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Wylie v. Wyoming Department of Transportation12/21/1998
Appeal from the District Court of Teton County Honorable D. Terry Rogers, Judge
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in Pacific Reporter Second. Readers are requested to notify the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Supreme Court Building, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002, of any typographical or other formal errors in order that corrections may be made before final publication in the permanent volume.
WYO. STAT. § 31-7-127(a)(ii) provides that the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) shall revoke for three years the driver's license of any person upon receipt of a record of conviction of that person under WYO. STAT. § 31-5-233 or "other law prohibiting driving while under the influence" if that person has been previously convicted two or more times under WYO. STAT. § 31-5-233 or other law prohibiting driving while under the influence within the preceding five year period. Appellant Thomas Elton Wylie concedes that he has two previous convictions under WYO. STAT. § 31-5-233 within the preceding five-year period and also that within that period he was recently convicted in Montana of a violation of MONT. CODE. ANN. § 61-8-406 (1995) which proscribes driving while having an alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more. WYDOT revoked Wylie's Wyoming driver's license for three years, after a contested case hearing, because it considered the Montana statute under which Wylie was recently convicted to be a "law prohibiting driving while under the influence" even though that statute does not contain the terminology "driving while under the influence." A companion Montana statute, MONT. CODE. ANN. § 61-8-401 (1995), does contain that terminology.
On Wylie's appeal from the WYDOT driver's license revocation action, we must decide whether MONT. CODE ANN. § 61-8-406, under which Wylie was convicted and which proscribes driving while having an alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more, is a "law prohibiting driving while under the influence" for purposes of WYO. STAT. § 31-7-127 (a)(ii). If it is, we will affirm WYDOT's action; if it is not, we will reverse that action. We hold that the pertinent Montana statute fits the requirement of Wyoming law and affirm the order of the district court.
ISSUES
Wylie presents this issue for our review:
1. May the Wyoming Department of Transportation revoke the driving privileges of a driver licensed to drive by the State of Wyoming, in response to that driver's guilty plea in another state, when the charge plead to is substantially different from Wyoming's counterpart?
WYDOT restates the issue as:
Is Mont. Code Ann. § 61-8-406 (1995) a statute of another state, which prohibits driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, alcohol, controlled substances, or drugs?
FACTS
On April 8, 1995, while driving in the state of Montana, Wylie was stopped and arrested for violating MONT. CODE. ANN. § 61-8-401 (1995) which proscribes motor vehicle operation by a driver who because of drinking alcohol has diminished ability to safely operate the vehicle. In January 1996, he pled guilty to a violation of MONT. CODE ANN. § 61-8-406 (1995) which proscribes motor vehicle operation by a driver having an alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more. Wylie has a Wyoming driver's license and had two other convictions for driving under the influence in the past five years. On July 8, 1996, WYDOT notified Wylie that it would revoke his driving privileges from August 3, 1996 through August 2, 1999. A contested case hearing was held at Wylie's request and, on March 28, 1997, a final order issued upholding the revocation. Wylie appealed to the district court, and
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