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North Carolina v. Brown9/1/1987
The defendant was charged in indictments proper in form with manslaughter (N.C.G.S. § 14-18) and hit and run resulting in personal injury or death (N.C.G.S. § 20-166(a)). He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and hit and run with personal injury or death not apparent to the defendant. The State's case on involuntary manslaughter was based on its contention that a pedestrian was killed when struck by defendant's van which was being operated by the defendant while the defendant was impaired by alcohol. The only evidence of defendant's impairment or intoxication was his admission that he was "intoxicated" and "had consumed too much beer" about one to three hours after the pedestrian was killed. The defendant denied being intoxicated when the incident occurred and denied seeing or striking the pedestrian. We hold that the defendant's admission was sufficient to supply the necessary evidence of impairment, and we find no error in the conviction. The facts follow.
The State's evidence tended to show that in the early morning hours of Sunday, 20 October 1985, Larry Keith Drum, a
Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, and Ron Kistner discovered a person lying in the road at the intersection of Lake Street and Barbara Avenue in Jacksonville. They saw that the man was bleeding and having difficulty breathing. The Highway Patrol and an ambulance were called and the rescue squad came and took the person away.
Trooper Richard Allen Hood of the North Carolina Highway Patrol was dispatched to the scene, arriving at 1:52 a.m. The injured person had been taken away by the rescue squad prior to his arrival. Sergeant Drum and Kistner told him where the person had been discovered in the road. Trooper Hood found several pieces of what appeared to be amber turn light lens. Trooper Hood put the amber lens pieces in a bag. One piece of the lens had a Chrysler insignia on it. Trooper Hood went to a Chrysler dealership nearby and began comparing the lens piece with the Chrysler insignia on it to the lenses on vehicles at the dealership. He determined that the piece discovered in the road compared to that of a Dodge van at the dealership. Trooper Hood drove back to the scene of the accident, arriving at about 3:00 a.m. He then started driving up and down nearby streets, looking for a Dodge van.
At about 3:30 a.m. Trooper Hood found a Dodge van parked on the side of the road. The right turn signal lens had been broken. The pieces he had retrieved from the scene of the accident matched the van he found. Trooper Hood later learned that the house in front of which the van was parked was the residence of Robin Nuss. Trooper Hood called a wrecker and had the vehicle impounded. He learned that the van was registered to Gerald Wayne Brown, the defendant. He went to the address listed for the defendant, woke up the occupants there, and learned that Brown no longer lived there.
At 4:00 a.m., Trooper Hood went off duty and went home. Later that day he looked up Gerald Wayne Brown in the telephone directory and called the number listed for him. A male answered the phone and identified himself as Gerald Wayne Brown. Brown said he owned a 1979 black and red van which he had left at the house of a friend, Robin Nuss. Trooper Hood told Brown he was investigating an accident. Upon a request by Trooper Hood, Brown stated that he and his wife would meet
Trooper Hood at the Highway Patrol Station at 4:00 p.m. When he arrived at the station, the defendant Brown was advised of his rights and made this statement, in writing:
Drove back from Cherry Point tournament arriving at about 8:30 P.M. Went home and then
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