MASSA, J.
Indiana’s motor vehicle statutes provide a carve-out through which individuals whose driving privileges are suspended may still commute—provided the device they use to do so meets certain requirements. One requirement is that the “maximum design speed” of such a device may not exceed twenty-five miles per hour.
When the only evidence admitted at trial as to this requirement is that the defendant was traveling forty-three miles per hour on a flat, dry surface, is that evidence sufficient to sustain his conviction? We think so.
. . . .
First, the Indiana Code provides that, for the purposes of Chapter 9-30-10, the definition of motor vehicle “does not include a motorized bicycle.” Ind. Code § 9-13-2-105(d) (2010). A “motorized bicycle,” in turn, is defined as a two (2) or three (3) wheeled vehicle that is propelled by an internal combustion engine or a battery powered motor, and if powered by an internal combustion engine, has the following:
(1) An engine rating of not more than two (2) horsepower and a cylinder capacity not exceeding fifty (50) cubic centimeters.
(2) An automatic transmission.
(3) A maximum design speed of not more than twenty-five (25) miles per hour on a flat surface.
The term does not include an electric personal assistive mobility device.
Ind. Code § 9-13-2-109 (2010) (emphasis added). There is, however, no statutory definition of “maximum design speed,” nor have our courts defined the phrase. This definition gap is the focus of Lock’s constitutional argument because “the Zuma’s ‘maximum design speed’ determines whether it is a ‘motorized bicycle,’ which in turn ultimately determines whether [he] ran afoul of the habitual traffic violator statute.” (Appellant’s Br. at 7.)
. . . .
Because our analysis on this issue turns on how an ordinary person would interpret the statute, resort to legal definitions and scientific sources is less desirable than consultation of standard language dictionaries. See Brown, 868 N.E.2d at 467. And doing so shows that a person of ordinary intelligence would interpret this statutory definition of “motorized bicycle” to exclude any devices whose highest possible speed—as conceived of, planned, or devised—is more than twenty-five miles per hour. [Footnote omitted.]
. . . .
. . . [I]n reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a conviction it is not necessary for that evidence to overcome every conceivable hypothesis of innocence, and we look only at the probative evidence supporting the conviction. [Footnote omitted.] And so on the basis of a stipulation that the Zuma was traveling forty-three miles per hour—and in the face of no rebuttal evidence at all—it is impossible to claim that no reasonable fact-finder could find beyond a reasonable doubt that the Zuma had a maximum design speed in excess of twenty-five miles per hour. [Footnote omitted.]
Dickson, C.J., Sullivan, and David, JJ., concur.
Rucker, J., dissents with separate opinion:
First, it appears to me that “maximum design speed” is a technical phrase. However, neither party provides us with any guidance of the phrase’s technical import or how the phrase is used in the auto manufacturing industry. Second, as a matter of statutory interpretation it is obvious the Legislature decided that not all vehicles require an operator’s license for purposes of the driving while suspended statute. So, it carved out an exception for certain vehicles, namely motorized bicycles. Applying the maxim that “penal statutes must be construed strictly against the State,” State v. McGraw, 480 N.E.2d 552, 553 (Ind. 1985), I would read Indiana Code section 9-13-2-109 evincing the Legislature’s intent to exclude those motorized bicycles which, among other things, a manufacturer has designed to travel safely at a maximum speed no greater than twenty-five miles an hour. That is not to say that the vehicle is incapable of traveling in excess of that speed. Indeed it may very well do so, even if it means damage to the engine or other component parts. The salient point however is the maximum speed at which the manufacturer designed the vehicle to travel.
The statute being thus construed, the actual speed Lock was traveling has no relevance to the question of “maximum design speed.” And having introduced no evidence indicating the speed at which Lock’s vehicle was designed to travel, the State failed to prove Lock was operating a motor vehicle within the meaning of Indiana Code section 9-30-10-16.