Commonwealth v. Duda
Commonwealth v. Duda
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
In this direct appeal, we consider the constitutionality of a provision of Pennsylvania’s DUI statute that prohibits driving after having consumed enough alcohol to elevate one’s blood alcohol concentration to a certain level within two hours after driving.
On August 21, 2004, at 12:32 a.m., a Pittsburgh police officer was dispatched to the scene of a two-car accident. He arrived at the scene two minutes later and spoke to Appellee, who had been driving one of the vehicles. In doing so, he noted a moderate odor of alcohol about Appellee and observed that his eyes appeared “glassy” and that he had a staggered gait. The officer administered several field sobriety tests which Appellee failed to perform to his satisfaction. Accordingly, Appellee was arrested and transported to police headquarters for breath testing. At 1:33 a.m., approximately one hour after the officer’s arrival at the accident scene, Appellee took a breathalyzer test, which revealed a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of 0. 081 percent.
Appellee was charged by information with misdemeanor DUI counts under Sections 3802(a)(1) and (a)(2) of the Vehicle Code, which provide:
§ 3802. Driving under influence of alcohol or controlled substance (a) General impairment.—
(1) An individual may not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle after imbibing a sufficient amount of alcohol such that the individual is rendered incapable of safely driving, operating or being in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle.
(2) An individual may not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle after imbibing a sufficient amount of alcohol such that the alcohol concentration in the individual’s blood or breath is at least 0.08% but less than 0.10% within two hours after the individual has driven, operated or been in actual, physical control of the movement of the vehicle.
75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(a).
After pleading not guilty, Appellee filed an omnibus pretrial motion, inter alia, challenging the constitutionality of
In its opinion, the trial court found Section 3802(a)(2) to be unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. In particular, the court observed that the title of Section 3802 references the conduct of driving while under the influence, but noted that, in contrast, the Commonwealth only need prove a certain BAC level within two hours after driving. Thus, in the court’s view, a person of ordinary intelligence would likely be confused as to what conduct was prohibited, because he or she would not know the exact level of alcohol permitted in the blood while in operation of the vehicle. Furthermore, in the court’s view, subsection (a)(2) sweeps too broadly as it includes within its proscription the activity of driving with a BAC of less than 0.08 percent so long one’s BAC reaches 0.08 percent within two hours after driving, thereby criminalizing activity that would otherwise be lawful.
To understand the trial court’s reasoning and the parties’ present arguments, it is helpful to undertake a brief review of the historical background underlying this case. DUI statutes have existed in Pennsylvania since at least 1909.
Although this latter provision — known as an “illegal per se ” law — was subsequently upheld against a due process void-for-vagueness challenge, see Commonwealth v. Mikulan, 504 Pa. 244, 256, 470 A.2d 1339, 1345 (1983), litigation ensued concerning the manner and propriety of establishing a 0.10 percent BAC at the time of driving premised upon post-driving chemical testing. The reason is that there is necessarily a delay between an accident and the arrival of police at the scene, or between the moment a vehicle is stopped by the police and the time the driver is subjected to chemical testing for purposes of determining his BAC level. See generally Commonwealth v. Speights, 353 Pa.Super. 258, 263-64, 509 A.2d 1263, 1266 (1986); see also 75 Pa.C.S. § 1547(c)(1) (pertaining to the admissibility into evidence of breath test results); 67 Pa.Code § 77.24 (pertaining to breath test procedures). During such interval, it is likely that the individual’s BAC level will change to some degree. In Commonwealth v. MacPherson, 561 Pa. 571, 578 n. 3, 752 A.2d 384, 387 n. 3 (2000), for example, this
Ultimately, the Superior Court settled on an interpretation of Section 3731(a)(4) whereby the prosecution did not always have to present relation-back evidence to support a conviction under that subsection. The court, for example, held that the result of a breathalyzer test, by itself, could support a conviction under subsection (a)(4), although the jury was free to acquit the defendant if there was other evidence tending to undermine the probative value of the test result, see Speights, 353 Pa.Super. at 266, 509 A.2d at 1267; see also Commonwealth v. Slingerland, 358 Pa.Super. 531, 536, 518 A.2d 266, 269 (Pa.Super. 1986) (affirming a subsection (a)(4) guilty verdict where the Commonwealth introduced the results of a post-driving blood test showing a BAC of 0.33 without any relation-back evidence, and the defendant testified that he had been drinking heavily before driving). Two years later, the Superior Court likewise affirmed a Section 3731(a)(4) conviction absent relation-back testimony because the “totality of the
On the other hand, this Court found the evidence insufficient to convict in a matter where a blood test performed one hour after driving revealed a BAC only slightly above 0.10 percent, the defendant had not been driving erratically, and the Commonwealth’s expert witness testified that the laboratory equipment used to perform the test had a ten percent margin of error. See Commonwealth v. Jarman, 529 Pa. 92, 601 A.2d 1229 (1992); see also Commonwealth v. Modaffare, 529 Pa. 101, 601 A.2d 1233 (1992) (filed the same day as Jarman, and similarly finding the evidence insufficient to sustain an (a)(4) conviction where the defendant’s BAC level was determined to be slightly above 0.10 percent one hour and fifty minutes after driving, but the Commonwealth’s medical expert’s testimony was ambiguous as to whether it was at least 0.10 percent when driving).
