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1. Appeal and Error_assignments of error_record page references omitted_Rules
violation not egregious
Violations of the Rules of Appellate Procedure involving the identification of
assignments of errors by their record page numbers were not so egregious as to warrant dismissal
or sanctions.
2. Sentencing_habitual impaired driving_no double jeopardy violation
Habitual impaired driving does not violate double jeopardy under Apprendi v. New
Jersey, 530 U.S. 466. Apprendi and Blakely involve the right to a jury rather than double
jeopardy.
3. Criminal Law_verdict sheet with alternate definitions of crime_one offense
There was no error in the submission of an impaired driving verdict sheet which did not
specify which of two statutory definitions of impaired driving applied (being under the influence
or blood alcohol level). Defendant was charged with a single wrong which could be established
alternatively.
Attorney General Roy A. Cooper, III, by Assistant Attorney
General Patricia A. Duffy, for the State.
Bruce T. Cunningham, Jr., for defendant-appellant.
JACKSON, Judge.
On 25 July 2001, Sergeant James Christopher McClelland
(Sergeant McClelland), a sixteen-year veteran of the North
Carolina Highway Patrol, observed David Alan Bradley (defendant)
turning left from a crossover onto U.S. 74 East. Sergeant
McClelland noted that defendant's turn was so wide that he[defendant] went across that lane to the outside lane, almost went
off the right side of the road, and he jerked it back. Sergeant
McClelland further testified that defendant's vehicle crossed the
fog line while turning onto U.S. 74. After following defendant's
vehicle for approximately three-tenths of a mile and observing
defendant driving erratically and weaving in his lane, Sergeant
McClelland activated his blue lights.
Defendant pulled his vehicle into a mall parking lot, and
Sergeant McClelland approached defendant's vehicle and requested
defendant's license and registration. Defendant was unable to
produce a driver's license. Sergeant McClelland then asked
defendant to step out of his vehicle, whereupon Sergeant McClelland
noticed that defendant had red, glassy eyes and a strong odor of
alcohol on his breath. Sergeant McClelland requested that
defendant take a seat in the patrol car and perform several field
sobriety tests, including an AlcoSensor test and a horizontal gaze
nystagmus test.
Based upon his observations, Sergeant McClelland formed the
opinion that defendant had consumed an [sic] sufficient amount of
an alcoholic beverage as to appreciatively impair his mental and
physical faculties, and thus, Sergeant McClelland placed defendant
under arrest. At the Law Enforcement Center, defendant was advised
of his Intoxilyzer rights, and defendant exercised his right to
make a telephone call. After waiting the required thirty minutes,
Sergeant McClelland administered the Intoxilyzer test, which
resulted in a breath-alcohol concentration of 0.16. On 14 March 2005, defendant was indicted for habitual impaired
driving. Prior to trial, defendant made a motion to dismiss the
indictment on double jeopardy grounds. The trial court denied the
motion on 12 July 2005, and the jury found defendant guilty on 16
January 2006. On 19 January 2006, the trial court sentenced
defendant, as a prior record level II offender, to a minimum of
fifteen months imprisonment with a corresponding maximum of
eighteen months. Defendant filed timely notice of appeal.
[1] As a preliminary matter, we note that defendant's brief
violates Rule 28(b)(6) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate
Procedure. Specifically, defendant has failed to identify his
assignments of errors by the pages at which they appear in the
printed record on appeal. N.C. R. App. P. 28(b)(6) (2006); see,
e.g., Perry v. N.C. Dep't of Corr., 176 N.C. App. 123, 125, 625
S.E.2d 790, 791.92 (2006) (Although DOC included a reference to
the assignments of error in its brief, it did not reference the
pertinent page numbers of the record on appeal.). Although the
assignments of error can be found on pages twenty-three to twenty-
four of the record, the appellate rules expressly require the
appellant to direct this Court's attention to the pages in the
record. The North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure are
mandatory and 'failure to follow these rules will subject an appeal
to dismissal.' Viar v. N.C. Dep't of Transp., 359 N.C. 400, 401,
610 S.E.2d 360, 360 (per curiam) (quoting Steingress v. Steingress,
350 N.C. 64, 65, 511 S.E.2d 298, 299 (1999)), reh'g denied, 359
N.C. 643, 617 S.E.2d 662 (2005). Nevertheless, we conclude thatdefendant's violation is not so egregious as to warrant dismissal
or sanctions.
[2] On appeal, defendant first contends that the offense of
habitual impaired driving violates the prohibition against double
jeopardy as a result of the United States Supreme Court's decisions
in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435 (2000),
Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 153 L. Ed. 2d 556 (2002), and
Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 159 L. Ed. 2d 403 (2004). We
disagree.
A person commits the offense of habitual impaired driving if
he drives while impaired as defined in [North Carolina General
Statutes, section] 20-138.1 and has been convicted of three or more
offenses involving impaired driving as defined in [section]
20-4.01(24a) within seven years of the date of this offense. N.C.
Gen. Stat. . 20-138.5(a) (2005). The habitual impaired driving
statute is intended to provide an increased sentence for someone
convicted of a fourth impaired driving offense, with the previous
three offenses occurring within seven years of the fourth offense.
In 2001, this Court upheld the habitual impaired driving
statute against a double jeopardy challenge. State v. Vardiman, 146
N.C. App. 381, 552 S.E.2d 697 (2001), appeal dismissed, 355 N.C.
222, 559 S.E.2d 794, cert. denied, 537 U.S. 833, 154 L. Ed. 2d 51
(2002). In Vardiman, this Court noted that [i]t is well settled
that the Double Jeopardy Clause of the North Carolina and United
States Constitutions protect against . . . multiple punishments for
the same offense. Id. at 383, 552 S.E.2d at 699 (internalquotation marks and citations omitted). Recidivist statutes, such
as habitual impaired driving, survive constitutional challenges in
regard to double jeopardy challenges because they increase the
severity of the punishment for the crime being prosecuted; they do
not punish a previous crime a second time. Id. (emphasis added).
