State v. Vainio

• Decision Date: 05 October 1983
• Citation: 466 A.2d 471
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Carl VAINIO.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 471

466 A.2d 471

STATE of Maine v. Carl VAINIO.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued June 17, 1983.

Decided Oct. 5, 1983.

David M. Cox, Dist. Atty., Gary F. Thorne, Asst. Dist. Atty. (orally), Bangor, for plaintiff.

Mark S. Kierstead (orally), Waterville, for defendant.

Before McKUSICK, C.J., NICHOLS, VIOLETTE and WATHEN, JJ., and DUFRESNE, A.R.J.

DUFRESNE, Active Retired Justice.

At a jury trial in July, 1982, in the Superior Court, Penobscot County, Carl Vainio, the defendant, was found guilty of the crime of having a firearm in his possession or under his control contrary to the provisions of 15 M.R.S.A. § 393, which prohibits a person who has been convicted of a crime punishable by one year or more imprisonment from owning or having in his possession or under his control any firearm, unless such a person has obtained a permit from the Commissioner of Public Safety.

On appeal, Vainio contends (1) that, because his underlying previous theft conviction, if graded under title 17-A, section 362, of the Maine Criminal Code, would be a Class E crime punishable by imprisonment for a period not to exceed 6 months, he was not a member of the class of persons convicted of a crime punishable by one year or more imprisonment contemplated by section 393 of title 15, (2) that this statute as applied to him in the instant case operates as an ex post facto law in violation of both the Constitutions of the State of Maine and of the United States, and (3) that his 1962 felony conviction of larceny was null and void, in that it was obtained as a result of his plea of guilty to the charge without the benefit of his constitutional right to assistance of counsel. We affirm the Superior Court judgment.

Facts

In September, 1961, Carl Vainio was indicted by the Grand Jury in Piscataquis County for stealing brass pipes belonging to Guilford Woolen Mills, Inc. alleged to be of the value of one hundred ninety-two dollars and twenty cents ($192.20), a felony under R.S. ch. 132, § 1 (1954). ¹ At his arraignment in March, 1962, Vainio pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to the Men's Reformatory. The execution of the sentence was suspended, however, and he was placed on probation for the period of two years. A special condition of probation consisted in making restitution in the sum of ninety-six dollars and twenty cents ($96.20). Vainio entered his guilty plea to the alleged felony without the assistance of counsel, the printed record form indicating

"Respondent inquired of if he wished Counsel, REPLY: No." The record does show that Vainio was discharged from probation in March, 1964. That conviction has never been vacated, nor has the defendant ever been pardoned in connection therewith, nor did he obtain a permit from the Commissioner of Public Safety to possess or have under his control a firearm pursuant to 15 M.R.S.A. § 393.

On January 4, 1982, Vainio was indicted for having in his possession or under his control on or about December 31, 1981, a firearm, the accusation further charging that he had been convicted on March 16, 1962, of the crime of larceny, a felony under the laws of the State of Maine punishable by one year or more imprisonment, all in violation of 15 M.R.S.A. § 393. ² The evidence at trial did indicate, and Vainio did not deny, that on the alleged occasion he did have in his possession two firearms, a .357 Magnum and a .270 Browning rifle. Defense counsel at trial sought to attack the validity of Vainio's 1962 theft conviction, but the trial justice would not permit it.

Applicability of 15 M.R.S.A. § 393

The defendant contends on appeal that, although his 1962 theft conviction was at the time punishable by one year or more imprisonment, it does not come within the scope of the prohibition created by 15 M.R.S.A. § 393. He asserts that, when the Legislature enacted in 1977 the current section 393 prohibiting ownership, possession or control of any firearm to any person

who has been convicted of any crime, under the laws of the United States, the State of Maine or any other state, which is punishable by one year or more imprisonment ...,

it was referring to convictions which under the punishment classifications of the Maine Criminal Code effective May 1, 1976, are punishable by one year or more imprisonment. ³ Since his 1962 theft conviction involved property valued at less than $500, Vainio argues that he had not been convicted of a crime under the laws of the State of Maine which is punishable by one year or more imprisonment within the scope of the present section 393. We disagree.

