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Frazier v. People5/17/2004
scribed different penalties for the crime of vehicular homicide. To resolve this conflict, we must apply interpretive rules of statutory construction so as to give effect to the General Assembly's intent.
B. Statutory Analysis
Frazier maintains that Senate Bill 01-168 is clear and unambiguous because it states that the punishment for vehicular homicide "shall" be no more than one year in county jail. Therefore, Frazier asserts that the trial court erred in sentencing him under 18-1.3-401(1)(a)(V)(A) to six years of incarceration. We disagree.
To interpret a statute, this court begins with its plain language. People v. Luther, 58 P.3d 1013, 1015 (Colo.2002). If the statute is unambiguous and does not conflict with other statutory provisions, this court looks no further. Id. Here, Senate Bill 01-168 directly conflicts with the sentencing scheme articulated in Title 18 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. Senate Bill 01-168 mandates a maximum sentence of one year in county jail for vehicular homicide. Conversely, Title 18 mandates a minimum presumptive sentence to the Department of Corrections of four years. In light of this conflict, we must look beyond the plain language of the statutes to determine the legislature's intent.
*811 When statutory language conflicts with other provisions, we may rely on other factors such as legislative history, the consequences of a given construction and the goal of the statutory scheme to determine a statute's meaning. People v. Cooper, 27 P.3d 348, 354 (Colo.2001). We are also mindful of the rule of lenity that requires courts to resolve ambiguities in a penal code in favor of a defendant's liberty interests. Faulkner v. Dist. Court, 826 P.2d 1277, 1278 (Colo.1992). However, application of the rule of lenity is a last resort and will not be applied when we are able to discern the intent of the General Assembly. People v. Thoro Products Co., 70 P.3d 1188, 1198 (Colo.2003).
i. Legislative History
In this case, the legislative intent, as reflected in the title of the Bill, was to impose additional treatment requirements upon persistent drunk drivers and allocate public resources for that purpose. Although the title of a statute is not dispositive of legislative intent, it is a useful aid in construing a statute. Martinez v. Cont'l Enter., 730 P.2d 308, 313 (Colo.1986); People v. Zapotocky, 869 P.2d 1234, 1239 (Colo.1994) ("A court also may consider the title of the legislation in resolving uncertainties concerning legislative intent."). The General Assembly nowhere expressed its intention to reduce--by a factor of twelve--the penalties that an individual who committed vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol would suffer.
Some months later, in Senate Bill 01S2-008, the same General Assembly did explicitly state its intent as to the precise issue we here address. Although this subsequent expression of legislative intent cannot alone resolve the issue before us, it is instructive in our analysis of what that very General Assembly may have intended. See People v. Holland, 708 P.2d 119, 120-121 (Colo.1985) ("While subsequent legislative declarations concerning the intent of an earlier statute are not controlling, they are entitled to significant weight."). That later revision clarified that the General Assembly had no intention of modifying the sentence applicable to the crime of vehicular homicide.
Thus, we are not presented with a case where we must sift through boxes of documents and transcripts of legislative history to decipher the General Assembly's intent. Rather, it is unmistakably clear that the legislature never sought the outcome that Frazier advocates: namely, that felony vehicular homicide would become for all practical purposes a misdemeanor offense.
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