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State v. McCraine5/16/2003
llars nor more than five thousand dollars.
As is evident from the statute, which Appellant concedes, knowledge is not expressly stated as an element of the offense. Appellant maintains instead that the element of "lawful revocation" implies that the licensee have actual knowledge of the revocation in order to commit the offense because West Virginia Code § 17C-5A-1(c), detailing the driver's license revocation procedure, provides that a revocation is not effective until ten days after receipt of the copy of the order of revocation. West Virginia Code § 17C-5A-1, provides in pertinent part that:
(a) Any person who is licensed to operate a motor vehicle in this state and who drives a motor vehicle in this state shall be deemed to have given his or her consent by the operation thereof, subject to the provisions of this article, *fn14
to the procedure set forth in this article for the determination of whether his or her license to operate a motor vehicle in this state should be revoked because he or she did drive a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, controlled substances or drugs, or combined influence of alcohol or controlled substances or drugs, or did drive a motor vehicle while having an alcoholic concentration in his or her blood of ten hundredths of one percent or more, by weight, or did refuse to submit to any designated secondary chemical test . . . .
(c) If . . .the commissioner shall determine that a person was arrested for an offense described in section two, article five of this chapter . . . and that the results of any secondary test or tests indicate that at the time the test or tests were administered the person had, in his or her blood, an alcohol concentration of ten hundredths of one percent or more, by weight, or at the time the person was arrested he or she was under the influence of alcohol, controlled substances or drugs, the commissioner shall make and enter an order revoking the person's license to operate a motor vehicle in this state. . . . A copy of the order shall be forwarded to the person by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, and shall contain the reasons for the revocation or suspension and describe the applicable revocation or suspension periods provided for in section two [§ 17C-5A-2] of this article. No revocation or suspension shall become effective until ten days after receipt of a copy of the order.
Also related to our inquiry is the following portion of the general statute governing notices which the Division of Motor Vehicles is authorized or required to make:
The giving of notice by mail is complete upon the expiration of four days after such deposit of said notice. Proof of the giving of notice . . . may be made by the certificate of any officer or employee of the department or affidavit of any person over the eighteen years of age, naming the person to whom such notice was given and specifying the time, place, and manner of the giving thereof. W.Va. Code § 17A-2-19 (1951) (Repl. Vol. 2000).
Although the statute defining the offense of driving revoked for DUI is silent with regard to criminal intent or mens rea, this Court has held that the "[t]he legislative purpose to dispense with the element of intent in a statutory crime must be clearly expressed." Syllabus, State v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. of America, 111 W.Va. 148, 161 S.E. 5 (1931). *fn15
We do not find such a clear and unambiguous expression in the provisions of the statute defining the subject offense. Nonetheless, a reading of the plain language of the statute is susceptible to more than one interpretation which thus requires us to construe the statute. Our general goal in construing a statute
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