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State v. Begay1/4/2001
The State appeals from three separate Court of Appeals decisions affirming trial court refusals to use a prior felony DWI (driving while intoxicated) conviction, see NMSA 1978, § 66-8-102 (1999), to enhance a sentence for a present non-DWI felony under the habitual offender statute, see NMSA 1978, § 31-18-17 (1993). See State v. Begay, No. 21,060, slip op. (NMCA May 2, 2000); State v. Phillips, No. 21,061, slip op. (NMCA May 2, 2000); State v. Bitsuie, No. 21,062, slip op. (NMCA May 2, 2000). We affirm.
I.
Defendants Frank Harrison Begay, Lester Bitsuie, and Peter Phillips were each convicted of a non-DWI felony in San Juan County. In each case, the State attempted to enhance Defendant's sentence pursuant to Section 31-18-17, New Mexico's habitual offender statute. In each case, the State relied on a prior fourth-degree-felony DWI conviction, pursuant to Section 66-8-102(G), as a basis for sentence enhancement. In each case, the trial judge concluded that a prior felony DWI conviction could not be used as a basis for enhancing the sentence pursuant to the habitual offender statute.
The State appealed these trial court decisions. The Court of Appeals affirmed each decision, relying on our statement in State v. Anaya, 1997-NMSC-010, 33, 123 N.M. 14, 933 P.2d 223, that "it is clear . . . the egislature did not intend to apply Section 31-18-17 to the new felony created by Section 66-8-102(G) for sentencing purposes." See Begay, slip op. at 2; Phillips, slip op. at 2; Bitsuie, slip op. at 2.
II.
The State argues that the Court of Appeals erred in relying on Anaya for two reasons. First, the State argues that Anaya did not deal with the specific issue of whether a non-DWI felony conviction could be enhanced by a prior felony DWI conviction. Second, the State argues that Anaya "rested on a concern that the egislature did not intend to create two enhancements for the same crime," a concern the State argues is not present here because the felony sought to be enhanced is not the DWI felony. The State is correct that Anaya did not deal with the specific question of whether a sentence for a present non-DWI felony could be enhanced by a prior DWI felony. Anaya presented the question of whether a sentence for a present DWI felony could be enhanced by a prior non-DWI felony. We do not believe, however, that this difference is significant in determining the outcome of these cases. Contrary to the State's assertion, our concern in Anaya was not double enhancements; we were concerned that the Legislature did not intend for a felony DWI conviction to be considered a felony for purposes of the habitual offender statute. Similarly, the resolution of these cases hinges on whether the Legislature intended for a felony DWI conviction to be considered a felony for purposes of the habitual offender statute. We now review Anaya.
We addressed two issues in Anaya. We considered the question whether the Legislature intended to create a new crime of felony DWI, separate from the offense of misdemeanor DWI, that would require proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a defendant's three (or more) prior DWI convictions as an element of the offense when it enacted Section 66-8- 102(G). See Anaya, 1997-NMSC-010, 3. We also considered the question whether the Legislature intended to permit a sentence for a present felony DWI conviction to be enhanced pursuant to the habitual offender statute with prior non-DWI felony convictions. Id. In answering these questions, we were cognizant of repeated amendments to the DWI statute since 1941, which increased penalties slightly, and the consistent statutory separation of the basic definition of the offense fr
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