At the time of the defendant's underlying conviction of theft, the law regulating the possession of firearms made illegal the possession by convicted felons of concealable firearms, except that it did not apply to any person who had not been subsequently convicted of a penal offense during the 5-year period next immediately following his discharge or release from prison. P.L. 1955, ch. 310. That statute, codified later as 15 M.R.S.A. § 393, was repealed by P.L.1977, ch. 225 § 2, which enacted in its place the current section 393, the Legislature expanding the scope of illegality to include the ownership and control as well as the possession of any firearm, concealable or non-concealable. The Legislature at the same time modified the terminology describing the class of persons within the prohibition from "any person who has been convicted of a felony" to "any person who has been convicted of any crime ... which is punishable by one year or more imprisonment." This modification, however, made necessary by the adoption in the Maine Criminal Code of a new crime-classification prescript replacing the former felony-misdemeanor dichotomy, did not constitute an express rejection of the superseded proscriptions, but rather merely carried over the concept of the displaced statute to meet the Code's new concepts in crime categorization.

The starting point in any given case concerning the interpretation of a statute must be the language of the statute itself. Indeed, legislative intent oftentimes is readily ascertainable from the plain meaning of the words used in the statute. State v. Hussey, 381 A.2d 665, 666-67 (Me.1978); State v. Granville, 336 A.2d 861, 863 (Me.1975). Unless the statute itself discloses a contrary intent, words in a statute must be given their plain, common and ordinary meaning, such as men of common intelligence would usually ascribe to them. State v. Snow, 383 A.2d 1385, 1388 (Me.1978); State v. Heald, 382 A.2d 290, 294 (Me.1978); State v. Shaw, 343 A.2d 210, 213 (Me.1975). The effect of a penal statute cannot be extended or restricted beyond the plain meaning of the language chosen by the Legislature. Davis v. State, 306 A.2d 127, 129 (Me.1973).

An examination of the current section 393 reveals that the legislative restriction placed upon the ownership, possession or control of any firearm, concealable or nonconcealable, absent a permit from the Commissioner of Public Safety, is directed in broad and sweeping statutory language at any person "who has been convicted of any crime, under the laws of the United States, the State of Maine or any other state, which is punishable by one year or more imprisonment." Nothing on the face of the statute indicates that the past convictions to which the Legislature was referring were convictions of crimes other than crimes which at the time of their commission in the jurisdiction where committed carried the potential punishment by one year or more imprisonment. This is the natural import of the legislative phraseology. Any interpretation which would make the disabling character of past convictions to depend on the vagaries of subsequent legislative changes in the punitive consequences which a legislature might at a later time impose for similar conduct, would effectively destroy the uniform package which our legislators had undoubtedly in mind, when in 1977 they concluded that there was not only need for updating the existing gun control legislation in the case of convicted criminals on account of the recent adoption of the Maine Criminal Code, but also that there was a demand for greater control of firearms in the hands of that class of persons who presented a high potential of danger to the public by reason of their having been convicted of a felony or conduct which at the time was considered a serious offense. If the Legislature, in its reference to persons who have been convicted of crimes punishable by one year or more imprisonment, had intended that, in the case of convictions antedating the adoption of the Maine Criminal Code, the penalty criterion would have reference to the crime classifications of the Code including those for theft offenses, it would have been an easy task to have so indicated specifically. The obvious breadth of the all-inclusive language of the statute, together with the factual expansion of the statutory disability to include ownership possession and control of non-concealable firearms as well as concealable firearms, effectively militates against the defendant's contention that the Legislature did intend to relieve convicted felons from the imposed firearm ineligibility if their past conduct, when viewed in the light of the Maine Criminal Code penalty provisions, would not currently qualify as a felonious or serious crime. The Legislature has demonstrated that this statute was to be interpreted broadly and not constricted within narrow channels. Indeed, the same One Hundred and Eighth Legislature in 1977, (P.L.1977, ch. 564, § 72) made sure that the term "convicted" as used in 15 M.R.S.A. § 393, sub-s 1, as enacted by P.L.1977, ch. 225, § 2, would have broad coverage, amending the statute to include the following:

For the purposes of this subsection, a person shall be deemed to have been convicted upon the acceptance of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or a verdict or finding of guilty by a court of competent...