930580
• Citation: 881 P.2d 844
• Parties: SALT LAKE CITY, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Mason A. OHMS, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

Page 844

881 P.2d 844

SALT LAKE CITY, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Mason A. OHMS, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 930580

Supreme Court of Utah.

Aug. 18, 1994.

Cheryl D. Luke, Salt Lake City, for Salt Lake City.

David L. Sanders, Salt Lake City, for Ohms.

RUSSON, Justice:

Mason A. Ohms appeals his conviction of giving false or misleading information to a police officer, a class C misdemeanor, in violation of Salt Lake City Ordinance § 11.04.100. We reverse and remand.

I. FACTS

At approximately 9:30 p.m. on August 25, 1992, a disturbance involving the distribution of beer erupted in the third-level plaza area of the Delta Center. Sergeant Foster Mayo of the Salt Lake City Police Department, who was working security duty at the Delta Center, intervened and placed Mason A. Ohms under arrest for battery, a class B misdemeanor, in violation of Salt Lake City Ordinance § 11.08.020. After taking Ohms to a holding room, Sergeant Mayo asked him for identification, at which time Ohms produced a driver's license bearing the name Scott Smith. Sergeant Mayo asked Ohms if this was his driver's license and if he was Smith; Ohms answered both questions in the affirmative.

After Sergeant Mayo and other officers began the requisite paperwork using the Smith identification, one officer noticed that Ohms did not match the physical description on the driver's license. When confronted with the discrepancy, Ohms produced a second driver's license bearing his correct name. Ohms was subsequently charged with providing false or misleading information to a police officer, a class C misdemeanor.

Prior to his trial on both misdemeanor charges, Ohms signed a waiver and consent form in which he (1) acknowledged his right to a trial before a third circuit court judge with or without a jury, (2) waived that right, and (3) consented to have his case tried and final judgment entered by a circuit court commissioner. ¹ Following a trial before Third Circuit Court Commissioner Sandra N. Peuler on December 15, 1992, Ohms was convicted by her of providing false or misleading information to a police officer and sentenced to three days in the Salt Lake County Jail, which sentence was suspended upon payment of a $100 fine. ²

Ohms appealed his conviction to the Utah Court of Appeals, which certified his appeal to this court, pursuant to Utah Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(a). ³ On certification, Ohms challenges (1) the circuit court commissioner's authority to enter final judgment, and (2) the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction. Salt Lake City responds that (1) Ohms, having never challenged the authority of the court commissioner below, may not raise this argument for the first time on appeal; and (2) the evidence is sufficient to support Ohms' conviction. ⁴

II. AUTHORITY OF COURT COMMISSIONERS

On certification, Ohms argues that the circuit court commissioner lacked authority to enter final judgment in his case. Specifically, he asserts that Utah Code Ann. § 78-3-31 (1992) is unconstitutional insofar as it delegates ultimate judicial power to court commissioners in violation of article VIII of the Utah Constitution. Ohms bases his argument on Holm v. Smilowitz, 840 P.2d 157 (Utah Ct.App.1992). However, while addressing similar concerns, Holm is distinguishable from the present case because it addresses only the authority of court commissioners to hear nonconsent civil cases. ⁵ The matter before us now is a criminal case involving consent.

Salt Lake City responds that since Ohms did not challenge the authority of the court commissioner or raise the constitutionality of section 78-3-31 below, he may not now raise these arguments for the first time on appeal. Alternatively, Salt Lake City contends that since Ohms (1) knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to have his case tried and final judgment entered by a third circuit court judge with or without a jury and (2) consented to have his case tried and final judgment entered by a court commissioner, he cannot now, having received an unfavorable verdict, challenge the validity of that waiver and consent.

As a general rule, we will review issues raised for the first time on appeal only if exceptional circumstances or "plain error" exists. See, e.g., State v. Brown, 853 P.2d 851, 853-54 (Utah 1992); State v. Gibbons, 740 P.2d 1309, 1311 (Utah 1987); State v. Steggell, 660 P.2d 252, 254 (Utah 1983). In the present case, or in any similar case, the only way that a defendant could challenge the constitutionality of section 78-3-31(6)(a) would be first to consent to a hearing by a commissioner and then to challenge the validity of that very consent. Such a procedure would likely be futile inasmuch as it would invariably result in the withdrawal of the consent, either by the defendant or by court order. Indeed, absent the approach taken by Ohms, it is unlikely that section 78-3-31(6)(a) would ever be subject to constitutional scrutiny. This is precisely the sort of exceptional circumstance that permits us to review the constitutionality of the provision in question. Accordingly, even though Ohms did not challenge the constitutionality of section 78-3-31 below, we nonetheless address this argument on appeal.

