STATE OF MINNESOTA, Respondent, vs. Michael James Schwartz, Jr., Appellant.
A19-0786
STATE OF MINNESOTA IN SUPREME COURT
April 7, 2021
Hudson, J.
Court of Appeals
Melissa Manderschied, Bloomington City Attorney, Maureen S. O’Brien, Assistant City Attorney, Bloomington, Minnesota, for respondent.
Cathryn Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Public Defender, Christopher L. Mishek, Assistant Appellate Public Defender, Saint Paul, Minnesota, for appellant.
S Y L L A B U S
The crime of driving, operating, or being in physical control of a motor vehicle with “any amount of a controlled substance listed in Schedule I or II” in the driver’s body, under
Affirmed.
O P I N I O N
HUDSON, Justice.
The question presented in this case is whether
FACTS
The relevant facts are not in dispute. On October 15, 2016, Bloomington police responded to a citizen’s report of an unresponsive male sitting in a parked vehicle with the motor running. When the officers arrived, the reporting party explained that the driver, later identified as Appellant Michael James Schwartz, Jr., had awakened, left the vehicle, and was now standing nearby. When the officers made contact with Schwartz, they smelled an odor of alcohol and observed that he was having difficulty standing. Schwartz
Schwartz was charged with operating a motor vehicle with a Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substance in his body, in violation of On direct appeal, Schwartz sought to withdraw his guilty plea under The validity of a guilty plea is a question of law that we review de novo. State v. Raleigh, 778 N.W.2d 90, 94 (Minn. 2010). Although a defendant does not have an absolute right to withdraw a valid guilty plea, a court must allow a defendant to withdraw a guilty plea, even after sentencing, if “withdrawal is necessary to correct a manifest injustice.” State v. Theis, 742 N.W.2d 643, 646 (Minn. 2007); Schwartz argues that he should be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea because he did not admit to all the elements of the crime of driving with a Schedule I or II controlled substance in his body. Specifically, Schwartz contends that his guilty plea is not accurate because he never admitted that he knew or had reason to know that amphetamine was in his body at the time he was operating the vehicle. Schwartz’s argument presents us with a question of statutory interpretation. The interpretation of a statute is a legal question that we review de novo. State v. Ndikum, 815 N.W.2d 816, 818 (Minn. 2012). The objective of statutory interpretation is to ascertain Our analysis begins with the language of the statute, which provides that “[i]t is a crime for any person to drive, operate, or be in physical control of any motor vehicle . . . when the person’s body contains any amount of a controlled substance listed in Schedule I or II, or its metabolite, other than marijuana or tetrahydrocannabinols.” In general, criminal offenses require both a volitional act and criminal intent, referred to as mens rea. See Wayne R. LaFave, Criminal Law, § 5.1, at 253 (5th ed. 2010). Strict liability criminal offenses are “generally disfavored.” In re Welfare of C.R.M., 611 N.W.2d 802, 805 (Minn. 2000). As we explained in C.R.M., “[t]he rulings of the United States Supreme Court and this court . . . highlight the long established principle of American criminal jurisprudence that in common law crimes and in felony level offenses mens rea is required.” Id. at 808. When examining a criminal statute that does not include an express mens rea requirement, we undertake a “careful and close examination of the statutory language” to determine whether the Legislature intended to create a strict liability offense. Id.; see also State v. Loge, 608 N.W.2d 152, 155 (Minn. 2000); Ndikum, 815 N.W.2d at 820. In doing so, we are “guided by the public policy that if criminal liability, particularly gross misdemeanor or felony liability, is to be imposed for conduct unaccompanied by fault, the legislative intent to do so should be clear.” State v. Neisen, 415 N.W.2d 326, 329 (Minn. 1987). Therefore, we must first look to the language of the statute to determine whether the Legislature intended to impose strict liability without proof of knowledge. C.R.M, 611 N.W.2d at 805. To begin, it is significant that the Legislature included an express knowledge requirement for other offenses contained within the same statute. “When the Legislature uses limiting or modifying language in one part of a statute, but omits it in another, we regard that omission as intentional and will not add those same words of limitation or This conclusion is supported by our decision in State v. Loge, where we held that the absence of a knowledge requirement in the open container statute was evidence of the Legislature’s intent to establish a strict liability offense. 