State v. Peters

• Decision Date: 21 December 1994
• Docket Number: No. 94-11,94-11
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Mitch E. PETERS, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 854

525 N.W.2d 854

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Mitch E. PETERS, Appellant.

No. 94-11.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 21, 1994.

M.W. Miller, Jr. of Miller, Miller, Miller, Green & Miller, Cherokee, for appellant.

Bonnie J. Campbell, Atty. Gen., Richard J. Bennett, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Kirk E. Goettsch, County Atty., for appellee.

Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and LARSON, LAVORATO, ANDREASEN, and TERNUS, JJ.

LAVORATO, Justice.

The principle issue in this appeal is whether the State can charge one who is operating a snowmobile while intoxicated with a violation of Iowa Code section 321J.2 (1991) (prohibiting operating motor vehicle while intoxicated) even though a separate statute prohibits such conduct. See Iowa Code § 321G.13(3) (prohibiting operating snowmobile while intoxicated). The district court thought so, and in a bench trial on stipulated facts convicted Mitch E. Peters of violating section 321J.2.

Peters appeals his conviction and sentence, contending that the district court erred in holding that the State could charge him with a violation of section 321J.2. He also contends the district court abused its discretion in imposing a jail term. We agree with the district court and affirm the conviction. We find no abuse of discretion as to the sentence and affirm it.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

On the evening of January 9, 1993, Ida county deputy sheriff Randy Brown was on patrol in Ida Grove. He observed three snowmobiles travelling on a downtown sidewalk and then on the streets in a careless and reckless manner. Once Brown began pursuit, the trio split up. With the aid of fellow deputy Randy Peterson, Brown eventually stopped and arrested Peters.

At the time of arrest, Peters had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. He was taken to the Ida county sheriff's office where four standard sobriety tests were administered.

Peters successfully completed the one-legged stand. He made one mistake on the walk and turn. He failed the horizontal gaze nystagmus test and the preliminary breath test, registering above .10.

Brown invoked implied consent procedures. Peters refused to give a breath sample on the advice of his attorney. Peters ultimately was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, second offense, under Iowa Code section 321J.2.

Later the State filed a trial information. The parties then filed a joint motion to adjudicate law points. At issue was whether Peters should be charged under Iowa Code section 321J.2 or section 321G.13(3). As we noted, section 321J.2 prohibits operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and section 321G.13(3) prohibits operating a snowmobile while intoxicated.

In their motion to adjudicate law points, the parties stipulated that the snowmobile that Peters was operating met the definitional parameters of both Iowa Code section 321.1(2)(a) ¹ (defining motor vehicle) and Iowa Code section 321G.1(16) ² (defining snowmobile). The motion presented the following issue: Whether a defendant can be charged under Iowa Code section 321J.2 for operating a snowmobile while intoxicated or whether Iowa Code section 321G.13(3) supersedes and is controlling.

In ruling on this motion, Judge Robert C. Clem concluded that (1) section 321G.13(3) did not supersede section 321J.2, and (2) Peters could be charged under section 321J.2 for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Later, based on the stipulation of facts, Judge James L. McDonald found Peters guilty of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated under section 321J.2. Judge McDonald set a sentencing date and ordered a presentence investigation. See Iowa Code § 901.2 (presentence investigation discretionary with the court when the offense is aggravated or serious misdemeanor).

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Phillip S. Dandos sentenced Peters to one year in the county jail, with all but sixty days suspended. The judge placed Peters on probation for one year. A condition of probation was that Peters show successful completion of a substance abuse treatment program. Under the mandatory provisions of Iowa Code section 321J.4(3), Peters' license was suspended for six years. He was ordered to pay the statutory minimum fine of $750, a $225 surcharge, and court costs.

II. Alleged Conflict Between Iowa Code Sections 321J.2 and 321G.13.

A. Applicable law. Iowa Code section 321J.2 provides:

1. A person commits the offense of operating while intoxicated if the person operates a motor vehicle in this state in either of the following conditions:

a. While under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or other drug or a combination of such substances.

b. While having an alcohol concentration as defined in section 321J.1 of .10 or more.

(Emphasis added.)

Iowa Code section 321G.13(3) provides:

A person shall not drive or operate an all-terrain vehicle or snowmobile:

....

