State v. One 1984 Toyota Truck

• Decision Date: 23 November 1987
• Docket Number: No. 13,13
• Citation: 533 A.2d 659,311 Md. 171
• Parties: , 84 A.L.R.4th 601 STATE of Maryland v. ONE 1984 TOYOTA TRUCK. Sept. Term 1987.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 171

311 Md. 171

533 A.2d 659, 84 A.L.R.4th 601

STATE of Maryland v. ONE 1984 TOYOTA TRUCK.

No. 13 Sept. Term 1987.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Nov. 23, 1987.

Ann E. Singleton, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on brief), Baltimore, for appellant.

No argument or brief filed by appellee.

Argued before MURPHY, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, COLE, RODOWSKY, McAULIFFE, ADKINS, and BLACKWELL, JJ.

ADKINS, Judge.

Md.Code (1982 Repl.Vol., 1987 Cum.Supp.), Art. 27, § 297, deals with forfeiture of property, including illegal controlled dangerous substances (CDS), and property used or intended to be used in connection with the manufacture, delivery, packaging, or transportation of those substances. Motor vehicles (conveyances) are among the kinds of property encompassed by the statute. But as to them § 297(a)(4)(iii) provides:

No conveyance shall be forfeited under the provisions of this section to the extent of the interest of any owner of the conveyance who neither knew nor should have known that the conveyance was used or was to be used in violation of this subtitle....

The question before us is whether a conveyance owned by husband and wife as tenants by the entirety is subject to forfeiture under § 297 when one spouse was well aware that the vehicle was used to transport and to distribute CDS and related paraphernalia, but the other--the innocent spouse--was not. Our answer is that § 297(a)(4)(iii) protects the innocent spouse (or his or her interest in the vehicle) in these circumstances. Because of the nature of a tenancy by the entirety, the 1984 Toyota Truck involved in the case is not subject to forfeiture.

The facts may be quickly sketched. Craig and Debra Kessler, husband and wife, owned a 1984 Toyota truck. It is not disputed that it was owned by them as tenants by the entirety. On 15 June 1985 a police officer observed the truck, saw a substance suspected to be cocaine in it, and arrested the occupants, Craig Kessler and Edward Lindsey. The officer searched the truck and found substantial quantities of cocaine, some marijuana, and CDS paraphernalia. In the officer's opinion the quantity and type of cocaine found indicated an intent to distribute. Craig Kessler was found guilty of violating the CDS laws and in due course the State sought to obtain forfeiture of the truck.

At a hearing in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, the parties (the State and the Kesslers) stipulated that all of the procedural requirements relating to forfeiture of motor vehicles had been met. The facts relating to the vehicle and its contents on 15 June 1985 and to Craig Kessler's presence on that occasion were all agreed to. Debra Kessler testified. On the basis of that testimony and with ample support in the record, Judge Marvin B. Steinberg found as a fact that Mrs. Kessler was an owner of the truck and had "a real interest in this vehicle...." He also found, with ample support in the record, that

she neither knew, nor should have known that the conveyance was used, ... or was to be used in violation of the Subtitle. I find that as a fact.

Later, in a careful and comprehensive opinion, Judge Steinberg reiterated those factual findings, concluded that Mrs. Kessler was entitled to § 297(a)(4)(iii)'s "innocent owner" defense, and decided that because of the nature of a tenancy by the entirety, the vehicle could not be forfeited. He so ordered. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed in a well-reasoned opinion by Chief Judge Gilbert, State v. One 1984 Toyota Truck, 69 Md.App. 235, 517 A.2d 103 (1986). We granted certiorari and now affirm the Court of Special Appeals.

Before us the State does not question Judge Steinberg's fact-finding. Instead, it argues that as a matter of statutory interpretation, the word "owner" in § 297(a)(4)(iii) should be read as "lienholder," that the "innocent owner" defense is not available to a vehicle owner where a commercial transaction is involved; that even if the "innocent owner" defense is available, the forfeiture statute contemplates that in the case of multiple owners, the guilty knowledge of one must be imputed to all the others; and that even if the imputed knowledge argument is rejected, a conveyance held by the entirety should not be exempt from forfeiture. These contentions require us to construe § 297(a)(4)(iii) and to review the nature and status of tenancy by the entirety in Maryland. We proceed first to a discussion of pertinent aspects of § 297.

