FOR PUBLICATION
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:
MICHAEL D. GROSS JEFFREY A. MODISETT
Lebanon, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
LIISI BAUMGARTNER
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
RICHARD E. SETTLE, )
)
Appellant-Defendant, )
)
vs. ) No. 06A01-9809-CR-326
)
STATE OF INDIANA, )
)
Appellee-Plaintiff. )
OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION
the time he acts that his behavior is deemed criminal. The offender selects the time of the
crime and thus freezes the penal consequences as of that event." Nuerge v. State, 677 N.E.2d
1043, 1045-46 (Ind. Ct. App. 1997), trans. denied (internal citations omitted).
The State argues that the 1996 amendments were enacted merely to clarify the
legislature's original intent, and thus, the amended statute applies retrospectively to Settle.
The State relies on Tedlock v. State, 656 N.E.2d 273 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995). In Tedlock, we
held that an amendment to a statute providing a definition of "episode" related back, because
the amendment merely clarified the legislature's intent at the initial enactment of the statute.
Id. at 276. However, in Tedlock, this court was interpreting an ameliorative amendment,
which does apply retrospectively. Id. at 275. Therefore, the State's reliance on Tedlock is
misplaced.
The State also relies on Haymaker v. State, 667 N.E.2d 1113, 1115 (Ind. 1996),
wherein our supreme court held that "effective July 1, 1996, prior convictions under IC 9-30-
5 (operating a vehicle while intoxicated) will be available as predicate offenses for habitual
substance offender enhancements." However, Haymaker did not cause the 1996 habitual
substance offender statute to apply retrospectively. Instead, it merely announced that once
the amendment took effect, prior OWI convictions could be used as predicate offenses to
support the habitual substance offender enhancement of the underlying charge. Thus, even
after Haymaker, it is the date of the commission of the underlying offense that determines
which statute should be applied. Thus, we hold that the 1993 version of IC 35-50-2-10, in
effect at the time the underlying offense was committed, governs Settle's sentence. The trial
court erred by sentencing Settle under the 1996 version of IC 35-50-2-10.
Our supreme court has interpreted the version of IC 35-50-2-10 in effect in 1995, and
determined that the habitual substance offender statute does not apply when the punishment
for the underlying OWI has been increased on the basis of a prior OWI. Freeman v. State,
658 N.E.2d 68 (Ind. 1995); Devore v. State, 657 N.E.2d 740 (Ind. 1995). Specifically, our
supreme court held that "our analysis of the two statutory schemes reveals Chapter [9-30-5]
as the more detailed and specific; Section 35-50-2-10 remains a general prohibition on repeat
offenses regardless of the activity or controlled substance involved. The former therefore
supersedes the latter. . . . Chapter [9-30-5] is thus the only enhancement to which [the
defendant] should have been subject." Freeman v. State, 658 N.E.2d at 71.
Likewise, we hold that under the version of IC 35-50-2-10 in effect at the time Settle
committed the underlying offense, Settle's sentence can only be enhanced under IC 9-30-5-3.
Thus, the trial court erred by also enhancing Settle's sentence under IC 35-50-2-10. We
reverse and remand with instructions for the trial court to vacate Settle's eight year habitual
substance offender enhancement.
Reversed and remanded.
BAILEY, J., and FRIEDLANDER, J., concur.
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