3. While under the influence of intoxicating liquor or narcotics or habit-forming drugs.

(Emphasis added.)

Violation of section 321J.2 is an aggravated misdemeanor for a second offense. Iowa Code § 321J.2(2)(b). Violation of section 321G.13(3) is a simple misdemeanor. Iowa Code § 321G.14.

B. Analysis. Peters concedes that a snowmobile meets the definition of motor vehicle in Iowa Code section 321.1(2)(a). He so stipulated in the district court. But, he argues, the snowmobile statute is separate and distinct from the general motor vehicle provisions of chapter 321. For that reason, he says, the legislature intended the snowmobile statute to supplant the operating while intoxicated statute. So, he concludes, even though a snowmobile meets the definition of a motor vehicle in chapter 321, the legislature did not intend a "motor vehicle" in section 321J.2--the OWI statute--to include a snowmobile.

The gist of Peters' argument is this. Section 321G.13(3) and section 321J.2 involve the same subject matter--operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Section 321G.13(3) specifically regulates operation of snowmobiles, while section 321J.2 regulates operation of all motor vehicles. Section 321G.13(3) is a special statute that conflicts with the general provision, section 321J.2. Under well-recognized rules of statutory construction, section 321G.13(3) should prevail. See Iowa Code § 4.7 (where irreconcilable conflict exists between general and special provisions, special provision prevails as exception to general provision).

The State counters that a choice between allegedly competing statutory provisions is required only when they cannot be reconciled. The State argues that the statutes here--section 321J.2 and section 321G.13(3)--are not irreconcilable, and for that reason the prosecutor was free to charge Peters under either statute.

Section 321J.2--the OWI statute--prohibits a defendant from operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. For purposes of section 321J.2, a motor vehicle is a

vehicle which is self-propelled, but not including vehicles known as trackless trolleys which are propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires and are not operated upon rails.

Iowa Code § 321.1(2)(a); State v. Russell, 508 N.W.2d 697, 698 (Iowa 1993) (per curiam).

A "vehicle," with certain exceptions not applicable here, is

every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway.

Iowa Code § 321.1(1).

A snowmobile is self-propelled and is not a trackless trolley. It is a device upon which persons or property may be transported upon a highway. So a snowmobile is ostensibly a motor vehicle for the purposes of section 321J.2.

The snowmobile chapter's own definition of a snowmobile further supports this conclusion. Under that definition a snowmobile

means a motorized vehicle weighing less than one thousand pounds which uses sled-type runners or skis, endless belt-type tread, or any combination of runners, skis, or tread, and is designed for travel on snow or ice.

Iowa Code § 321G.1(16) (emphasis added). So the snowmobile chapter itself defines a snowmobile not only as a vehicle, but as a motor vehicle.

That brings us to the critical issue: whether an intoxicated person who drives a snowmobile can be charged under section 321J.2--the OWI statute.

Generally, the legislature does not cover the same ground in separate statutes. If that happens and the statutes are found to be in conflict, the special statute is considered an exception to the general statute. Iowa Code § 4.7; State v. Perry, 440 N.W.2d 389, 390 (Iowa 1989). The special statute is considered an exception to the general statute only if the two statutes cannot be reconciled. Perry, 440 N.W.2d at 390.

Statutes covering the same ground are not irreconcilable if they can be read "in pari materia." Statutes are in pari materia when they

relate to the same person or thing, or to the same class of persons or things, or [when they] have a common purpose.... [I]t is well established that in the construction of a particular statute, or in the interpretation of its provisions, ... [all other] statutes which are in pari materia, should be read in connection with it; and such related statutes may or should be construed together as though they constituted one law, that is, they must be construed as one system.... This rule of construction applies although the statutes to be construed together were enacted at different times, and contain no reference to one another; and it is immaterial that the statutes are found in different chapters of the ... statutes and under different headings.

82 C.J.S. Statutes § 366, at 801-08 (1953). In addition, "the fact that one of the statutes is a special or particular, and the other a general, one, does not preclude them from being in pari materia." 73 Am.Jur.2d Statutes § 189, at 389 (1974). Statutes, however, are not in pari materia when they are inconsistent.

Courts resort to the rule of in pari materia only in search of legislative intent. It is "only a rule of construction to be...