Price v. State

RAKER, Judge. In this case we decide whether daytime housebreaking, a former statutory crime that was abolished in 1994, 1 nevertheless persists as a “crime of violence” under § 441(e) of Article 27, Maryland Code (1957, 1996 Repl. Vol., 2001 Cum. Supp.), 2 for the purpose of imposing mandatory minimum sentences for illegal possession of firearm convictions pursuant to § 449(e) of the same article.

I. On May 17, 2001, Baltimore County police officers arrested Harry Price based upon an outstanding warrant for his arrest in a burglary investigation. Price was traveling in a car driven by his girlfriend on Liberty Road in Baltimore County. The police identified Price, removed both passengers from the vehicle, and proceeded to search the vehicle. In the passenger area where Price had been sitting, they discovered a small bag which contained a nine-millimeter handgun.

Price was subsequently charged with four counts relating to burglary 3 and three relating to possession of the handgun. ³⁸³ Price was indicted by the Grand Jury for Baltimore County. At a bench trial, he was convicted of illegal possession of a regulated firearm, Maryland Code (1957, 1996 Repl. Vol., 2001 Cum. Supp.) Art. 27, § 445(d)(1)(h), and unlawful wearing, carrying, or transporting of a handgun, § 36B.

He was then sentenced, pursuant to § 449(e) of Article 27, to a mandatory minimum term of five years imprisonment without the possibility of parole on the possession conviction and a concurrent three-year sentence on the transportation charge. Price noted a timely appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. He argued that his sentence pursuant to § 449(e) was improper under the theory that § 449(e) could not lawfully be applied to him. Section 449(e) provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for a person “previously convicted of a crime of violence as defined in § 441(e).... ” Price’s only previous conviction, one for statutory daytime housebreaking in 1987, is not among those listed as a crime of violence in § 441(e).

Price argued that because he had never been convicted of any of the crimes of violence listed in § 441(e), his handgun violation was not within the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines of § 449(e). The State countered that statutory daytime housebreaking was formerly listed among the crimes of violence in § 441(e) and, indeed, had been one at the time of Price’s conviction in 1987. But due to “stylistic” changes in the criminal law article in 1994, daytime housebreaking was reinvented and subsumed by the statutory crimes of burglary in the first, second, and third degrees — which are included among the crimes of violence in § 441(e). Daytime housebreaking, the State contended, had been renamed, not repealed, at least with respect to § 441(e), and therefore Price was properly sentenced under § 449(e) to a mandatory minimum sentence without possibility of parole.

Accepting the State’s understanding of the disputed sections of Article 27, the Court of Special Appeals affirmed the conviction in an unreported opinion, concluding that daytime housebreaking did not differ substantively from the crimes of ³⁸⁴ burglary in the first, second, and third degree. Relying upon the legislative history provided by the State, the court agreed that the changes to § 441(e) were merely stylistic and renamed daytime housebreaking to reflect the new statutory crimes of burglary in their various degrees. We granted Price’s petition for writ of certiorari, 374 Md. 82 , 821 A.2d 370 (2003), to determine whether the former crime of statutory daytime housebreaking is a crime of violence as defined in § 441(e), thereby triggering the mandatory minimum sentences for illegal firearm possession under § 449(e). We shall reverse.

II

The statutes at issue in this case fall within the “Regulated Firearms” subheading of Article 27, §§ 441 to 449. The mandatory sentence for Harry Price’s conviction was imposed pursuant to § 449 of this subheading, which provides, in relevant part, as follows: § 449. Penalties. (e) Illegal possession of firearm with certain previous convictions. — A person who was previously convicted of a crime of violence as defined in § 441(e) of this article ... and who is in possession of a firearm as defined in § 445(d)(1)® and (ii) of this article, is guilty of a felony and upon conviction shall be imprisoned for not less than 5 years, no part of which may be suspended and the person may not be eligible for parole.

Section 449(e), by its plain structure, is divided into two requirements. The first requirement is that the defendant have a previous conviction of a crime that falls within § 441(e). The second requirement is that the defendant have a current conviction under § 445(d)(1)® and (ii). We deal in this case only with the first requirement, the particular crimes that fall within § 441(e), which is dispositive of Price’s sentencing. 4 ³⁸⁵ In order for Price’s conviction of daytime housebreaking in 1987 to trigger the mandatory sentencing of § 449(e), it must be defined as a “crime of violence” under § 441(e).

Section 441 provides, in relevant part, as follows: § 441. Definitions. (а) In general. — In this subheading the following words have the meanings indicated. (e) Crime of violence. — “Crime of violence” means: (1) Abduction; (2) Arson in the first degree; (3) Assault in the first or second degree; (4) Burglary in the first, second, or third degree; (5) Carjacking and armed carjacking; (б) Escape in the first degree; (7) Kidnapping; (8) Voluntary manslaughter; (9) Maiming; (10) Mayhem as previously proscribed under former § 384 of this article; (11) Murder in the first or second degree; (12) Rape in the first or second degree; (13) Robbery under § 486 or § 487 of this article; (14) Sexual offense in the first, second, or third degree; (15) An attempt to commit any of the aforesaid offenses; or (16) Assault with intent to commit any of the aforesaid offenses or any offense punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year. ³⁸⁶ The record indicates that Price has been convicted only of statutory daytime housebreaking, which is not mentioned explicitly in § 441(e).

