State v. Wertheimer, Minn.S.Ct., 4/22/2010. Police arrested Mr. Wertheimer on the tenth anniversary of his earliest driving while impaired conviction, May 12, 2007. Both the trial court and the court of appeals concluded that this May 12, 2007 arrest was within ten years of the May 12, 1997 conviction.
The trial court and the court of appeals had reached this conclusion by reliance upon Minn.Stat. 645.15, which provides:
[w]here the performance or doing of any act, duty, matter, payment, or thing is ordered or directed, and the period of time or duration for the performance or doing thereof is prescribed and fixed by law, the time . . . shall be computed so as to exclude the first and include the last day of the prescribed or fixed period or duration of time. When the last day of the period falls on Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday, that day shall be omitted from the computation.
The Supreme Court says, no, this statute applies to things like beating the limitations period, not driving while intoxicated, which, by the way, is neither ordered nor directed. So, how to compute the time?
The appellate court observes that “a calendar year includes exactly one of each date.” That means that a ten year period includes exactly ten of each date, except for February 29’s. Thus, start the ten years on May 12, 1997; it has to end on May 11, 2007, otherwise you have eleven May 12’s in the ten year period.
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