In Jarman, Mr. Justice Cappy, now Chief Justice, joined by former Justice McDermott, filed a dissenting opinion in which he set forth his view of the difficulties involved in the majority’s approach:
In the case sub judice, the expert called by the Commonwealth testified that alcohol reaches its peak in the bloodstream within 60-90 minutes after consumption; that it was not possible to tell, on the basis of a single blood test, whether the blood alcohol was rising or falling; and that he could not say with clinical certainty what appellant’s precise blood alcohol content was at the actual time of driving. However, due to the defendant’s Fifth Amendment right not to give evidence against himself, the Commonwealth cannot and should not be able to compel the defendant to relate*173 when he drank, how much he drank, and when he consumed his last drink. Without this information, no expert will be able to ascertain whether the defendant’s blood alcohol was rising or falling at the time of the blood alcohol test. Thus, if we require the Commonwealth to present expert evidence in a case charged under the statute, we are levying an impossible burden on the Commonwealth to prove its case.
Jarman, 529 Pa. at 99-100, 601 A.2d at 1232. Thus, in Justice Gappy’s view, the Commonwealth should be deemed to have made out a prima facie case of guilt through introduction of the BAC test results performed some time after the defendant ceased driving, but the defendant should also remain free to rebut the prosecution’s case by presenting expert evidence tending to show that his BAC was actually below 0.10 percent at the time of driving.
The General Assembly, unsatisfied with this state of affairs, see Commonwealth v. Barud, 545 Pa. 297, 304 n. 2, 681 A.2d 162, 165 n. 2 (1996), amended the law in late 1992 to add subsection (a)(5), which became Pennsylvania’s second “illegal
§ 3731. Driving under influence of alcohol or controlled substance
(a) Offense defined. — A person shall not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of any vehicle: (1) while under the influence of alcohol to a degree which renders the person incapable of safe driving
Hi Hi * * *
(4) while the amount of alcohol by weight in the blood of the person is 0.10% or greater; or
(5) if the amount of alcohol by weight in the blood of the person is 0.10% or greater at the time of a chemical test of a sample of the person’s breath, blood or urine, which sample is: (i) obtained within three hours after the person drove, operated or was in physical control of the vehicle; or (ii) if the circumstances of the incident prevent collecting the sample within three hours, obtained at a reasonable additional time after the person drove, operated or was in actual physical control of the vehicle.
(a.l) Defense. — It shall be a defense to a prosecution under subsection (a)(5) if the person proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the person consumed alcohol after the last instance in which he drove, operated or was in actual physical control of the vehicle, and that the amount of alcohol by weight in his blood would not have exceeded 0.10% at the time of the test but for such consumption.
75 Pa.C.S. § 3731 (repealed).
In Commonwealth v. Barud, 545 Pa. 297, 681 A.2d 162 (1996), this Court was called upon to determine whether this new provision, 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(a)(5), violated the constitutional doctrines of vagueness and overbreadth. In examining
III.