The critical inquiry in this case, then, is whether daytime housebreaking is included implicitly in § 441(e). Specifically, this will require scrutiny of § 441(e)(4), relating to burglary in the first, second, or third degree, because daytime housebreaking was repealed and replaced in 1994 with the new statutory definitions of burglary in the first, second, and third degree. The parties to this case vie within the confusion that results from the imposition of a new statutory scheme for the crime of burglary. Petitioner urges this Court to declare application of § 449(e) to him as unlawful for the simple reason that the crime he committed is not included among the crimes that § 441(e) includes within its purview.

Petitioner further argues that the legislative history behind the new statutory regime of burglary in 1994 indicates a specific legislative intent to remove daytime housebreaking from the crimes of violence in § 441(e). Finally, petitioner contends that statutory daytime housebreaking cannot, contrary to the Court of Special Appeals’ opinion, be included in first, second, and third degree burglary because it lacks a key element that is required by the current statutory burglaries, making those crimes more serious than daytime housebreaking. The State responds that statutory daytime housebreaking is retained implicitly in the current version of § 441(e). Because daytime housebreaking used to be included in a former version of § 441(e) and was considered a crime of violence in 1987 when Price was convicted of it, it was retained when the statute was revised in 1994 to reflect the new categories of burglary in the first, second, and third degree.

As evidence of this legislative intent, the State submits the legislative history of the amending statute in 1994 which indicates that the changes to § 441(e) were merely “stylistic” and did not change substantively the crimes of violence, meaning that daytime housebreaking was retained within the statute. In short, the State contends that even if the statute does not contain the actual term “daytime housebreaking,” that crime was sub ³⁸⁷ sumed and included in the stylistic changes in 1994 that updated § 441(e) to reflect the new nomenclature of burglary.

III

The chief goal of statutory interpretation is to discover the actual intent of the legislature in enacting the statute, and the legion of cases that support this proposition need not be repeated here. In fact, all statutory interpretation begins, and usually ends, with the statutory text itself, Marriott Employees v. MVA, 346 Md. 437, 444-45 , 697 A.2d 455, 458 (1997), for the legislative intent of a statute primarily reveals itself through the statute’s very words, Derry v. State, 358 Md. 325, 335 , 748 A.2d 478, 483 (2000). A court may neither add nor delete language so as to reflect an intent not evidenced in the plain and unambiguous language of the statute; nor may it construe the statute with forced or subtle interpretations that limit or extend its application. County Council v. Dutcher, 365 Md. 399, 416-417 , 780 A.2d 1137, 1147 (2001).

In short, if the words of a statute clearly and unambiguously delineate the legislative intent, ours is an ephemeral enterprise. We need investigate no further but simply apply the statute as it reads. Derry, 358 Md. at 335 , 748 A.2d at 483 ; Kaczorowski v. City of Baltimore, 309 Md. 505, 515 , 525 A.2d 628, 633 (1987). In some cases, the statutory text reveals ambiguity, and then the job of this Court is to resolve that ambiguity in light of the legislative intent, using all the resources and tools of statutory construction at our disposal.

See Lewis v. State, 348 Md. 648, 653-654 , 705 A.2d 1128, 1130-31 (1998); Haupt v. State, 340 Md. 462, 471 , 667 A.2d 179, 183 (1995); Marriott, 346 Md. at 445 , 697 A.2d at 459 . However, before judges may look to other sources for interpretation, first there must exist an ambiguity within the statute, i.e., two or more reasonable alternative interpretations of the statute. See Greco v. State, 347 Md. 423, 429 , 701 A.2d 419, 421 (1997). Where the statutory language is free from such ambiguity, courts will neither look beyond the words of the statute itself to deter ³⁸⁸ mine legislative intent nor add to or delete words from the statute, see Gillespie v. State, 370 Md. 219, 222 , 804 A.2d 426, 427 (2002).

Only when faced with ambiguity will courts consider both the literal or usual meaning of the words as well as their meaning in light of the objectives and purposes of the enactment. As our predecessors noted, “We cannot assume authority to read into the Act what the Legislature apparently deliberately left out. Judicial construction should only be resorted to when an ambiguity exists.” Howard Contr. Co. v. Yeager 184 Md. 503, 511 , 41 A.2d 494, 498 (1945).

Therefore, the strongly preferred norm of statutory interpretation is to effectuate the plain language of the statutory text. Accordingly, we look to the plain language of § 441(e) to determine whether daytime housebreaking is included as a crime of violence therein, and conclude that it is not. In this case, the plain language of § 441(e) is clear and determinative; and there being no ambiguity at all in the statute, we have no cause for resorting to divining legislative intent. By § 441(e)’s plain terms, daytime housebreaking does not appear in the list of crimes of violence.

We are not at liberty to create an ambiguity where none otherwise exists, Tidewater v. Mayor of Havre de Grace, 337 Md. 338, 345 , 653 A.2d 468, 472 (1995), and therefore cannot read § 441(e) contrary to its explicit language. We do not read the statute divorced from its textual context, for “[a]dherence to the meaning of words does not require or permit isolation of words from their context,” Maguire v. State, 192 Md. 615, 623 , 65 A.2d 299, 302 (1949), and we “avoid constructions that are illogical, unreasonable, or inconsistent with common sense,” Marriott, 346 Md. at 445 , 697 A.2d at 459 . But there is nothing in the context of § 441(e) or of the Regulated Firearms subheading that suggests a different, more compelling reading. To the contrary, examination of § 441(e)’s structure only confirms a legislative intent to exclude daytime housebreaking from the list delineating the crimes of violence.

The crimes listed in § 441(e) are very specific and carefully defined; this is not a statute ³⁸⁹ that purports to sweep in many crimes