State v. Maloney

Summary

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Dennis Maloney’s conviction for operating a motor vehicle after habitual offender license revocation. The court held that Maloney’s prior guilty plea established actual knowledge of the revocation and that his prior uncounseled misdemeanor conviction could be used to enhance the subsequent offense from a misdemeanor to a felony.

Holdings

1. The court did not need to decide whether the 1987 notice was covered by § 2557(1)(D), because Maloney's 1996 charge and guilty plea established his actual knowledge of the revocation under § 2557(1)(C).
2. A prior uncounseled but constitutionally valid misdemeanor conviction may be used to enhance a subsequent offense from a Class D misdemeanor to a Class C felony.

Questions Presented

1. Whether admission of the 1987 notice of license revocation under 29-A M.R.S.A. § 2557(1)(D) violated due process because the notice may have been issued under a predecessor statute not identified in the current statute.
2. Whether a prior uncounseled but constitutionally valid misdemeanor conviction may be used to enhance a subsequent operating-after-revocation offense from a misdemeanor to a felony.

Disposition

affirmed