In the case at hand, the trial court relied heavily upon Band in striking down Section 3802(a)(2). In particular, the court quoted a passage from the Band decision in which this Court faulted the former Section 3731(a)(5) for not requiring proof that the defendant exceeded a BAC of 0.10 at the time of driving, thus implicating conduct which had not otherwise been declared unlawful in Pennsylvania. In this respect, Band posited that, if a driver were stopped and detained before his BAC reached the 0.10 legal limit, and testing several hours later revealed a BAC above the legal limit, the defendant would be subject to criminal liability although the Commonwealth never proved that he drove while his BAC exceeded the threshold. Furthermore, Band determined that the addition of Section 3731(a)(5) had created confusion as to precisely what conduct was prohibited, since it would be less than apparent to the ordinary citizen whether the proscribed activity was driving with a BAC above 0.10 percent, or having a rising BAC that may be below that threshold level at the time of driving but meets or exceeds that level at the time of testing. See Commonwealth v. Duda, CC No. 200413158
The Commonwealth argues that the trial court erred by concentrating exclusively on the driver’s BAC level while driving. In the Commonwealth’s view, the General Assembly sought, through enactment of the new DUI statute, to unequivocally shift the focus of the prohibited conduct to the act of driving after drinking excessively, irrespective of the driver’s actual BAC level while driving. According to the Commonwealth, this new statutory scheme eliminates the presumptions involved in the statute struck down in Barud because the fact-finder is no longer required to draw any inference concerning the defendant’s BAC level at the moment of driving; rather, to show that the defendant drank “too much” and then drove in violation of the statute, the prosecution need only demonstrate that the individual’s BAC was at least 0.08 percent within a time certain after driving. The Commonwealth maintains that the Legislature acted within its authority in specifically prohibiting driving after drinking excessively, as opposed to having a certain BAC level while actually driving, as such proscription targets a public danger that undoubtedly follows from drinking excessively and then driving, particularly as the driver is unable to know with certainty when he will reach his destination due to the possibility of construction, heavy traffic, accidents, or other roadway obstructions. See Brief for Appellant at 23. The Commonwealth additionally proffers that the new statute is salutary in that it: (a) eliminates “the battle of the experts in a quest for pinpointing the BAC level” at the moment of driving; and (b) removes the prior statute’s “deadly loophole” which made criminal liability depend upon fortuitous circumstances such as whether the driver was able to hurry home
Appellee counters that Section 3802(a)(2) must be interpreted in line with the trial court’s reasoning, namely, as intended to proscribe the conduct of actually driving a motor vehicle with a BAC above the legal threshold. He reasons that any other construction would result in its being constitutionally invalid on the basis that it would create a conclusive presumption concerning the driver’s BAC level at the time of driving that a trier of fact would be required to follow. He urges that such a presumption has no rational relationship to the furtherance of any governmental interest and would, moreover, encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. Also, he states that the Commonwealth’s position as delineated above is “squarely at odds” with the reasoning employed by this Court in Barud, and, additionally, negates the accused’s presumption of innocence and the Commonwealth’s burden to prove every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
IV.
Band’s holding was premised upon its interpretation of the legislative purpose underlying Section 3731(a)(5) in the historical context in which that amendment arose. The Court regarded the central aim of the provision as providing an alternate means to convict an accused predicated on the
While it is clear that the intent of the amendment was to cure those instances in which a person’s BAC barely exceeded the legal limit at the time of testing, the statute fails to provide for any mechanism, as do many other jurisdictions, whereby the accused may either: (1) rebut the state’s presumption that their BAC at the time of testing accurately reflected their BAC at the time of driving or (2) produce competent evidence that he or she was below the legal limit at the time of driving (other than consumption after the fact) thereby requiring the Commonwealth to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant’s BAC exceeded the legal limit at the time of driving. As currently enacted, however, the statute does not even require any proof that the person had a BAC above the legal limit at the time of driving, thereby criminalizing conduct which has not been declared criminal by the legislature.
Barud, 545 Pa. at 307, 681 A.2d at 166. It is apparent from the above that the Court understood that the General Assembly had no intention of defining as a separate and independent offense the activity of driving after drinking excessively irrespective of one’s BAC level at the time of driving.
This understanding of Band’s central premise was recognized in Commonwealth v. McCurdy, 558 Pa. 65, 73, 735 A.2d 681, 685 (1999), a case in which this Court considered whether the defendant’s conviction of DUI under Section 3731(a)(1) was vitiated by the holding in Band. McCurdy’s trial took place shortly before Band was announced, and the jury had expressly accepted both subsection (a)(1) and subsection (a)(5) as supportive of the DUI guilty verdict, while rejecting subsection (a)(4) as a basis for conviction. On appeal the Superior Court (now in a post-Band timeframe) treated the verdict as containing two separate convictions — one based on (a)(1) and one based on (a)(5) — and vacated what it deemed to be the (a)(5) conviction, while affirming the judgment of sentence relative to the (a)(1) conviction.
Here, the jury specifically found that the Commonwealth established the offense of driving under the influence pursuant to subsection (a)(1). Having established that offense, the unconstitutionality of an alternate method of proving the offense under subsection (a)(5) did not undermine the proof supportive of subsection (a)(1).
