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State v. Anaya12/6/1996
ORIGINAL PROCEEDING ON CERTIORARI
FRANCHINI, Justice.
{1} On motion by Defendants for rehearing or such other relief as the Court deems proper and just, the opinion filed on May 31, 1996, is withdrawn, and the following opinion is substituted in its place.
{2} The legislature recently amended the basic statute criminalizing driving while intoxicated (DWI). See NMSA 1978, § 66-8-102 (Repl. Pamp. 1994). The legislature provided, among other changes, that a person found guilty of a fourth offense of DWI "is guilty of a fourth degree felony, as provided in Section 31-18-15 NMSA 1978, and shall be sentenced to a jail term of not less than six months which shall not be suspended or deferred or taken under advisement." Section 66-8-102(G).
{3} We consolidated several appeals which raise two central questions about the recent amendment: (1) whether the State must prove three prior DWI convictions as an essential element of the offense of felony DWI; and (2) what, if any, formal notice must the State provide to the defendant in order to enhance misdemeanor DWI to felony DWI. Some of the appeals raise the additional question whether a conviction under Section 66-8-102(G) may be enhanced pursuant to the habitual offender statute. See NMSA 1978, § 31-18-17 (Repl. Pamp. 1994). We hold that the most recent amendment to the DWI statutes did not alter the elements required to establish the offense of DWI and thus that proof of prior convictions is not an element of felony DWI. Moreover, we conclude that the legislature did not intend that defendants convicted of a fourth or subsequent DWI offense should be subject to enhancement under both the felony DWI provision and the habitual offender statute. Two of the defendants raised issues regarding their convictions and sentences other than those we address. Therefore, we reverse the sentences in four appeals, and remand two appeals to the Court of Appeals for review of other issues raised on appeal as explained below for each defendant.
FACTS
{4} Defendant Anaya was charged by information with DWI and bound over for trial following a preliminary hearing. He was convicted by a jury instructed solely on the elements of misdemeanor DWI. At sentencing the trial court made a finding that Anaya had three prior DWI convictions and sentenced him to 18 months in jail. The court suspended 12 of the 18 months. This resulted in a 6-month jail term, the minimum sentence permitted by Section 66-8-102(G). The State then filed a supplemental information alleging that Anaya had three prior felony convictions wholly unrelated to the charge of DWI--manslaughter in 1962, possession of marijuana in 1968, and possession of a firearm in 1979. The trial court sentenced Anaya to an additional 8 years as a habitual offender for a total of 8 1/2 years.
{5} The facts of Defendant Gonzales's case are similar to those of Anaya's. The State charged Gonzales by information with felony DWI and the misdemeanor offense of driving with a revoked license. At trial the court instructed the jury solely on the elements of misdemeanor DWI. While the jury was deliberating, the court heard evidence of five prior DWI convictions over Gonzales's objections that the conviction documents were unattested. The court found that the State had proof of four prior DWI convictions in sequence within the meaning of , cert. denied, 444 U.S. 846, 62 L. Ed. 2d 59, 100 S. Ct. 91 (1979), and Gonzales admitted these prior convictions. After the jury returned a guilty verdict, the court arraigned Gonzales on a supplemental information, which alleged that he was a habitual offender. Gonzales admitted that he had four prior felony convictions: burglary (19
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