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Simon v. Commonwealth10/5/1979
Bryan Allen Simon, defendant, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter following a motor vehicular accident causing the death of Joseph Patrick Crowe. The jury fixed defendant's punishment at three months in jail, and he was sentenced accordingly.
The crucial question on this appeal is whether the doctrine of collateral estoppel barred the Commonwealth from presenting evidence on the issue of intoxication in the present case when that issue had been decided in favor of the defendant in a prior proceeding.
Prior to defendant's trial and conviction on the involuntary manslaughter charge, he had been tried in the district court on a warrant charging him with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. The transcript of the evidence in defendant's trial in the district court, which is a part of the record in the present case, shows that the defendant, while driving his motor vehicle at excessive speed, failed to negotiate a right-hand curve in the road. His vehicle crashed against some trees off the left-hand side of the road. Joseph Crowe
was killed, and the other three occupants of the vehicle were injured. Police officers arrived at the scene approximately thirty minutes after the accident had occurred. Officer Graves testified that the defendant had the odor of alcohol on his breath, that the defendant's eyes were "glossy," that his speech was slurred, that his gait was unsteady, and that the defendant had admitted having consumed some beers. Officers Daugherty and LeMaster testified that they detected the odor of alcohol on defendant's breath. The ambulance drivers, who had protracted contact with the defendant, testified that they did not perceive these indications of the defendant's intoxication.
The defendant was transported by ambulance from the scene of the accident to DeWitt Army Hospital where a police officer, who had followed the ambulance, advised him of this State's implied consent law. Defendant refused to sign the consent form required by the hospital before any blood could be withdrawn. He was later taken by another ambulance to Mt. Vernon Hospital where a doctor withdrew defendant's blood after he consented orally. Defendant was then arrested and charged with driving a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicants.
The district court judge sustained defendant's motion to suppress the report of the blood-alcohol test on the ground that the defendant's refusal to sign the consent form at DeWitt Army Hospital required that he be taken before a magistrate, as delineated in Code § 18.2-268(c). The court held that the results of the blood-alcohol test taken at Mt. Vernon Hospital were inadmissible because the test was taken in violation of that statute. After reviewing the remaining evidence of intoxication, the district court acquitted the defendant of the charge of driving under the influence of intoxicants.
Prior to defendant's trial in the circuit court on the involuntary manslaughter charge, defendant moved the court to bar evidence concerning the issue of intoxication because it was inadmissible under the doctrine of collateral estoppel enunciated in Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436 (1970). After argument of counsel, the trial court overruled defendant's motion in a letter opinion.
In the defendant's trial for involuntary manslaughter, all of the Commonwealth's witnesses who testified at the prior trial again testified concerning the events surrounding the accident and their observations of the defendant. Throughout the trial defendant objected to any mention of the issue of intoxication. In addi
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