Id. at 74, 735 A.2d at 686 (emphasis added); see also id. (“[T]he import of subsection (a)(5) was merely to permit the jury to rest its finding of a driving under the influence violation upon blood alcohol evidence bearing a temporal connection to the offense.”). Thus, by confirming that the various provisions of Section 3731(a) were all directed at ameliorating a single harm (i.e., actually driving while under the influence), and that such provisions merely provided alternate means of proving that the defendant engaged in the same prohibited conduct, McCurdy reinforced what was already apparent, if perhaps less explicitly so, from the face of the Barud opinion itself.
The present matter differs in that Section 3802 is not simply an amendment to an existing DUI law intended to provide an alternate means of conviction for the offense as substantively defined in the pre-amendment time frame, but instead repre
V.
This does not end our inquiry, however, as we must assess whether Appellee’s due process vagueness and over-
A. Vagueness
The due process void-for-vagueness doctrine “requires that a penal statute define the criminal offense with sufficient definiteness that ordinary people can understand what conduct is prohibited and in a manner that does not encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.” Commonwealth v. Bullock, 590 Pa. 480, 488, 913 A.2d 207, 212 (2006) (quoting Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352, 357, 103 S.Ct. 1855, 1858, 75 L.Ed.2d 903 (1983)); see Commonwealth v. Mayfield, 574 Pa. 460, 467, 832 A.2d 418, 422 (2003). Although Appellee’s argument concerning the statute’s purported vagueness lacks substantial clarity (and, at times, appears to conflate the doctrines of vagueness and over-breadth), his primary contention seems to be that it is unclear when the crime occurs — at the time of drinking, driving, or BAC testing. He distinguishes Mikulan by noting that, in that matter, it was evident that the actus reus occurred at the time of actually driving while under the influence.
Although the enactment under review does allow for a delay between driving and breath or blood testing, a close examination of the statute’s text reveals that the offense occurs when the person drives after drinking a substantial quantity of alcohol. As set forth above, Section 3802(a)(2) states that an individual “may not drive” a car “after imbibing” enough alcohol “such that” he has a BAC level of at least 0.08 percent and less than 0.10 percent within two hours after driving. Hence, as noted, the actus reus is the act of driving after drinking a sufficient amount of alcohol, where a sufficient amount of alcohol, for present purposes, is that quantity which will cause the person’s BAC level to reach the statutorily
For the reasons set forth at length in Mikulan, 504 Pa. at 252-56, 470 A.2d at 1343-45, statutes that prohibit driving after drinking by reference to a threshold BAC level are not unconstitutionally vague. Accord Fuenning v. Superior Court, 139 Ariz. 590, 680 P.2d 121, 129 (1983); Burg v. Municipal Court, 35 Cal.3d 257, 198 Cal.Rptr. 145, 673 P.2d 732, 739-42 (1983); Roberts v. State, 329 So.2d 296, 297 (Fla. 1976); Lester v. State, 253 Ga. 235, 320 S.E.2d 142, 144 (1984); State v. Rose, 312 N.C. 441, 323 S.E.2d 339, 341-42 (1984); Greaves v. State, 528 P.2d 805, 807-08 (Utah 1974); State v. Franco, 96 Wash.2d 816, 639 P.2d 1320, 1324 (1982). But cf. State v. Baker, 720 A.2d 1139, 1148-49 (Del. 1998) (following Barud and finding a DUI law similar to the one at issue in Barud to be unconstitutionally vague). This conclusion of non-vagueness is not altered merely because the Legislature has moved the specific BAC threshold from the moment of driving to any time within a defined interval after
The only difference between the two statutes is that under former (a)(4), a person had to gauge when he had consumed a sufficiently large quantity of alcohol so that when he drove he would have the prohibited blood-alcohol level, whereas under subsection (a)(5), a person must judge when he has consumed a sufficiently large quantity of alcohol so that when he is tested within three hours of driving, he would have the prohibited blood-alcohol level. Under either statute, a person knows the prohibited level and has to assess the effects of alcohol in their system so that they do not reach the prohibited level at some point later in time; under either statute, a person who “drinks a substantial amount of alcohol ... is put on notice that he chooses to drive at his own peril.”
Id. at 555-56 (quoting Lester, 320 S.E.2d at 144); accord United States v. Skinner, 973 F.Supp. 975, 980 (W.D.Wash. 1997) (“[T]he two-hour rule, just as the former time-of-driving rule, gives fair notice that, although driving after drinking is not illegal per se, driving becomes illegal after a certain level of consumption; the fact that people cannot sense exactly what their BAC is at any given moment or will be in two hours does not change this.”); Sereika v. State, 114 Nev. 142, 955 P.2d 175, 177 (1998) (rejecting a vagueness challenge to a similar statute, and noting that it was not apparent why anticipating one’s blood alcohol level up to two hours after driving would be any more difficult than forecasting such level at the time of driving).
