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State v. Taylor3/19/2002
Background
The record on appeal, which consists only of the pre-sentence report and the transcript of the sentencing hearing, reflects that the defendant, Alvin Ray Taylor, was involved in a traffic accident in Coffee County on January 10, 1998. Following an investigation, Taylor was charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicant ("DUI"), second offense, driving on a revoked license, ("DRL"), second offense, and violation of the implied consent law. A jury convicted the defendant of these offenses and imposed a $3,500 fine for the second offense DUI conviction and a $27,500 fine for the second offense DRL conviction.
The trial judge held a sentencing hearing on July 13, 1999, at which the State offered the testimony of the probation officer who prepared the pre-sentence report. The officer testified that the defendant has an extensive criminal record, consisting of five felony convictions and fifteen misdemeanor convictions, including escape convictions from both federal and state custody. The officer testified that when released on probation or parole, the defendant has repeatedly violated the conditions of his release. Moreover, at the time of the sentencing hearing in this case, the defendant had an outstanding charge for arson relating to a fire that occurred during the time he had been released on bond for these offenses.
At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the trial court imposed concurrent one-year sentences for the DUI and DRL convictions, and ordered the defendant to serve two hundred days before becoming eligible for release on probation. Defense counsel argued that the fine assessed by the jury on the DRL conviction was inappropriate and evidenced jury confusion. The prosecutor referred to the fine as being "unusually high" and commented that the jury "took the charge real darn serious in assessing what I can only describe as the biggest fine I have ever heard of in the State of Tennessee for driving on a revoked license pursuant to that statute." The prosecutor suggested that the court might "consider redocketing that matter for possibly remittitur for something more in line with the defendant's ability to pay. . . ." Nonetheless, the trial judge affirmed the fine assessed by the jury for the DRL conviction.
The defendant appealed arguing that the trial court erred in refusing to reduce the fine assessed by the jury. The case initially was submitted to the Court of Criminal Appeals on briefs. Thereafter, the intermediate court ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs to address whether the failure of the fine provision of Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-50-504(a) (2) to establish a maximum penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment contrary to the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 16 of the Tennessee Constitution. Section 55-50-504(a)(2) provides in pertinent part as follows:
A second or subsequent violation of subdivision (a)(1) is a Class A misdemeanor. A person who drives a motor vehicle on any public highway of this state at a time when the person's privilege to do so is cancelled, suspended or revoked because of a second or subsequent conviction for . . . driving while intoxicated . . . shall be punished by confinement for not less than forty-five (45) days nor more than one (1) year, and there may be imposed, in addition, a fine not less than three thousand dollars ($3000). (Emphasis added).
Supplemental briefs were filed, and thereafter, in a split decision, the Court of Criminal Appeals held that Tenn. Code Ann. §55-50-504(a)(2) violates Article I, Section 16 of the Tennessee Constitution and the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution be
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