Tharp v. State

• Decision Date: 27 November 1996
• Docket Number: No. 168-96,168-96
• Parties: Ex Parte James Martin THARP, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 157

935 S.W.2d 157

Ex Parte James Martin THARP, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 168-96.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas,

En Banc.

Nov. 27, 1996.

Greg Westfall, Fort Worth, for appellant.

Debra Ann Windsor, Asst. Dist. Atty., Fort Worth, Matthew Paul, State's Atty., Austin, for State.

Before the court en banc.

OPINION ON APPELLANT'S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

MANSFIELD, Judge.

Appellant, James Martin Tharp, was stopped on February 5, 1995 and arrested for suspicion of driving while intoxicated by a Fort Worth police officer. Appellant agreed to provide a specimen of his breath at the time of his arrest so that it could be tested for alcohol concentration. The test revealed an alcohol concentration level of at least 0.10. Appellant was served with notice of license suspension pursuant to Texas Revised Civil Stat. Article 6687b-1. Subsequently, the Department of Public Safety suspended appellant's driver's license for sixty days because the test performed on his breath specimen revealed an alcohol concentration of a level specified in Texas Penal Code 49.01 following an arrest for the offense of operation of a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

On February 8, 1995 an information was filed in Tarrant County Criminal Court Number 8, charging appellant with the misdemeanor offense of driving while intoxicated. Appellant filed a pretrial application for Writ of Habeas Corpus on May 1, 1995, averring double jeopardy barred the prosecution of the driving while intoxicated charge. After a hearing, the County Court denied relief, finding the administrative license revocation hearing was an administrative hearing and finding, in effect, the license suspension served a remedial purpose and was not punishment for purposes of implicating double jeopardy.

The Second Court of Appeals subsequently affirmed the judgment of the County Court. Ex parte Tharp, 912 S.W.2d 887 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1995) (pet.granted). In its opinion, the court of appeals first held, citing Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 696-97, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 2856, 125 L.Ed.2d 556 (1993) and Parrish v. State, 869 S.W.2d 352, 354 (Tex.Crim.App.1994), that Texas Revised Civil Stat. Article 6687b-1 and driving while intoxicated under Texas Penal Code § 49.04 constitute the "same offense" for double jeopardy purposes. Tharp, supra, at 889. The court noted all of the elements of driving while intoxicated under Texas Penal Code 49.04 are included in the elements for administrative license revocation under Article 6687b-1; thus, applying the "same elements" test of Blockburger, the two constitute the "same offense."

The court then addressed whether the sixty-day license revocation under Article 6687b-1 is "punishment" for purposes of implicating double jeopardy. The court found the purpose of the Texas administrative license revocation scheme to be primarily remedial, noting that a license to drive is a privilege and not a right, and noting further the temporary nature of the revocation. Tharp, supra, at 890-891. The court also noted, citing Department of Revenue of Montana v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U.S. 767, 114 S.Ct. 1937, 128 L.Ed.2d 767 (1994), that drivers' license revocations under Article 6687b-1 are not so far removed from normal administrative license revocations as to constitute punishment. Tharp, supra, at 894. ¹ The court did acknowledge Article 6687b-1 has some punitive/deterrent aspects but found it still primarily furthers the State's remedial goal of quickly protecting the public from drunk drivers.

This Court granted appellant's petition for discretionary review to consider the following ground for review:

Did the court of appeals err in holding that a driver's license suspension under Texas Revised Civil Stat. Annotated Article 6687b-1 does not constitute "punishment" for double jeopardy purposes under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution?

We first consider whether the civil penalty assessed under Tex.Rev.Civ. Stat. art. 6687b-1--suspension of one's driver's license for sixty days plus a fee of $100 to reinstate the license following completion of the suspension period--constitutes "punishment" for the purpose of federal double jeopardy analysis. In United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 109 S.Ct. 1892, 104 L.Ed.2d 487 (1989), the Supreme Court held that "the determination whether a given civil sanction constitutes punishment in the relevant sense requires a particularized assessment of the penalty imposed and the purposes that the penalty may fairly be said to serve." Halper, 490 U.S. at 448, 109 S.Ct. at 1901 (emphasis added). The Court further held "that in determining whether a particular civil sanction constitutes criminal punishment, it is the purposes actually served by the sanction in question ... that must be evaluated." Halper, 490 U.S. at 447, n. 7, 109 S.Ct. at 1901, n. 7.