Appellee also submits that the statute is vague because it gives inadequate guidance to a trier of fact. He suggests that it is unclear whether juries will be permitted consider any proffered expert testimony tending to show that the defendant’s BAC was below 0.08 percent at the time of driving, or whether juries will instead be instructed to disregard such testimony, thereby permitting the defendant to be “adjudged guilty of an offense on the basis of anticipated but yet uncommitted criminal conduct.” Brief for Appellee at 33-34. Ap
B. Overbreadth
Appellee also argues that the statute is “irrational and arbitrary” because it criminalizes some conduct that is not harmful to the public (namely, drinking and driving where the driver’s BAC is below 0.08 but rising) while failing to criminalize other conduct that is harmful (namely, drinking and driving where the driver’s BAC is at least 0.08 but falls below that level by the time the chemical test is administered). See Brief for Appellee at 25-27. Although he fails to identify any specific legal precedent or theory in support of such argument, to the extent we can understand Appellee’s position he appears to be contending that the statute is overbroad in that it is not rationally related to the state’s interest in curtailing the harm caused by intoxicated drivers.
As applied to the present matter, it is beyond dispute that the state has a valid interest in curbing alcohol-related roadway accidents. See generally Commonwealth v. Beaman, 583 Pa. 636, 644, 880 A.2d 578, 583 (2005); Mikulan, 504 Pa. at 248-49, 470 A.2d at 1341. Furthermore, there is no constitutional right to drink and then drive while the alcohol is still in one’s system. As stated in Mikulan,
there is no constitutional, statutory or common law right to the consumption of any quantity of alcohol before driving and there is little doubt that the legislature could, if it so chooses, prohibit driving "within a certain reasonable time after drinking any amount of alcohol (so long as the prohibition was rationally related to the legitimate legislative purpose).
As Appellee concedes, see Brief for Appellee at 26, in evaluating this question, we employ the rational basis test, under which a statutory classification will be upheld so long as it bears a reasonable relationship to accomplishing a legitimate state purpose. See Harrisburg Sch. Dist. v. Zogby, 574 Pa. 121, 136, 828 A.2d 1079, 1088 (2003). In undertaking this analysis, courts are free to hypothesize grounds the Legislature might have had for the classification. See id. at 137-38, 828 A.2d at 1089 (citing Baltimore & Ohio R.R. Co. v. Commonwealth, Dep’t of Labor & Indus., 461 Pa. 68, 84, 334 A.2d 636, 644 (1975); Geary v. Retirement Bd. of Allegheny County, 426 Pa. 254, 259-60, 231 A.2d 743, 746 (1967)). Here, the classification consists of drivers who drank a sufficient amount of alcohol and then drove such that their BAC is in the prohibited range within two hours after driving, versus all other drivers.
there is at least one conceivable rational basis for the enactment of [Nevada’s DUI law containing a similar two-hour rule], completely separable from [a presumption that the defendant’s BAC at the time of driving was the same as at the time of testing]. Traffic safety is clearly an important state interest. Accordingly, the State has a legitimate*188 interest in preventing people from driving after ingesting any substance that will render them incapable of driving safely at any time in the following several hours. When people step behind the wheel of a car, they have no certain knowledge of the time that will be required to reach their destination. Although they may have an idea of the time usually involved, they lack the clairvoyance necessary to forecast delays due to any number of common occurrences. We also conclude that promotion of the rising blood alcohol defense, and the concomitant practice of rushing to one’s car immediately after ingesting alcohol so as to get home before the alcohol is fully absorbed, is contrary to good public policy. Because drivers have little control over traffic conditions and delays to which they are subject, the state has a legitimate interest in prohibiting people from driving at the onset of inevitably impending intoxication. We find that [the Nevada DUI statute] is rationally related to this legitimate state interest, and is, therefore, not overbroad with respect to the rising blood alcohol defense.
Id. at 180 (citation omitted). The Supreme Court of North Dakota also rejected a contention similar to that forwarded by Appellee, reasoning:
The legislature, in adopting the statutes, apparently seeks to deter persons who consume a substantial amount of alcohol from driving. This may lead to convictions of those who drive, for example, with a blood-alcohol content of .09%. This result, however, is not unreasonable or arbitrary. In enacting the per se offense the legislature considered testimony regarding impairment levels and factors that affect alcohol absorption and reduction rates. The legislature could reasonably conclude that those who drive a vehicle with a blood-alcohol content that is .10% or greater, within two hours after relinquishing control of a vehicle, pose an unreasonable risk to public safety. The statutes are rationally related to removing the risk.