608 N.W.2d at 157. In that case, we explained that the Legislature made distinctions between knowledge requirements among the various traffic-related statutes that “guide[d] our interpretation” of the open container statute. Id. We acknowledged the presence of knowledge requirements in other traffic statutes and concluded that “[i]f the legislature had intended [the open container statute] to have a knowledge requirement, it could have added the word ‘knowingly.’ ” Id. Here, the legislative intent to create a strict liability offense is even clearer than in Loge because the different knowledge requirements are contained within the same subdivision of the same statute. See Next, we consider the Legislature’s addition of an affirmative defense to the statute. Based on the inclusion of an express knowledge requirement for other offenses in the same statute and the availability of an affirmative defense, we conclude that the Legislature intended to create a strict liability offense under Our analysis, however, does not end there. “[T]he existence of a mens rea [requirement] is the rule of, rather than the exception to, the principles of Anglo-American criminal jurisprudence.” United States v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. 422, 436 (1978). For Thus, when interpreting a criminal statute that does not contain language indicating intent or knowledge, we must look beyond the language of the statute itself and determine whether imposing strict liability for the specific criminal offense at issue is consistent with our precedent and “long established principle[s] of American criminal jurisprudence.” C.R.M., 611 N.W.2d at 808 (explaining that we cannot rely solely on the omission of statutory language such as “knowledge,” “belief,” or “intent,” to supply a clear expression of legislative intent to create a strict liability offense); see also U.S. Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. at 438 (“Certainly far more than the simple omission of the appropriate phrase from the statutory definition is necessary to justify dispensing with an intent requirement.“). There are two categories of criminal offenses where strict liability is generally accepted: (1) public welfare offenses and (2) crimes when the circumstances make it reasonable to charge the defendant with knowledge of the facts that make the conduct illegal.2 In this case, the court of appeals concluded that We have “recognized that in limited circumstances a legislature may dispense with mens rea through silence—in statutes creating ‘public welfare’ offenses.” Ndikum, 815 N.W.2d at 819. Public welfare statutes are regulatory in nature and govern “potentially harmful or injurious items, including dangerous or deleterious devices or products or obnoxious waste materials.” Ndikum, 815 N.W.2d at 819–20 (quoting Staples v. United States, 511 U.S 600, 607 1994). Unlike common law offenses, public welfare offenses do not involve positive aggression or action, but are based on “neglect where the law requires care, or inaction where it imposes a duty.” Morissette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246, 255 (1952). When determining whether a criminal statute governs a public welfare offense, courts have traditionally considered two factors: (1) whether the items regulated are so inherently dangerous that a defendant is reasonably on notice of the possibility of strict regulation; and (2) the severity of the criminal penalty imposed for violations of the statute. See Ndikum, 815 N.W.2d at 819–22; C.R.M., 611 N.W.2d at 809–10. First, we must consider whether the items regulated by the statute are so inherently dangerous that the defendant is on notice of the possibility of strict regulation. Ndikum, 815 N.W.2d at 820. For example, the United States Supreme Court has recognized that the sale of contaminated food, United States v. Park, 421 U.S. 658 (1975), the distribution By contrast, there are also items that, although potentially dangerous, are not so inherently dangerous that the possessor is reasonably on notice of their strict regulation. For example, in Ndikum, we considered whether a statute prohibiting the possession of a pistol in public without a permit was a public welfare offense. 