THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. DONALD E. BRANSFORD et al., Defendants and Appellants.
No.S033486
Supreme Court of California
Nov. 23, 1994.
8 Cal. 4th 885
Gregg L. McDonough, Public Defender, under appointment by the Municipal Court, and Stephan Van Decker, Deputy Public Defender, for Defendants and Appellants.
Margaret H. Marr, Ed Kuwatch, John Halley, Esther R. Sorkin, Plourd & Breeze, John W. Breeze and Douglas E. Gee as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants.
Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, Frederick R. Millar, Jr., Patti W. Ranger, Deputy Attorneys General, William E. Haynes, District Attorney, and Albert J. Hackworth, Deputy District Attorney, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Michael R. Capizzi, District Attorney (Orange) and E. Thomas Dunn, Jr., Deputy District Attorney, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Respondent.
OPINION
MOSK, J.— We granted review in these consolidated matters to consider whether the trial court should have allowed defendants convicted of driving with 0.08 percent or more of alcohol in their blood to challenge
Defendant Donald E. Bransford was arrested for drunk driving on August 18, 1991. He took a breath test, which showed a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.09 percent. A jury convicted him on October 22, 1992, of violating former
Defendant Ralph Maldonado was arrested on or about June 27, 1991. Although the record does not specifically so state, he also took a breath test. He was convicted on September 24, 1991, of violating
Both defendants contended on appeal to the appellate department of the superior court and, following certification, to the Court of Appeal that the trial court improperly excluded the above described evidence of their personal partition ratios. The Court of Appeal rejected the contention and affirmed the judgments.
In Burg v. Municipal Court (1983) 35 Cal.3d 257 [198 Cal.Rptr. 145, 673 P.2d 732] (Burg), we reviewed the history of the Legislature‘s initial responses to the problem of drunk driving, and upheld the first California statute to criminalize the act of driving with a specified percentage of alcohol in the blood.2 We held that the statute defined the “new and separate offense” of driving with a prohibited blood-alcohol concentration (35 Cal.3d at p. 265), and that it was a valid exercise of the police power and was not void for vagueness (id. at pp. 266-273).
In 1989, in the immediate predecessor to the statute under which defendants were convicted, the Legislature lowered the prohibited blood-alcohol concentration from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent.3 Because the statute continued to define the offense solely in terms of “grams of alcohol per 100
Many variables, however, can affect the actual ratio of an individual‘s breath-alcohol concentration to blood-alcohol concentration. These variables include body temperature, atmospheric pressure, medical conditions, sex, and the precision of the measuring device. (Thompson, The Constitutionality of Chemical Test Presumptions of Intoxication in Motor Vehicle Statutes (1983) 20 San Diego L.Rev. 301, 327; Annot. (1991) 90 A.L.R.4th 155, 160.) Changes in these variables may result in a difference between an individual‘s actual blood-alcohol level and the blood-alcohol level determined by applying the standard partition ratio to the breath-test results.
Courts therefore allowed defendants charged under the predecessor statute to attack breath-test results on the basis of this variability. Defendants were initially allowed to demonstrate only that their personal partition ratio differed from the standard partition ratio. (See, e.g., People v. Pritchard (1984) 162 Cal.App.3d Supp. 13, 17 [209 Cal.Rptr. 314]; People v. Herst (1987) 197 Cal.App.3d Supp. 1, 3-4 [243 Cal.Rptr. 83].) They would do so by simultaneously measuring their breath-alcohol concentration and blood-alcohol concentration over a period of time. (See, e.g., People v. Cortes (1989) 214 Cal.App.3d Supp. 12, 21 [263 Cal.Rptr. 113] (Cortes); People v. Lepine (1989) 215 Cal.App.3d 91, 94 [263 Cal.Rptr. 543] (Lepine).) Later courts also allowed defendants to demonstrate that partition ratios differ among individuals generally. (See, e.g., Lepine, supra, 215 Cal.App.3d at p. 101.) Defendants would usually do so by having an expert testify that the standard partition ratio is merely an approximation and that different individuals have different personal partition ratios. (See, e.g., Lepine, supra, 215 Cal.App.3d at p. 101; Cortes, supra, 214 Cal.App.3d at p. Supp. 19.)