City of Fargo v. Stensland, 492 N.W.2d 591, 594-95 (N.D. 1992) (citation and footnote omitted); accord Brief for Attorney General at 28 (“The General Assembly has a right to
VI.
For the reasons stated, the July 5, 2005, order of the Court of Common Pleas is reversed insofar as it invalidated Section 3802(a)(2) of the Vehicle Code, and the matter is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.
. Section 3802 was enacted as part of the Act of Sept. 30, 2003, P.L. 120, No. 24, effective Feb. 1, 2004 ("Act 24”). Act 24 repealed and
. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution prohibit the government from depriving a person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, see U.S. Const amends. V, XIV, and the Pennsylvania Constitution states that an accused may not "be deprived of his life, liberty or property, unless by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land.” Pa Const, art. I, § 9.
. In his motion, Appellee also contested the validity of Section 3802 generally in relation to the counts of the information charging him under Section 3802(a)(1). The common pleas court denied relief as to those counts, which are not at issue in this appeal.
. For simplicity of the present discussion, DUI refers to the offense as defined by the Legislature, rather than the status of being under the influence at the time of driving.
. See also Commonwealth v. Gamber, 352 Pa.Super. 36, 506 A.2d 1324 (1986); Commonwealth v. Boyd, 373 Pa.Super. 298, 541 A.2d 21 (1988) (en banc); Commonwealth v. Garofalo, 386 Pa.Super. 363, 563 A.2d 109 (1989); Commonwealth v. Zelinski, 392 Pa.Super. 489, 573 A.2d 569 (1990).
. In Modaffare, Justice Cappy (again joined by Justice McDermott) filed a dissenting statement simply referencing his Jarman dissent.
. As examples of decisions in which trial and appellate tribunals struggled to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether expert relation-back testimony was required, the Attorney General cites Commonwealth v. Shade, 545 Pa. 347, 681 A.2d 710 (1996), Commonwealth v. Loeper, 541 Pa. 393, 663 A.2d 669 (1995), Commonwealth v. Allbeck, 715 A.2d 1213 (Pa.Super. 1998), Commonwealth v. Montini, 712 A.2d 761 (Pa.Super. 1998), Commonwealth v. Phillips, 700 A.2d 1281 (Pa.Super. 1997), Commonwealth v. Stith, 434 Pa.Super. 501, 644 A.2d 193 (1994), Commonwealth v. Proctor, 425 Pa.Super. 527, 625 A.2d 1221 (1993), Commonwealth v. Kasunic, 423 Pa.Super. 112, 620 A.2d 525 (1993), Commonwealth v. Mukina, 422 Pa.Super. 455, 619 A.2d 766 (1993), and Commonwealth v. Osborne, 414 Pa.Super. 124, 606 A.2d 529 (1992). See Brief for Attorney General at 11 n. 2. Additionally, the Attorney General argues that, not only courts, but "jurors themselves became confused as drunk driving trials became a battle of competing experts testifying on complex concepts of biochemistry and human metabolism.” Id. at 11.
. Although the Attorney General's filing is styled as an amicus brief, his status is effectively that of a party to this appeal, as he is statutorily charged with defending the constitutionality of all enactments passed by the General Assembly. See City of Phila. v. Commonwealth, 575 Pa. 542, 570-71 & n. 14, 838 A.2d 566, 583-84 & n. 14 (2003).
. One could argue that similar elements could have been gleaned from the face of the provision struck down in Barud. The difference, as noted, is that the Barud court (as confirmed in McCurdy) understood Subsection 3731(a)(5) differently, i.e., as not defining a new offense with these two elements, but providing an alternate method of proving the pre-existing offense. By contrast, not only does Section 3802(a)(2) appear in the context of a rewritten DUI statute, but remaining portions of Section 3802 define more severe drunk-driving offenses in a similar manner. See 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(b) (defining “DUI-high rate of alcohol” similarly to (a)(2) with the sole difference that the prohibited BAC is at least 0.10 percent but less than 0.16 percent); id., § 3802(c) (similarly defining “DUI-highest rate of alcohol" in terms of a BAC of at least 0.16 percent).
