New offences between main hearing and judgment

Justices: Endresen, Matheson, Noer, Bergh, Høgetveit Berg

A 50-year-old man, previously convicted multiple times of driving without a licence, see section 31 subsection 1 cf. section 24 subsection 1 first sentence of the Road Traffic Act, was convicted by the District Court of driving under the influence and of two counts of driving without a licence, and sentenced to one year of imprisonment. Following the main hearing, but before judgment was given, he drove once more without a licence. The District Court gave an additional sentence of 45 days of imprisonment for the new offence. During the hearing of the appeal against the sentence in the latest judgment, the Supreme Court held that section 82 of the Penal Code was applicable although the new offence had been committed between the main hearing and the judgment in a previous case. In the first judgment, the man was convicted of driving under the influence – of which he had been convicted 18 times before – and of two cases of driving without a licence. Even when taking three instead of two counts of driving without a licence into account, the sentence would not have been stricter than one year of imprisonment. There was no basis for passing an additional sentence under section 82 of the Penal Code. The Supreme Court then stipulated an aggregate sentence of one year of imprisonment.