I. Legislative History of Art. 27, § 297

Section 297 was enacted by Ch. 403, Acts of 1970, as part of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act (the Maryland Act). The Maryland Act was modelled on the Uniform Controlled Substances Act (the Uniform Act) promulgated by the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1970. 9 U.L.A. 187 (1970). The Uniform Act was designed to achieve uniformity among state laws on the subject and between them and federal law, particularly the Federal Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 (the Federal Act), Pub.L. No. 91-513, 84 Stat. 1236 (codified as amended at 21 U.S.C. §§ 801-966 (1982)). ¹

Section 505 of the Uniform Act deals with forfeiture, as does § 297 of the Maryland Act. Section 505(a)(4), corresponding to § 297(a)(4), concerns forfeiture of conveyances, including motor vehicles. The Uniform Act includes four defenses or exceptions to the conveyances provisions. One is the "common carrier" defense, § 505(a)(4)(i), that appears in almost identical form in the Maryland Act. Sec. 297(a)(4)(a). A second is a version of an "innocent owner" defense. Under § 505(a)(4)(ii) a vehicle otherwise subject to forfeiture would not be if the offending act or omission occurred without the owner's knowledge or consent. Maryland's version of this tracked the Federal Act rather than the Uniform Act, and protected the owner only if the act or omission occurred while the vehicle was in possession of some person other than the owner by reason of a violation of criminal law (e.g., a stolen car). Compare § 297(a)(4)(b) of the Maryland Act with 21 U.S.C. § 881(a)(4)(B). The Uniform Act also contained a provision that looked to protection of the holder of a security interest in a conveyance. Sec. 505(a)(4)(iv). The Maryland Act, like the Federal Act, omitted such a provision. ²

Thus, in 1970 the Maryland Act, so far as it pertained to motor vehicles, differed from the Uniform Act in that the former contained no "innocent owner" defense and no express protection for lienholders, while the latter did. ³

The Maryland Act was extensively amended by Ch. 659, Acts of 1972. Those changes are noted by Judge Orth, for this Court, in State v. One 1983 Chevrolet Van, 309 Md. 327, 330-331, 524 A.2d 51, 52-53 (1987); see also Judge Moylan's opinion for the Court of Special Appeals in State v. 1982 Plymouth, 67 Md.App. 310, 318-325, 507 A.2d 633, 637-640 (1986). For present purposes, it is enough to say that these changes added provisions looking to the protection of holders of security interests in forfeited vehicles. Sec. 297(f)-(u). Thus, they addressed a subject covered in the Uniform Act but omitted from the 1970 Maryland Act. In addition, they provided extensive guidelines for police officers (§ 297(f)) and for State's Attorneys (§ 297 (g)-(i)) as well as detailed procedural provisions (§ 297 (j)-(o )). In addition, the 1972 amendments added some specific directions to the court handling a forfeiture proceeding (§ 297 (p)-(q)), and in doing so, they brought into Maryland motor vehicle forfeiture law another concept embodied in the Uniform Act but not in the 1970 Maryland Act--the "innocent owner" defense. ⁴

In new § 297(p) the General Assembly instructed that

[a]t the scheduled [judicial] hearing, any owner ... may show by competent evidence that the motor vehicle was not in fact used in violation of this subtitle or that he neither knew nor should have known that the motor vehicle was being, or was to be so used. Upon the determination that the motor vehicle was not so used, the court shall order that the motor vehicle be released to the owner. [Emphasis supplied.]

On the other hand (§ 297(q)),

If after a full hearing the court decides that the vehicle was used in violation of this subtitle or that the owner knew or should have known that the motor vehicle was being, or was to be so used, the court shall order that the motor vehicle be forfeited to the State. [Emphasis supplied.] ⁵

So far as we are now concerned, matters stood thus until 1984. Chapter 549 of that year made further extensive changes. For the most part, as Judge Orth explained in One 1983 Chevrolet Van, 309 Md. at 331-333, 524 A.2d at 53-54, these concerned protection of the interests of the motor vehicle lienholder. But Ch. 549 also added to § 297 a new subsection (a)(4)(iii):

No conveyance shall be forfeited under the provisions of this section to the extent of the interest of any owner of the conveyance who neither knew nor should have known that the conveyance was used or was to be used in violation of this subtitle.

It is this language to which Judge Steinberg looked when he made his factual findings. It is this language, along with Maryland law about tenancy by the entirety, upon which he relied when he decided the Toyota truck should not be forfeited. The same factors were deemed decisive by the Court of Special Appeals.

II. Construction of § 297(a)(4)(iii)

The State attacks those results by pointing out that the chief purpose of Ch. 549, Acts of 1984, was the protection of lienholders. Since that was the legislative goal, it asserts, new § 297(a)(4)(iii) should be construed in light of it, and in so doing, the word "owner" should read "lienholder" in order to be consistent with that goal. The State's notion that legislative goals or objectives ordinarily should be considered in interpreting a statute is sound. Kaczorowski v. City of Baltimore, 309 Md. 505, 513-515, 525 A.2d 628, 632-633 (1987)....