. Parenthetically, we note that one who drives after drinking enough alcohol to risk a violation of Section 3802(a)(2) inevitably drives under the influence of alcohol; therefore, we see no inconsistency between Section 3802's title and the elements of the (a)(2) offense.
. Appellee does not argue that the statute lends itself to arbitrary and/or discriminatory enforcement for purposes of the vagueness doctrine. See generally Skinner, 973 F.Supp. at 980-81 (rejecting a claim of potential arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement as to a similar Washington State DUI statute). He does, however, suggest that the statute is "irreconcilably vague when read in conjunction with 75 Pa.C.S. § 1547(f).” Brief for Appellee at 33. Section 1547(f) constitutes an aid in interpreting Sections 1547(a)-(i), as it states that those subsections "shall not be construed as limiting the introduction of any other competent evidence bearing upon the question whether or not the defendant was under the influence of alcohol.” Appellant does not explain how this undermines the clarity of the proscription contained in Section 3802(a)(2). As Appellee has not sufficiently developed this argument, it is waived. See Commonwealth v. D'Amato, 579 Pa. 490, 504, 856 A.2d 806, 814 (2004).
. At various points in his brief, Appellee mentions the concept of equal protection, but he does not develop his argument by reference to precedent regarding that doctrine.
. Drivers with BAC levels higher than the range prohibited by Section 3802(a)(2) are covered by Sections 3802(b) and (c). See supra note 9.
. Section 3802 does not include a drinking-after-driving defense corresponding to the former Section 3731(a.l). As the Commonwealth acknowledges, however, see Brief for Appellant at 31, any evidence that the defendant consumed alcohol after operating the vehicle would tend to undermine the prosecution's ability to prove the elements of the 3802(a)(2) offense. See supra at 179-80, 923 A.2d at 1147.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
Today, the Majority upholds as constitutional a DUI statute that is materially identical to the DUI statute that this Court unanimously invalidated in Commonwealth v. Barud, 545 Pa. 297, 681 A.2d 162 (1996). Because, in my view, our decision in Bawd controls this case, I respectfully dissent.
In Barud, this Court examined the constitutionality of former Section 3731(a)(5) of the Motor Vehicle Code, which provided as follows:
§ 3731. Driving under influence of alcohol or controlled substance
(a) Offense defined. — A person shall not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of any vehicle:
*190 * * *
(5) if the amount of alcohol by weight in the blood of the person is 0.10% or greater at the time of a chemical test of a sample of the person’s breath, blood or urine, which sample is:
(i) obtained within three hours after the person drove, operated or was in actual physical control of the vehicle....
* * *
75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(a)(5) (repealed by Act of Sept. 30, 2003, P.L. 120). Former Section 3731(a.l) further provided as follows:
(a.l) Defense. — It shall be a defense to a prosecution under subsection (a)(5) if the person proves by a preponderance of evidence that the person consumed alcohol after the last instance in which he drove, operated or was in actual physical control of the vehicle and that the amount of alcohol by weight in his blood would not have exceeded 0.10% at the time of the test but for such consumption.
75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(a.l) (repealed by Act of Sept. 30, 2003, P.L. 120). This Court invalidated former Section 3731(a)(5) in Barud after finding the statute void for vagueness and over-breadth. Specifically, we determined that the statute, inter alia, “fail[ed] to provide a reasonable standard by which a person may gauge [his] conduct” and “fail[ed] to require proof that a person’s BAC actually exceeded the legal limit at the time of driving.” Barud, 681 A.2d at 163 (emphasis omitted).
In the case sub judice, we are asked to determine the constitutionality of Section 3802(a)(2) of the Motor Vehicle Code, adopted in obvious response to Barud, which provides as follows:
§ 3802. Driving under influence of alcohol or controlled substance
(a) General impairment.—
*191 (2) An individual may not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle after imbibing a sufficient amount of alcohol such that the alcohol concentration in the individual’s blood or breath is at least 0.08% but less than 0.10% within two hours after the individual has driven, operated or been in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle.
75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(a). As appellee aptly notes, Section 3802(a)(2) differs from former Section 3731(a)(5) in only three respects, none of which is relevant to the constitutionality of either statute: (1) the prescribed limit is now 0.08% instead of 0.10%; (2) the person’s urine may no longer be used to measure his BAC; and (3) the time period within which the BAC must be tested is now two hours instead of three.
