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Davis v. Commonwealth4/30/1991
KOONTZ, J. [12 VaApp Page 409] In a jury trial held on March 1, 1988, Steven Blake Davis, appellant, was convicted of felony homicide pursuant to Code § 18.2-33 and sentenced to eight years imprisonment. On appeal, Davis, who is an habitual offender, contends the accidental killing that occurred while he was driving a motor vehicle is not felony murder within the purview of Code § 18.2-33 because, other than mere contiguity in point of time, there was no connection between the felonious act of driving and the death of the victim.
On November 6, 1987, two Richmond City police officers were on routine patrol when they received a radio information to be on the lookout for a red Pontiac Fiero suspected of hit and run. The two officers spotted the vehicle as it entered a street going the wrong way. The officers activated the blue lights on their police vehicle and pulled in behind the Fiero, which then stopped. As the officers approached the Fiero on foot, it sped off the wrong way up Eighth Street, through numerous side streets and across the King Bridge. The driver of the Fiero drove through numerous red lights, stop and yield signs, and his vehicle reached speeds between forty and seventy miles per hour.
Meanwhile, the officers returned to their vehicle and pursued the Fiero for approximately seven minutes until, while in the wrong lane of traffic, the Fiero crashed head-on into another police car. An officer went to the passenger side of the Fiero and found an unconscious passenger, who subsequently died at the scene. Davis was found in the driver's seat.
At trial, Davis was shown to have been declared an habitual offender on February 8, 1983. Davis testified he was driving the Fiero at the time of the fatal accident. However, Davis claimed the passenger was driving at the time of the hit and run. He further testified that both he and the passenger were drunk at the time of the hit and run, and that the reason he refused to stop the vehicle during the chase was because he was an habitual offender.
Second degree felony homicide is defined by Code § 18.2-33 as the "killing of one accidentally, contrary to the intention of the parties, while in the prosecution of some felonious act other than those specified in §§ 18.2-31 and 18.2-32." This statute and its companion statute, Code § 18.2-32, codify the common law doctrine of felony murder, the purpose of which is to deter inherently dangerous felonies by holding the felons responsible for any intended or unintended consequences of the felony. King v. Commonwealth, 6 Va. App. 351, 354, 368 S.E.2d 704, 705-06 (1988); see Heacock v. Commonwealth, 228 Va. 397, 403, 323 S.E.2d 90, 93 (1984). However, "in order for incidental accidental killing to be murder, the homicide must be criminal in nature and must contain the elements or attributes of criminal homicide cognizable at common law." King, 6 Va. App. at 355, 368 S.E.2d at 706.
Thus, to limit the potentially harsh results of the felony-murder doctrine, Virginia courts require the accidental death to be causally related to the commission of the felony. Id.
"In Virginia, it is clear when the homicide is within the res gestae of the initial felony and emanates therefrom, it is committed in the perpetration of that felony" and a causal connection exists. King, 6 Va. App.
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