Belt v. State6/26/1998
Decided: May 26, 1998
RELEASED FOR PUBLICATION BY ORDER OF THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA COUNTY, OKLAHOMA
Honorable Vicki L. Robertson, Trial Judge
REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS
MEMORANDUM
This is an appeal from a district court order in which the court rescinded a previous order granting a licensee modified driving privileges. The issue is whether a district court, which has granted modified driving privileges to an offender of our implied consent laws, retains continuing jurisdiction over the licensee, after appellate mandate has been issued, to allow the court to rescind the modification order based upon a subsequent, unrelated alleged violation of the implied consent laws by the licensee. Based upon our review of the record and applicable law, we hold it does not. The order is reversed, and the matter is remanded with instructions.
I
Licensee Kenneth Lyndon Belt was arrested July 27, 1995, and March 30, 1996, in Oklahoma County, for driving under the influence of alcohol. At the time of arrest, he refused to take a chemical test. He was given an "Officer's Affidavit and Notice of Revocation" informing him his driver's license would be revoked under Oklahoma's Implied Consent Law. He requested a hearing before the Department of Public Safety, which revoked his driver's license.
Belt appealed both revocations in district court. Eventually, the revocation of his driver's license for one year became final. Belt then sought modified driving privileges under 47 O.S. Supp. 1996, § 755, alleging a total revocation would cause an extreme and unusual hardship upon his ability to earn a living. Based upon evidence presented at the modification hearing November 20, 1996, the trial court granted Belt a modified license with strict limitations on December 23, 1996. Belt filed Appeal No. 88,785, January 21, 1997, alleging the district court had abused its discretion in refusing to grant him broader driving privileges.
In an opinion filed June 24, 1997, this court affirmed the trial court's order, but remanded the matter for the limited purpose of directing the trial court to enter an order nunc pro tunc conforming the written order with the court's pronounced adjudication of a particular issue as reflected by the transcript of the proceeding. Court of Civil Appeals mandate was issued July 24, 1997.
On January 10, 1997, however, Belt had been arrested again for driving under the influence of alcohol. Once again, he refused to submit to a breath test after being requested to do so, and after being informed his driver's license would be revoked if he refused. A hearing officer for the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety issued an order May 22, 1997, revoking Belt's driver's license for 180 days. Belt appealed to the district court, alleging the revocation imposed a hardship on him, and the order should be modified to permit him to drive for work-related purposes. The trial court held a hearing on the matter July 22, 1997, and sustained the administrative revocation of Belt's driver's license without modification for limited driving privileges.
On July 29, 1997, the Department filed a motion in district court to rescind the modification order in Appeal No. 88,785, which we had affirmed and remanded to the trial court with limited instructions. The trial court held a hearing August 14, 1997, at which time the Department first moved to spread the Court of Civil Appeals mandate of record. The court granted the motion, stating: "I will sustain that motion, which, of course, then gives me jurisd
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