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State v. Lorenzo Rosario
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for rehearing under Rule 22 as well as formal revision before publication in the New Hampshire Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter, Supreme Court of New Hampshire, Supreme Court Building, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any editorial errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Opinions are available on the Internet by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of their release. The direct address of the court's home page is: http://www.state.nh.us/courts/supreme.htm
THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
Hillsborough-southern judicial district
No. 2001-270
THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
v.
LORENZO ROSARIO
Argued: September 18, 2002
Opinion Issued: November 4, 2002
Philip T. McLaughlin , attorney general (Nicholas Cort, assistant attorney general, on the brief and orally), for the State.
Richard E. Samdperil, assistant appellate defender, of Concord, by brief and orally, for the defendant.
BROCK, C.J. The defendant, Lorenzo Rosario, appeals his conviction and sentence in Superior Court (Hollman, J.) for sale of cocaine while on bail. RSA 597:14-b (2001). While he does not challenge his conviction and sentence for the underlying sale of cocaine, the defendant argues that RSA 597:14-b, a sentence enhancement statute, is not applicable to his case. He also argues that even if RSA 597:14-b does apply, it is not a separate offense, and he should have been convicted only once for the underlying sale of cocaine. We affirm in part, reverse in part and remand.
In October 1999, the defendant, while released on bail on unrelated charges, sold cocaine to an undercover police officer in Nashua. In April 2000, the defendant was acquitted of the charges for which he had originally been on bail. In February 2001, the defendant was convicted both of selling cocaine and selling cocaine while on bail. The court sentenced the defendant to serve one year, stand committed, for the sale of cocaine while on bail, and imposed a consecutive sentence of two to four years, suspended, for the sale of cocaine.
On appeal, the defendant argues that enhanced sentencing under RSA 597:14-b was improper because a literal reading of the statute precludes application in his case. We disagree.
"In matters of statutory interpretation, this court is the final arbiter of the intent of the legislature as expressed in the words of a statute considered as a whole." State v. Hatt, 144 N.H. 246, 247 (1999) (quotation omitted). We begin our analysis by looking to the language of the statute itself. State v. Haines, 142 N.H. 692, 695 (1998). If "a statute

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