Defendants here, however, were convicted under
“It is unlawful for any person who has 0.08 percent or more, by weight, of alcohol in his or her blood to drive a vehicle.
Speaking largely through their amici curiae, defendants briefly contend the amendment made no substantive change to the predecessor statute but merely codified the existing administrative definition of the standard partition ratio. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 7, § 1220.4, subd. (f).) They argue that
Although it is possible to read the statute this way, we believe there is instead only one reasonable manner in which to do so, i.e., the Legislature intended the statute to criminalize the act of driving either with the specified blood-alcohol level or with the specified breath-alcohol level. The second paragraph provided two distinct definitions, “For purposes of this subdivision,” of the phrase, “percent, by weight, of alcohol in a person‘s blood.” (Stats. 1990, ch. 708, § 1.) Under the second definition—i.e., “grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath“—
The Legislature originally considered the addition of the phrase, “or grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath,” while enacting the bill that became the version of
To read the statute to allow the prosecution to establish the offense solely by proof of a prohibited breath-alcohol level, moreover, promotes the state‘s interest in reducing the danger to the public caused by those who drink and drive. (See Burg, supra, 35 Cal.3d at pp. 261-262.) It will increase the likelihood of convicting such a driver, because the prosecution need not prove actual impairment. (American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section, Rep., Drunk Driving Laws and Enforcement (1986) p. 31.) Adjudication of such criminal charges will also require fewer legal resources, because fewer legal issues will arise. (Id. at p. 32.) And individuals prosecuted under
Defendants contend
Defendants also contend
The judgment of the Court of Appeal is affirmed.
Lucas, C. J., Arabian, J., Baxter, J., George, J., and Werdegar, J., concurred.
KENNARD, J., Concurring and Dissenting.— Understandably alarmed by the carnage caused by drunk drivers on California‘s highways, the Legislature has toughened this state‘s laws directed at those who drive a vehicle 10
I
In two separate and unrelated cases, the Imperial County District Attorney filed complaints against Donald Bransford and Ralph Maldonado, alleging that each defendant “did willfully and unlawfully, while having .08 percent and more, by weight, of alcohol in his blood, drive a vehicle,” in violation of
At the time relevant to this case,
The prosecution presented evidence to the jury in each case that the defendant, after arrest, was given a test to measure the amount of alcohol in his breath. As determined by experts, the amount of alcohol contained in 210,000 milliliters (210 liters) of the average person‘s breath is equal to the amount of alcohol contained in 100 milliliters of the person‘s blood. At each trial, a prosecution expert, relying on this “partition ratio” of 210,000 to 100 (or 2,100 to 1), testified that the breath test showed more than 0.08 percent, by weight, of alcohol in the blood.2
In each case, the defendant asked the trial court, outside the presence of the jury, for permission to cross-examine the prosecution‘s expert by asking
Both defendants appealed their convictions to the appellate department of the superior court, which consolidated the two cases and certified them to the Court of Appeal. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 62(c).) The Court of Appeal upheld the convictions.
II
To determine the meaning of
The rule of construction that requires us to construe ambiguities and resolve doubts as to the meaning of criminal statutes in a defendant‘s favor is an old and well-established one. (Ex Parte Rosenheim (1890) 83 Cal. 388, 391 [23 P. 372] [“[T]he defendant [in a criminal case] is entitled to the benefit of every reasonable doubt . . . as to the true interpretation of words or the construction of language used in a statute. . . .“]; Harrison v. Vose (1850) 50 U.S. (9 How.) 372, 378 [13 L.Ed.179, 182] [“In the construction of a penal statute, it is well settled, also, that all reasonable doubts concerning its meaning ought to operate in favor of the [defendant].“].) One early court, describing how criminal statutes “always have been and ever should be” construed, stated the rule this way: “It should be a principle of every criminal code, and certainly belongs to ours, that no person be adjudged guilty of an offence unless it be created and promulgated in terms which leave no reasonable doubt of their meaning. . . . [A] court has no option where any considerable ambiguity arises on a penal statute, but is bound
This principle, referred to as the rule of lenity by the United States Supreme Court, is not an arbitrary creation of judges; it arises from two fundamental tenets of our criminal justice system. “First, ‘a fair warning should be given to the world in language that the common world will understand, of what the law intends to do if a certain line is passed. To make the warning fair, so far as possible the line should be clear.’ [Citations.] Second, because of the seriousness of criminal penalties, and because criminal punishment usually represents the moral condemnation of the community, legislatures and not courts should define criminal activity.” (United States v. Bass (1971) 404 U.S. 336, 348 [30 L.Ed.2d 488, 496-497, 92 S.Ct. 515], fn. omitted, quoting McBoyle v. United States (1931) 283 U.S. 25, 27 [75 L.Ed. 816, 818, 51 S.Ct. 340] (per Holmes, J.); accord, Keeler v. Superior Court (1970) 2 Cal.3d 619, 631, 633 [87 Cal.Rptr. 481, 470 P.2d 617, 40 A.L.R.3d 420].)
