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STATE v. ORTIZ1/5/1993
dant's blood was analyzed at the state forensic lab and that the first sample had a blood alcohol content of 0.19 and that the second sample had a blood alcohol content of 0.18. Extrapolating back to the time of the collision, Hawkins estimated that the defendant's blood alcohol content would have been between 0.19 and 0.24. To achieve this blood alcohol level, Hawkins estimated that the defendant had to have consumed between nine and twelve bottles of beer. Hawkins stated that the defendant could not have achieved that level of blood alcohol after consuming only two or three beers. Furthermore, Hawkins testified that with a blood alcohol level of between 0.19 and 0.24, the average person would be considerably intoxicated, would not be able to think clearly, would probably slur his speech and stagger, and would have
impaired eye-hand coordination and motor skills. Hawkins also testified that such a person's reaction time would be slowed; he might not be able to take appropriate action to avoid hitting something; and the alcohol level would affect his ability to judge distances of approaching objects.
Officer Robert Benson prepared a sketch map of the accident scene. Benson opined that the location of the car after the accident indicated that the defendant had tried to cut the corner when he initiated his left turn at the intersection. Edmund Sullivan, the defendant's accident reconstruction expert, testified that the impact of the motorcycle into the car drove the car sideways five to ten feet, and that the defendant had in fact properly initiated the turn. An eyewitness testified that the car had been driven sideways by the impact.
After considering the evidence, the jury acquitted the defendant of two counts of manslaughter in the second degree with a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor in violation of General Statutes 53a-56b. The jury found him guilty of two counts of misconduct with a motor vehicle in violation of General Statutes 53a-57. After the court denied the defendant's posttrial motion for judgment of acquittal notwithstanding the verdict, the defendant was sentenced to a term of incarceration and a period of probation. This appeal followed.
I
The defendant claims that the trial court should have granted his motion for a judgment of acquittal because the evidence before the jury was insufficient to sustain
the verdict of guilty of misconduct with a motor vehicle. "A person is guilty of misconduct with a motor vehicle when, with criminal negligence in the operation of a motor vehicle, he causes the death of another person." General Statutes 53a-57(a). The defendant argues that the evidence failed to show that (1) he acted with criminal negligence and (2) his conduct was the proximate cause of the victims' deaths. We disagree.
An accused has a fundamental right to an acquittal under both the United States constitution and the Connecticut constitution where the state has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt each and every element of the crime charged. In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 362, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970); State v. Hill, 201 Conn. 505, 512, 523 A.2d 1252 (1986). Appellate review of a claim of insufficiency of the evidence is a twofold task: We must first review the evidence by construing it in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict. We must then determine whether, on the facts thus established and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom, the jury could reasonably have concluded that the cumulative effect of the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In this process of review, it does not diminish the probative force of the evidence th
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