Our analysis of the constitutionality of section 78-3-31 begins with the premise that "statutes are presumed to be constitutional." State v. Rio Vista Oil, Ltd., 786 P.2d 1343, 1349 (Utah 1990). As this court stated in In re Estate of Baer:

The decisions of this court unanimously support a presumption of constitutionality of legislative enactments. In determining constitutionality, statutes are presumed to be constitutional until the contrary is clearly shown. It is only when statutes manifestly infringe upon some constitutional provision that they can be declared void. Every reasonable presumption must be indulged in and every reasonable doubt resolved in favor of constitutionality.

In re Estate of Baer, 562 P.2d 614, 616 (Utah), appeal dismissed sub nom. Baer v. Baer, 434 U.S. 805, 98 S.Ct. 35, 54 L.Ed.2d 63 (1977); see also Murray City v. Hall, 663 P.2d 1314, 1317-18 (Utah 1983) (holding that statutes " 'are endowed with a strong presumption of validity; and that they should not be declared unconstitutional if there is any reasonable basis upon which they can be found to come within the constitutional frame work [sic]' " (quoting Greaves v. State, 528 P.2d 805, 807 (Utah 1974))). Nonetheless, when a proper challenge to the constitutionality of a given statute is made, the said statute must be examined to determine if it is unconstitutional, either on its face or as applied. See, e.g., In re Criminal Investigation, 7th Dist. Court No. CS-1, 754 P.2d 633, 640 (Utah 1988); Wells v. Children's Aid Soc'y of Utah, 681 P.2d 199, 204 (Utah 1984); Ellis v. Social Servs. Dep't of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 615 P.2d 1250, 1255 (Utah 1980).

The statute at issue in this case provides in part:

Court commissioners are quasi-judicial officers of courts of record and have judicial authority as provided by this section and rules of the Judicial Council. ⁶

It further states:

Upon the informed consent of the defendant, the court commissioner may conduct a jury or nonjury misdemeanor trial in accordance with the law. Upon conviction, the commissioner may impose sentence and enter final judgment. The judgment entered by the commissioner shall be the final judgment of the court for all purposes, including appeal. ⁷

Article VIII, section 1 of the Utah Constitution, much like article III, section 1 of the United States Constitution, provides that the judicial power of the state shall be vested in the courts. However, unlike its federal counterpart, the Utah Constitution further delineates certain requirements concerning the selection and retention of those who will exercise that judicial power. See Utah Const. art. VIII, §§ 8, 9, & 13. Thus, under state law, examination of the constitutionality of section 78-3-31 consists of two inquiries: (1) whether section 78-3-31 violates the Utah Constitution's exclusive vesting of the state's judicial power in article VIII courts, ⁸ and (2) whether section 78-3-31 violates the Utah Constitution's requirements for those persons exercising that judicial power in courts of record. ⁹

A. Constitutional Powers of Article VIII Courts

Core functions or powers of the various branches of government are clearly nondelegable under the Utah Constitution. See, e.g., Sandy City v. Salt Lake County, 827 P.2d 212, 221 (Utah 1992) (holding that legislative functions, such as powers of zoning and rezoning, cannot be delegated); State v. Gallion, 572 P.2d 683, 687 (Utah 1977) (holding that Utah Const. art. VI, § 1 limits legislature's ability to delegate legislative powers or functions to others); In re Bridwell, 25 Utah 2d 1, 2, 474 P.2d 116, 116 (Utah 1970) (holding that Utah Supreme Court cannot delegate its duty to discipline an erring attorney to others); accord State v. Green, 793 P.2d 912, 916 (Utah Ct.App.1990) (holding that "crime definition and penalty powers are essential legislative functions that cannot constitutionally be delegated by the Utah Legislature to any other person or body"). For example, a legislator cannot appoint another person to cast his or her vote on the floor of the legislature. Although a legislator can utilize assistants for various purposes, these assistants cannot exercise the legislator's voting power since such is a core legislative function. It is the legislator, not his or her staff, who is elected for that purpose, and it is the legislator who is accountable to the people.

Likewise, a judge cannot appoint another person to enter final judgments and orders or impose sentence. While he or she can utilize referees, court commissioners, and other assistants for various purposes, those persons cannot exercise that judge's ultimate judicial power, for such is a nondelegable core judicial function. In courts of...