Nevertheless, the Majority, without purporting to overrule Band, determines that Section 3802(a) passes constitutional muster. In the Majority’s view, Section 3802(a) “represents a legislative enlargement of the prohibited conduct so that it is now unlawful, not only to drive while under the influence, but also to ingest a substantial amount of alcohol and then operate a motor vehicle before the alcohol is dissipated to below a defined threshold.” Majority Slip Op. at 15 (internal citation omitted). Unlike former Section 3731(a)(5), the Majority posits, Section 3802(a)(2) requires two elements: (1) “that the individual drove after drinking alcohol”; and (2) “that the amount of alcohol ingested before driving was enough to cause the individual’s BAC level to be at least 0.08 percent and below 0.10 percent within two hours after driving.” Id. The Majority concedes in a footnote that “similar elements could have been gleaned from the face of the provision struck down in Band.” Id. at n. 9. Nevertheless, the Band Court, we are told, “understood [former SJection 3731(a)(5) differently, i.e., as not defining a new offense with these two elements, but providing an alternate method of proving the pre-existing offense.” Id. Therefore, the Majority concludes that, because Section 3802(a)(5) has redefined the offense so as to include these two elements and thereby shifts the focus away from the
Absent the precedent that is Bamd, the Majority’s interpretation of Section 3802(a) might be tenable. However, I cannot reconcile it with Barud’s interpretation of former Section 3731(a)(5), which I find materially indistinguishable from the statute before us. To begin with, if the General Assembly had intended to redefine the offense so as to prohibit conduct in addition to merely driving under the influence, I suspect that it would have changed the name of the offense to reflect as much. Yet the heading prefixed to Section 3802 remains, like that of its predecessor, “Driving under influence of alcohol or controlled substance.” 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802; 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731 (repealed); see 1 Pa.C.S. § 1924 (instructing that section headings may be used as an aid to statutory construction). The statute is obviously a legislative attempt to overrule our decision in Bamd.
More importantly, in my view, when considered in conjunction with former Section 3731(a.l), former Section 3731(a)(5) proscribed the very same conduct as Section 3802(a)(2). Under former Section 3731(a.l), it was an affirmative defense to prove that the individual drank a sufficient amount of alcohol after driving such that his BAC would not have exceeded 0.10% at the time of the test but for such consumption. Instead of providing an affirmative defense, Section 3802(a)(2) establishes as an element that the individual drove “after imbibing” a sufficient amount of alcohol. The prosecution, of course, should have no problem proving this element through the testimony of the arresting police officer so long as the defendant fails to come forward with affirmative evidence of consumption after driving. Thus, the effect of the two statutes is indistinguishable: unless the defendant can somehow affirmatively prove that the fact that his BAC test results exceeded the maximum percentage was due to his consumption after driving, then he may be convicted of the offense. Under either statute, however, a person who drinks (or drinks to .08% excess) only after driving does not have fair notice
The two statutes are also identically imprecise in their arbitrary attempts to prohibit certain driving after consumption. Under both statutes, the time period within which the BAC test must be administered is longer than the maximum period within which alcohol is fully absorbed and reaches its peak level in the bloodstream. See Commonwealth v. MacPherson, 561 Pa. 571, 752 A.2d 384, 387 n. 3 (2000) (noting that absorption takes up to ninety minutes after consumption). Between consumption and absorption, there is a period during which alcohol has no perceivable impairing effect on the body.
Accordingly, what we deemed to be “the most glaring deficiency” of former Section 3731(a)(5) in Bariul is no less true of Section 3802(a)(2) in the case sub judice: “the statute completely fails to require any proof that the accused’s blood alcohol level actually exceeded the legal limit at the time of driving.” Baru,d 681 A.2d at 166. The statute, like the predecessor enactment it seeks to revive, does not provide drivers with a reasonable standard to gauge what is criminal conduct, and what is not. Therefore, given the presence of the very same concerns that motivated this Court to strike
I would reject this thinly veiled attempt to overrule, by legislation, the constitutionally based decision in Barud. With this dissent, I do not minimize the serious problems posed by impaired drivers who take to our highways. As is not infrequently the case, however, the legislative response to the problem here paints with far too broad a brush. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.
. The actual rate of absorption varies from person to person (depending upon such factors as height, weight, and metabolism) as well as from time to time (depending upon such factors as what and when the person last ate). See Commonwealth v. McCurdy, 558 Pa. 65, 735 A.2d 681, 687 (1999) (Zappala, J., concurring, joined by Nigro, J.) (citing Robert J. Schefter, Under the Influence of Alcohol Three Hours After Driving: The Constitutionality of the (a)(5) Amendment to Pennsylvania’s DUI Statute, 100 Dick L.Rev. 441, 465-66 (1996)).
Reference
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