Vaidik, CJ.
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In April 2017, the State charged Knutson with unlawful possession of a syringe, which is a Level 6 felony under Indiana Code section 16-42-19-18. The State filed a separate document to enhance the charge to a Level 5 felony based on a prior conviction pursuant to Indiana Code section 16-42-19-27. Knutson filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that there was “no[] statutory authority for elevation of this offense from a level 6 felony, to a level 5 felony, based upon a prior conviction for the offense.” Following a hearing, the trial court denied Knutson’s motion to dismiss. At Knutson’s request, the trial court certified its order for interlocutory appeal, and this Court accepted jurisdiction of the appeal.
The issue is whether unlawful possession of a syringe can be elevated from a Level 6 felony to a Level 5 felony based on a prior conviction pursuant to Indiana Code section 16-42-19-27. Matters of statutory interpretation, which inherently present a pure question of law, are reviewed de novo. Shepard v. State, 84 N.E.3d 1171, 1173 (Ind. 2017).
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Indiana Code chapter 16-42-19 sets forth several criminal offenses, most of which concern the possession, use, and sale of legend drugs. With one exception, none of the sections in Chapter 19 sets forth the offense level for a violation. See, e.g., Ind. Code § 16-42-19-13. Rather, Indiana Code section 16-42-19-27 (“the general offense-level statute”) sets forth the offense levels for violations as follows:
(a) Unless otherwise specified, a person who knowingly violates this chapter, except sections 25(b) and 30(c) of this chapter, commits a Level 6 felony. However, the offense is a Level 5 felony if the person has a prior conviction under this subsection or IC 16-6-8-10(a) before its repeal.
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(Emphasis added). The only section in Chapter 19 that includes an offense level is Indiana Code section 16-42-19-18 (“the syringe-possession statute”), …
Knutson contends that the general offense-level statute—which allows for a Level 6 felony to be enhanced to a Level 5 felony based on a prior conviction—does not apply to the syringe-possession statute because the general offense level statute begins with “Unless otherwise specified” and the syringe possession statute (which is the only section in Chapter 19 that includes an offense level) “otherwise specifies” that possession of a syringe is a Level 6 felony. Knutson claims that reading the two statutes any other way would make the phrase “Unless otherwise specified” meaningless as it relates to the syringe-possession statute. …
During the 2015 legislative session, the General Assembly, in response to this Court’s decision in Bookwalter v. State, 22 N.E.3d 735 (Ind. Ct. App. 2014), trans. denied, amended the syringe-possession statute to add that a person cannot possess a syringe with intent to inject a controlled substance. In Bookwalter, the defendant possessed a syringe with intent to inject heroin, and because heroin is not a legend drug, we reversed his conviction for unlawful possession of a syringe. …
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Thus, in back-to-back sections of the same public law, the legislature specified that it is a Level 6 felony to possess a syringe (but notably did not add offense levels to any of the other sections in Chapter 19) and then added the phrase “Unless otherwise provided” to the general offense-level statute. Given these back-to-back amendments, it is clear to us that the legislature did not intend for the general offense-level statute to apply to unlawful possession of a syringe. This conclusion is bolstered by the fact that unlawful possession of a syringe was already a Level 6 felony before the 2015 amendments. In other words, if we were to adopt the State’s position that the general offense-level statute—which provides that a person who violates Chapter 19 “commits a Level 6 felony”—applies to unlawful possession of a syringe, then newly added subsection (b) of the syringe-possession statute—which identically provides that a person who unlawfully possesses a syringe “commits a Level 6 felony”—would be completely unnecessary and meaningless.
… Although we can understand why the legislature might want to penalize the possession of a syringe as a Level 6 felony—which has a sentencing range of six months to two-and-a-half years, Ind. Code § 35-50-2-7—we can see why it would not want to crowd our prisons with drug addicts by making it a Level 5 felony, which has a significantly higher sentencing range of one to six years, Ind. Code § 35-50-2-6.
Accordingly, we agree with Knutson that unlawful possession of a syringe cannot be enhanced to a Level 5 felony pursuant to the general offense-level statute. We therefore reverse the trial court’s denial of Knutson’s motion to dismiss and order the court to dismiss the Level 5 felony enhancement.
Reversed and remanded.
Barnes, J., and Pyle, J., concur.