As this court observed nearly 25 years ago: “[C]ourts cannot go so far as to create an offense by enlarging a statute, by inserting or deleting words, or by giving the terms used false or unusual meanings. [Citation.] Penal statutes will not be made to reach beyond their plain intent; they include only those offenses coming clearly within the import of their language. [Citation.] Indeed, ‘Constructive crimes—crimes built up by courts with the aid of inference, implication, and strained interpretation—are repugnant to the spirit and letter of English and American criminal law.’ [Citation.]” (Keeler v. Superior Court, supra, 2 Cal.3d at p. 632.)
These rules of construction make short work of the task of interpreting
At the time of defendants’ arrests, the statute‘s second sentence provided: “For purposes of this subdivision, percent, by weight, of alcohol in a person‘s blood shall be based upon grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath.” (Stats. 1990, ch. 708, § 1,
Thus, the plain language of
The majority nonetheless relies on the second sentence of
In the majority‘s view, its reading of the second sentence makes the phrase “alcohol in his or her blood,” as it is used in the first sentence to describe the conduct prohibited by
Nevertheless, the majority, contrary to the settled rule of construction described above, adopts the construction unfavorable to defendants and holds that section 23152 creates two separate offenses—driving with alcohol in the blood, and driving with alcohol in the breath. By its suggestion that in interpreting penal statutes courts should choose the interpretation that will “increase the likelihood of convict[ion],” cause “fewer legal issues [to] arise,” and make defendants “less likely to contest the charge,” (maj. opn., ante, at pp. 891-892), the majority appears to be applying a completely unprecedented “rule of harshness” in interpreting
Long ago, Chief Justice Marshall rejected in the strongest terms the proposition that a court should choose the harsher of two interpretations of a criminal statute in order to make the statute more effective at eradicating the evil it is aimed at: “The rule that penal laws are to be construed strictly, is perhaps not much less old than construction itself. It is founded on the tenderness of the law for the rights of individuals; and on the plain principle, that the power of punishment is vested in the legislative, not in the judicial department. It is the legislature, not the court, which is to define a crime, and ordain its punishment. [¶] . . . It would be dangerous, indeed, to carry the principle, that a case which is within the reason or mischief of a statute, is within its provisions, so far as to punish a crime not enumerated in the statute, because it is of equal atrocity, or of kindred character, with those which are enumerated.” (United States v. Wiltberger (1820) 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 76, 95-96 [5 L.Ed. 37, 42].)5
Thus, the more plausible construction of
III
Even if, as the majority holds, the Legislature did make it an offense to drive with a certain percentage of alcohol in one‘s breath, that offense is irrelevant here because neither defendant was so charged. In each case, the complaint alleged that the defendant “did willfully and unlawfully, while having .08 percent and more, by weight, of alcohol in his blood, drive a vehicle.” (Italics added.) In each case, the jury instructions made no mention of driving with alcohol in the defendant‘s breath. Rather, in each case the trial court instructed the jury: “Any person who drives a vehicle with 0.08 percent or more, by weight, of alcohol in his blood, is guilty of a misdemeanor.” (Italics added.) And in each case the verdict form made reference only to the amount of alcohol in the defendant‘s blood.8
In short, the complaints, the jury instructions, and the verdicts all show that both defendants were charged with and convicted of driving with alcohol in their blood, and not the crime of alcohol in the breath that the majority has discovered lurking in the statute. Accordingly, the majority‘s
IV
In each case, the trial court erred in excluding the “partition ratio” evidence of the relationship between breath alcohol and blood alcohol that the defendants sought to introduce. Because
Each defendant sought to refute this inference of his blood-alcohol level by introducing evidence, through the prosecution‘s experts, of possible variations between the average partition ratio and the partition ratio of the defendants. It is undisputed that the correlation between blood-alcohol levels and breath-alcohol levels can vary in different individuals, and that the partition ratio of 2,100 to 1 is only an average value for that correlation. Here, the defendants’ partition ratio evidence, by attempting to show that the partition ratio of 2,100 to 1 did not accurately establish the quantity of alcohol in each defendant‘s blood, was relevant to disproving the prosecution‘s theory as to the relationship between alcohol in the defendants’ breath and alcohol in their blood. In each case, the trial court erred in excluding this evidence.