Defendant nevertheless argues that the underpinning of the
majority opinion in Vardiman that Habitual DWI is both a crime and
a sentence enhancer has been removed by the Apprendi/Ring/Blakely
line of cases and that Vardiman is no longer good law. Vardiman
was decided after the United States Supreme Court's opinion in
Apprendi was filed, and this Court noted that Apprendi did not
alter its conclusion that the habitual impaired driving statute
survived a double jeopardy challenge. In addition, we recently
addressed a similar double jeopardy challenge with respect to
habitual misdemeanor assault in State v. Massey, 179 N.C. App. 803,
635 S.E.2d 528 (2006). In Massey, we held that
[a]lthough defendant contends that the
Apprendi line of cases renders habitual
misdemeanor assault unconstitutional as
violative of the prohibition against double
jeopardy, defendant reads too much into
Apprendi and its progeny. Blakely explicitly
permits sentence enhancements provided that
sentence enhancements, with the exception of
prior convictions, are found beyond a
reasonable doubt by the jury. In fact, the
United States Supreme Court expressly
permitted sentence enhancements imposed by a
judge when the defendant stipulates to the
relevant facts or consents to judicial fact-
finding. As the North Carolina Supreme Court
noted, the crux of Blakely was to eliminate
fact finding by the court that increased a
defendant's sentence beyond the statutory
maximum. In essence, Apprendi and Blakely
applied the Sixth Amendment right to a jurytrial to sentence enhancements. Defendant's
argument, however, is directed at the Fifth
Amendment prohibition against double jeopardy,
and accordingly, Apprendi and Blakely are
inapposite.
Massey, 179 N.C. App. at 808, 635 S.E.2d at 531 (internal citations
omitted) (emphases in original). This Court refused to extend the
holdings in Apprendi and Blakely to the habitual misdemeanor
assault statute. Similarly, we refuse to extend those holdings to
the habitual impaired driving statute. Accordingly, defendant's
assignment of error is overruled.
[3] In his second argument, defendant contends that the trial
court erred by submitting a verdict sheet to the jury which did not
differentiate between the two statutory definitions of the offense
of impaired driving. Specifically, North Carolina General
Statutes, section 20-138.1, provides that
[a] person commits the offense of impaired
driving if he drives any vehicle upon any
highway, any street, or any public vehicular
area within this State:
(1) While under the influence of an
impairing substance; or
(2) After having consumed sufficient
alcohol that he has, at any relevant
time after the driving, an alcohol
concentration of 0.08 or more.
N.C. Gen. Stat. . 20-138.1(a) (2005). Because the verdict sheet
did not specify which definition of impaired driving applied,
defendant contends that the verdict sheet was ambiguous and
therefore deprived him of his constitutionally protected right to
a unanimous jury verdict. We disagree. Because defendant did not object to the jury verdict sheet as
submitted, we review defendant's argument under the plain error
rule. See State v. Gilbert, 139 N.C. App. 657, 672, 535 S.E.2d 94,
103 (2000). Therefore, defendant must demonstrate
that the claimed error is a fundamental
error, something so basic, so prejudicial, so
lacking in its elements that justice cannot
have been done, or where [the error] is
grave error which amounts to a denial of a
fundamental right of the accused, or the
error has 'resulted in a miscarriage of
justice or in the denial to appellant of a
fair trial' or where the error is such as to
seriously affect the fairness, integrity or
public reputation of judicial proceedings or
where it can be fairly said the instructional
mistake had a probable impact on the jury's
finding that the defendant was guilty.
State v. Odom, 307 N.C. 655, 660, 300 S.E.2d 375, 378 (1983)
(quoting United States v. McCaskill, 676 F.2d 995, 1002 (4th Cir.),
cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1018, 74 L. Ed. 2d 513 (1982)). We note
further that [t]he plain error rule . . . is always to be applied
cautiously. Id. (quoting McCaskill, 676 F.2d at 1002).
The North Carolina Constitution and the North Carolina
General Statutes both require an unanimous verdict in a criminal
jury trial. State v. Wallace, 179 N.C. App. 710, 719, 635 S.E.2d
455, 462 (2006) (citing N.C. Const. art. I, § 24; N.C. Gen. Stat.
§ 15A-1237(b) (2005)). Defendant contends that his right to a
unanimous jury verdict was violated because it is possible that
some members of the jury found him guilty of impaired driving based
on his being under the influence of an impairing substance, while
other members of the jury might have based their decision on
testimony indicating that defendant's alcohol concentration was0.16, in excess of the 0.08 concentration delineated in the second
prong of the impaired driving statutory definition.
In State v. Oliver, 343 N.C. 202, 470 S.E.2d 16 (1996), our
Supreme Court held that
[e]ven accepting defendant's argument as true,
that some jurors may have found defendant was
under the influence of an impairing substance
and that some jurors may have found
defendant's alcohol concentration was 0.08 or
more at some relevant time after driving, the
fact remains that jurors unanimously found
defendant guilty of the single offense of
impaired driving.
Oliver, 343 N.C. at 215, 470 S.E.2d at 24 (emphasis added). Here,
defendant was charged with a single wrong that could be established
alternatively through either of its elements, and thus, we find no
error in the verdict sheet employed by the trial court.
Accordingly, defendant's assignment of error is overruled.
Defendant's remaining assignments of error not argued in his
brief are deemed abandoned. See N.C. R. App. P. 28(b)(6) (2006).
NO ERROR.
Judges CALABRIA and GEER concur.
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