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Beckwith v. State8/31/1990
The petitioner, Allen E. Beckwith, was charged by Maryland Uniform Complaint and Citation forms with three motor vehicle offenses occurring in Montgomery County on August 18, 1985. One Complaint and Citation form charged him with driving while his license was cancelled, revoked, suspended or refused; another form charged him with
failure to keep to the right of center, and a third form charged him with driving while intoxicated. The Uniform Complaint and Citation form charging him with driving while intoxicated read in pertinent part as follows:
"DID UNLAWFULLY VIOLATE: CIRCLE VIOLATION BELOW: (ONE VIOLATION ONLY)
"33) 21-901.1(b) Negligent Driving
34) 21-902 Driving Intoxicated & Under
the Influence
35) 21-902(a) Driving Intoxicated
36) 21-902(b) Driving Under Influence of
Alcohol
37) 21-1102 Unsafe Backing of Motor Van"
The case was transferred from the District Court of Maryland to the Circuit Court for Montgomery County pursuant to Maryland Code (1974, 1989 Repl.Vol.), § 4-302(e) of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article.
After the presentation of evidence at a nonjury trial in the circuit court, Beckwith filed a motion for judgment of acquittal. In the course of argument on the motion, Beckwith's counsel urged that the Uniform Complaint and Citation form charging the defendant with driving while intoxicated in violation of Code (1977, 1987 Repl.Vol.), § 21-902(a) of the Transportation Article, was limited to the charge of driving while intoxicated and did not include the lesser charge of driving while under the influence in violation of § 21-902(b) of the Transportation Article. Beckwith's counsel argued that the evidence was insufficient to convict the defendant of driving while intoxicated, and, because the charging document did not encompass the lesser charge of driving while under the influence, the defendant must be acquitted.
The circuit court rejected the defense argument concerning the scope of the charging document and convicted Beckwith of the lesser charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol. Beckwith was also convicted of driving
while his license was suspended and of failing to keep to the right of center. Following the denial of a motion for a new trial, Beckwith was sentenced to a term of one year imprisonment for driving while his license was suspended and a consecutive one year term of imprisonment, as a subsequent offender, for driving while under the influence of alcohol. The circuit court suspended the imposition of a fine for failing to keep to the right of center. Thereafter, the Court of Special Appeals affirmed the judgments. Beckwith v. State, 78 Md. App. 358, 553 A.2d 259 (1989).
Beckwith then filed in this Court a petition for a writ of certiorari, raising the following question: "Did the trial court err by convicting petitioner of driving under the influence of alcohol where the police officer had charged him only with driving while intoxicated." We granted the petition and shall reverse the conviction for driving while under the influence of alcohol.
In Hagans v. State, 316 Md. 429, 433, 559 A.2d 792, 793-794 (1989), this Court held that, "as a matter of Maryland common law, a defendant ordinarily can be convicted of an offense which is not charged but which is a lesser included offense of one that is charged." The same common law rule is embodied in § 26-405
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