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North Carolina v. Garcia-Lorenzo6/1/1993
case would require an instruction on the elements of involuntary manslaughter involving a death by vehicle when impaired driving is involved. N.C.P.I., Crim. 206.55A sets out the following jury instruction outlining the elements of such a case:
The defendant has been accused of involuntary manslaughter.
Now I charge that for you to find the defendant guilty of involuntary manslaughter, the State must prove four things beyond a reasonable doubt:
First, that the defendant was driving a vehicle.
{PA}
Page 336} Second, that he was driving that vehicle upon a public vehicular area within the state.
Third, that at the time the defendant was driving that vehicle he had consumed sufficient alcohol that a chemical analysis made at any relevant time after the driving showed the defendant to have an alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood. A relevant time is any time after the driving in which the driver still has in his body alcohol consumed before or during the driving.
And fourth, that the impaired driving by the defendant proximately caused the victim's death. Proximate cause is the real cause, without which the victim's death would not have occurred.
In the case sub judice, the defendant was convicted of driving while impaired, which conviction the trial Judge arrested as an element of the involuntary manslaughter conviction. Defendant's reckless driving of his automobile in a neighborhood where he was likely to injure a number of people is not an element of the involuntary manslaughter charge. Accordingly, we overrule defendant's final assignment of error.
No error.
Judges WELLS and MARTIN concur.
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