815 N.W.2d at 817. In that case, we concluded that the State was required to prove knowledge to sustain a gross misdemeanor conviction under the statute. Id. We explained that because one “may legally keep guns in their homes, transport guns to work, possess guns at work, hunt with guns, and keep guns in their vehicles,” the defendant could not be considered to be on notice that the possession of a gun without a permit was subject to strict regulation. Id. at 822. Likewise, in C.R.M., we declined to interpret a statute that prohibited carrying a knife on schools grounds to be a strict liability public welfare offense. 611 N.W.2d at 810. In that case, we stated that “great care is taken to avoid interpreting statutes as eliminating mens rea where doing so criminalizes a broad range of what would otherwise be innocent conduct.” Id. at 809. Further, we stated that “knives as common household utensils are clearly not inherently dangerous, as they can be used for a myriad of completely benign Here, Schwartz argues the nature of the conduct prohibited by the statute—that is, having any trace amount of a Schedule I or II controlled substance in one’s body while operating a motor vehicle—is not so inherently dangerous. We disagree. Unlike possessing a pistol in Ndikum or carrying a knife in C.R.M., ingesting a Schedule I or II substance and then operating a motor vehicle can be considered inherently dangerous due to the effect the substances can have on a driver’s ability to safely operate a vehicle. Moreover, using a Schedule I or II controlled substance without a valid prescription is plainly illegal under state and federal law. See Second, we consider the severity of the punishment imposed by the statute. Ndikum, 815 N.W.2d at 822. “Historically, the penalty imposed under a statute has been a significant consideration in determining whether the statute should be construed as dispensing with mens rea.” Id. (quoting Staples, 511 U.S. at 616). In Staples, the United States Supreme Court noted that public welfare offenses typically carry less severe criminal penalties, like fines and short jail sentences, which “logically complement[]” the absence of a mens rea requirement. Staples, 511 U.S. at 616; see C.R.M, 611 N.W.2d at 806–07. “In a system that generally requires a ‘vicious will’ to establish a crime,” courts have noted that “imposing severe punishments for offenses that require no mens rea would seem In the present case, the penalty for a conviction under Schwartz urges us to adopt a new rule of law, namely that all criminal statutes that are silent as to mens rea will not be interpreted as imposing strict liability if they are punishable up to a felony. Because We recognize that a defendant can be charged with a felony under the statute, but Schwartz pled guilty to second-degree driving while impaired, a gross misdemeanor Moreover, our reading of a knowledge requirement into the statute would effectively subvert the deliberative, policymaking role of the Legislature. Indeed, the Supreme Court has recognized Congress’s authority to balance competing interests when establishing a strict liability offense. See Balint, 258 U.S. at 254 (holding that the illegal sale of narcotics constituted a public welfare offense and that strict liability was appropriate). As the Supreme Court explained in that case: [The statute’s] manifest purpose is to require every person dealing in drugs to ascertain at his peril whether that which he sells comes within the inhibition of the statute, and if he sells the inhibited drug in ignorance of its character, to penalize him. Congress weighed the possible injustice of subjecting an innocent seller to a penalty against the evil of exposing innocent purchasers to danger from the drug, and concluded that the latter was the result preferably to be avoided. Doubtless considerations as to the opportunity of the seller to find out the fact and the difficulty of proof of knowledge contributed to this conclusion. Id. Here, the manifest purpose of Based on our analysis above, we conclude the State was not required to prove that Schwartz knew or had reason to know that his body contained a controlled substance while operating the motor vehicle in order to sustain a gross misdemeanor conviction under Because we have determined that there is a clear legislative intent to dispense with a mens rea requirement and the statute governs a public welfare offense, we conclude that strict liability is appropriate. Accordingly, we reject Schwartz’s challenge to the validity of his guilty plea and affirm his conviction. For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the court of appeals. Affirmed.ANALYSIS
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Notes
The same reasoning applies here. Requiring a prosecutor to prove that a driver knew that his or her body contained any amount of a Schedule I or II controlled substance would place a substantial burden on the State. It would mean that a violation of
