City of Seattle v. Winebrenner; City of Seattle v. Quezada

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court considered whether offenses committed after a current DUI offense but before sentencing qualify as "prior offenses" under RCW 46.61.5055 for purposes of determining mandatory minimum penalties. The court held that the statute is ambiguous and, applying the rule of lenity, ruled that later offenses may not be counted as prior offenses for sentencing the earlier DUI offense. The court reversed the Court of Appeals in the consolidated cases.

Holdings

1. RCW 46.61.5055 is ambiguous because it reasonably permits both a before-the-current-offense interpretation and a before-sentencing interpretation of "prior offense."
2. When RCW 46.61.5055 is construed as ambiguous, the rule of lenity requires interpreting it in favor of the defendants.
3. Offenses occurring after the current DUI offense must not be considered "prior offenses" when sentencing the defendant for the current offense under RCW 46.61.5055.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the term "prior offense" in RCW 46.61.5055 refers only to an offense occurring before the current DUI offense or includes offenses occurring before sentencing.
2. Whether offenses committed after the current DUI offense may be counted as prior offenses when determining the mandatory minimum sentence for the current offense.
3. Whether RCW 46.61.5055 is ambiguous and, if so, whether the rule of lenity requires construction in favor of the defendants.

Disposition

reversed