The primary purpose of the administrative license suspension statute is not to deter the licensee or to seek retribution, but is to protect the public from the carnage on the public roads of Texas caused by drunk drivers. This primary purpose is clearly remedial, although it also has a secondary deterrent effect on motorists who realize that an arrest for driving while intoxicated may well result in suspension of their licenses. As the Third Court of Appeals has explained:

The nature of the interest and the rights that a licensee has in a driver's license has been addressed by Texas courts for almost half a century. A driver's license is not a right, but a privilege. Driving is not a constitutionally protected right, but a privilege. A license to drive an automobile on the streets is ... a privilege subject to reasonable regulations formulated under the police power in the interest of the welfare and safety of the general public.... The revocation of a driver's license is not intended as punishment but is designed solely for the protection of the public in the use of the highways. In Texas Dept. of Pub. Safety v. Richardson, 384 S.W.2d 128 (Tex.1964), the court stated that it was not concerned with criminal penalties because a driver's license is not suspended as additional punishment; rather it comes with an administrative and regulatory power vested in the Department of Public Safety for the purpose of protecting the lives and property of those using the highway.

Ex parte Arnold, 916 S.W.2d 640, 642 (Tex.App.--Austin 1996) (citations omitted). See also Ex parte Tharp, 912 S.W.2d 887, 890-891 (Tex.App.--Fort Worth 1995) (pet.grtd.) (administrative license revocation not considered punishment). ²

The Supreme Court has noted that an "obviously deterrent purpose" did not automatically make a tax assessed on illegal substances a form of "punishment." Department of Revenue v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U.S. 767, 780, 114 S.Ct. 1937, 1946, 128 L.Ed.2d 767 (1994). We recognize that the individual who has lost his license for sixty days and has to pay $100 to have it reinstated certainly may feel he has been "punished." However, the individual's perspective does not determine whether a civil sanction constitutes "punishment." The Supreme Court has recognized that even remedial sanctions, for the individual, may carry the sting of punishment. "[W]e hold merely that in determining whether a particular civil sanction constitutes criminal punishment, it is the purposes actually served by the sanction in question, not the underlying nature of the proceeding giving rise to the sanction, that must be evaluated." Halper, 490 U.S. at 447 n. 7, 109 S.Ct. at 1901, n. 7.

In Halper, the civil sanction imposed--$130,000--was over 200 times the amount of the loss to the government caused by Halper's criminal activity (for which he had already received a prison term and a substantial fine). The civil sanction was greatly in excess of the costs incurred by the government in prosecuting Halper, which was approximately $16,000. The Supreme Court did hold a civil sanction following a criminal prosecution that fairly compensates the government for its costs of prosecution and actual damages is remedial in nature, is not punishment, and does not implicate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Halper, 490 U.S. at 448-50, 109 S.Ct. at 1902. The sanction at issue in Halper was found to be punishment due to its being grossly in excess of the amount needed to compensate the government for its damages and costs. In Kurth Ranch, the Supreme Court, in effect, found that the tax imposed on drug dealers was a punishment masquerading as a tax for several reasons, among them being the rate of tax exceeded the value of the substance taxed by over 800%. Kurth Ranch, 511 U.S. at 780-783, 114 S.Ct. at 1946-1948.

Appellant does not persuade us that the relatively mild sanction imposed under Tex.Rev.Civ. Stat. art. 6687b-1 is of a magnitude to exceed what is reasonably necessary to accomplish the remedial goal of keeping drunk drivers off the road. Compare the temporary inconvenience to appellant of a relatively brief license suspension to the permanent loss of $130,000 faced by Halper, and it is difficult to find such a sanction to be so excessive (like that imposed on Halper) as to implicate appellant's double jeopardy rights, thereby precluding a subsequent driving while intoxicated prosecution. ³

Several of the courts of appeals have recently held that the suspension of an individual's driver's license pursuant to the administrative license revocation statute does not constitute "punishment" for the "same offense," so as to preclude, on double jeopardy grounds, the subsequent prosecution of that individual for the offense of driving while intoxicated. Helber v. State, 915 S.W.2d 955 (Tex.App.--Houston [1st] 1996); Ex parte Arnold, supra; Ex parte Tharp, supra; Arnold v. State, 920 S.W.2d 704 (Tex.App.--Houston [1st] 1996). The courts of appeals focused...