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Glasrud v. City of Laramie2/21/1997
he same incident, the suspension under the criminal conviction is reduced by ninety days. WYO. STAT. § 31-6-102(e) (Cum.Supp. 1996). We cannot say, based on all of the circumstances, that this penalty is so severe as to constitute punishment.
(3) We see no collateral consequences to this statute. It is designed to work hand in hand with the DWUI statute. Chastain, 594 P.2d at 461. It does not provide for an additional penalty, because if a criminal conviction results from the same conduct, any criminal suspension is reduced by ninety days. WYO. STAT. § 31-6-102(e) (Cum.Supp. 1996).
(4) Violation of the statute results in the suspension of a driver's license, removing drivers who drink and drive from our roadways for ninety days. The penalty does not carry a moral stigma or condemnatory significance with it. It is not primarily motivated by punitive intent, rather, it is "intended to impose a condition on the right to operate a motor vehicle on the streets and highways of this state." Chastain, 594 P.2d at 461. A driver's license is defined as a license or privilege "which grants the privilege to drive or operate a motor vehicle on the public highways, streets and roads of this state." WYO. STAT. § 31-7-102(a)(xxv) (1994). Revocation of a privilege is not ordinarily considered punishment. State v. Zimmerman, 539 N.W.2d 49, 52 (N.D. 1995) (citing Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U.S. 391, 399, 58 S.Ct. 630, 633, 82 L.Ed. 917, 922 (1938)).
(5) The proceedings are civil in nature. Driver's license suspensions are civil proceedings, separate and distinct from DWUI prosecutions. McGuire v. Wyo. Dept. of Revenue and Taxation, 809 P.2d 271, 274 (Wyo. 1991). In holding that probable cause must only be proven by a preponderance of the evidence in a license revocation hearing, we cited 2 DONALD H. NICOLS, DRINKING/DRIVING LITIGATION: CRIMINAL AND CIVIL § 20.01, at 3 (1994), stating:
An implied consent violation is purely administrative and separate from any traffic or criminal drinking/driving infraction even though the implied consent law and the law defining drinking/driving offenses may be contained in the same statute.
Wyo. Dept. of Revenue and Taxation v. Hull, 751 P.2d 351, 356 (Wyo. 1988).
Therefore, we hold that the penalties provided in WYO. STAT. § 31-6-102 do not constitute punishment for purposes of double jeopardy. Having answered the first certified question in the negative, we need not answer the second certified question in this case. Because the administrative license suspension does not constitute punishment, Wyoming and its municipalities may convict and sentence a person for DWUI and subject the driver to an administrative license suspension.
CONCLUSION
Wyoming's implied consent law and its administrative license suspension procedures are intended to facilitate the tests for intoxication and remove drunk drivers from our highways. As such, they properly impose a condition on the right to operate a motor vehicle on the streets and highways of our state and do not constitute punishment for purposes of double jeopardy.
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