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Hammell v. Warden6/27/2001
court. In their place, the defendant is afforded a jury trial in district court in the first instance. Cf. Opinion of the Justices (Misdemeanor Trial De Novo), 135 N.H. 549, 551 (1992) (describing regional jury trial pilot program in Rockingham County). Any appeal is then taken directly to the supreme court. See RSA 502-A:12-a.
Nothing in this revised statutory scheme suggests an intent to limit the superior court's jurisdiction to try, by jury, a misdemeanor case brought before it in the first instance, and the defendant concedes as much. We fail to see any meaningful distinction between a charge that is first brought in the superior court and one that was originally brought in district court, nol prossed and then brought by information in the superior court. In either case, the defendant has not been previously tried and is before the superior court for the one jury trial to which he is entitled. See generally Opinion of the Justices (Misdemeanor Trial De Novo), 135 N.H. at 553 ("Neither the State nor the Federal Constitution guarantees a defendant the privilege of two trials" and a defendant's right to a jury trial "does not include the option to specify where and when the right will be executed.").
Our conclusion is strengthened when we consider that a regional jury trial system in New Hampshire has been promoted as a cost-saving and efficiency-enhancing measure. In Opinion of the Justices (Misdemeanor Trial De Novo), we examined legislation temporarily establishing a regional jury trial pilot program in Rockingham County. See Laws 1992, 223:1, IV. We noted that the State interest involved was "reducing State expenditures and delivering justice more efficiently." Opinion of the Justices (Misdemeanor Trial De Novo), 135 N.H. at 553-54. Concurrent original jurisdiction over misdemeanors in the superior court is not inconsistent with that interest, since whether a defendant is tried in a regional jury trial district court or the superior court, he gets only one trial and a direct appeal to the supreme court.
The petitioner's interpretation of RSA 502-A:12-a, on the other hand, could produce results contrary to the statute's purpose. After the petitioner's DWI charge was nol prossed in the district court, it was brought in the superior court and consolidated with the felony habitual offender charge that arose from the same incident. As the district court lacks jurisdiction over felony cases, the petitioner's interpretation of RSA 502-A:12-a would require the State to prosecute the defendant in separate trials, in different courts, for related misdemeanor and felony charges, at least, according to the petitioner, where the State originally brought the misdemeanor charge in district court. The resulting inefficiency and added expense is readily apparent. Moreover, we perceive in RSA 502-A:12-a no legislative intent to restrict the State's long-recognized authority to nol pros a complaint in district court and bring the same charges by information in the superior court. See State v. Anderson, 142 N.H. 918, 920, 922 (1998) (substitution of information for nol prossed complaint did not violate defendant's rights against double jeopardy). " e will not construe a statute as abrogating the common law unless the statute clearly expresses such an intention." State v. Hermsdorf, 135 N.H. 360, 363 (1992) (quotations omitted).
Affirmed.
BROCK, C.J., and BRODERICK, NADEAU and DALIANIS, JJ., concurred.
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