The question in each case remains whether the error was prejudicial. With regard to defendant Maldonado, the appellate record does not show the results of the test that measured the alcoholic content of his breath. Thus, it is impossible to determine the effect of the trial court‘s erroneous ruling. It may be that the quantity of alcohol in Maldonado‘s breath was so great that the expert would have testified that, even applying a partition ratio far more favorable to Maldonado, his blood-alcohol content nevertheless exceeded 0.08 percent. Because Maldonado has failed to satisfy his burden of producing an adequate record from which this court can assess whether the trial court‘s error was prejudicial, I would affirm his conviction of violating
With respect to defendant Bransford, the prosecution‘s expert witness testified that the breath test showed a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.09
V
CONCLUSION
“The temptation to stretch the law to fit the evil is an ancient one, and it must be resisted.” (Moskal v. United States (1990) 498 U.S. 103, 132 [112 L.Ed.2d 449, 473, 111 S.Ct. 461] (dis. opn. of Scalia, J.).) We all share a desire to drive our cars free from the fear of injury or death at the hands of a drunk driver. A statute criminalizing driving with alcohol in the breath may well “promote[] the state‘s interest in reducing the danger to the public caused by those who drink and drive.” (Maj. opn., ante, p. 891].)
As a court, however, our task is to apply the laws that the Legislature has enacted, not those it could have enacted but did not. Thus, no matter how tempting, this court cannot create a new crime of driving with a given amount of alcohol in the breath, by stretching the language of
Appellants’ petition for a rehearing was denied January 19, 1995. Kennard, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.
Notes
Amicus curiae observe that the Legislative Counsel‘s Digest refers to “conforming changes.” (See Legis. Counsel‘s Dig., Assem. Bill No. 4318 (1989-1990 Reg. Sess.).) They argue that the quoted phrase proves the Legislature merely added for the sake of consistency the phrase, “or grams per 210 liters of breath,” to the language that referred only to milliliters of blood; they suggest it did so to simplify the conversion from breath-alcohol to blood-alcohol concentration, but they fail to explain how this incorporation simplifies the conversion. They also assert the Legislature believed the federal government required states to statutorily—as opposed to administratively—define the partition ratio, but they offer no support for this claim.
In addition, the differences between the statute enacted by our Legislature and the model drunk driving statute of the Uniform Vehicle Code, which unambiguously does criminalize driving with alcohol in one‘s breath, also show that section 23152(b) is not a statute that criminalizes driving with alcohol in the breath. The Uniform Vehicle Code prohibits a personThe Wisconsin and Illinois statutes referred to by the majority (maj. opn., ante, at p. 892 & fn. 9) also are statutes that, like the Uniform Vehicle Code, expressly create a separate offense of driving with alcohol in the breath. (State v. McManus (1989) 152 Wis.2d 113 [447 N.W.2d 654, 657] [“(1) No person may drive or operate a motor vehicle while: [] [] (b) The person has a blood alcohol concentration of 0.1% or more by weight of alcohol in the person‘s blood or 0.1 grams or more of alcohol in 210 liters of that person‘s breath.“]; People v. Capporelli (1986) 148 Ill.App.3d 1048 [103 Ill.Dec. 864, 502 N.E.2d 11, 14] [“‘(a) A person shall not drive or be in actual physical control of any vehicle within this State while: (1) The alcohol concentration in such person‘s blood or breath is 0.10 or more . . . [] . . . 5. Alcohol concentration shall mean either grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath.’ “].) Unlike those states, our Legislature has not enacted a similar statute.
Defendant Maldonado, who was also convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol (