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Tyler v. State5/18/2001
draw his plea. After obtaining this favorable ruling, McGhee immediately re-entered a no contest plea, and he was again convicted of the charge.
Following this series of events, McGhee returned to the Division of Motor Vehicles and challenged the term of his license revocation. McGhee argued that he should not be subjected to the same revocation enhancement because, now, one of his "prior" convictions was no longer prior. McGhee asserted that even though he had been re-convicted of this offense, the conviction was now new - and, therefore, it could not be used to trigger the enhanced suspension period.
After the Division of Motor Vehicles refused to modify the term of McGhee's license revocation, McGhee pursued an appeal to the supreme court. The supreme court rejected McGhee's argument and affirmed the enhanced license revocation period: "Because McGhee remains convicted of the same DWIs that subjected him to an enhanced revocation [in the first place], the temporary set-aside of the prior DWI requires no alteration of the original [license] revocation."
Based on the supreme court's decision in McGhee, we conclude that Tyler's Cooksey plea is not valid because the issue he preserved for appeal is not dispositive. Even if Tyler succeeds in convincing us that one or both of his prior DWI convictions should be overturned, the State will be entitled to re-prosecute Tyler for those crimes - and if Tyler is again convicted of those earlier DWIs, his felony DWI conviction will stand.
Because Tyler did not enter a valid Cooksey plea, we must dismiss his appeal for lack of jurisdiction. This case is remanded to the superior court for further proceedings on the indictment. Because Tyler has not received the anticipated benefit of his plea (i.e., the opportunity to litigate the validity of his prior convictions on appeal), he must be allowed an opportunity to withdraw his plea and go to trial.
This appeal is DISMISSED.
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