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State v. Doub8/6/2004
Affirmed.
John P. Doub, III, appeals his conviction of second-degree murder pursuant to K.S.A. 21-3402(b), claiming insufficiency of evidence. We affirm.
Factual and Procedural Overview
Following a party for his softball team at a club where he admitted drinking six beers, Doub admitted that his pickup struck two parked vehicles and that he left the scene because he was concerned that he had been drinking. Doub ultimately admitted that, approximately 2 hours after striking the parked cars, he drove his pickup into the rear of a Cadillac in which 9-year-old Jamika Smith was a passenger. According to the State's accident investigator, the collision occurred as Doub's pickup, "going tremendously faster," drove "up on top of [the Cadillac]," initially driving it down into the pavement, and ultimately propelling it off the street and into a tree. Doub offered no aid to the victims, left the scene of the accident, and initially denied any involvement in the collision, suggesting that his pickup had been stolen. Some 15 hours after the collision, Smith died as a result of blunt traumatic injuries caused by the collision.
Approximately 6 months after these events, Doub admitted to a former girlfriend that he had a confrontation with his second ex-wife the evening of the collision, had been drinking alcohol and smoking crack, and had subsequently caused the collision. The girlfriend approached the authorities with Doub's statements, which suggested that Doub left the softball party, caused the collisions with the parked vehicles, left that scene, subsequently consumed the additional alcohol and crack cocaine, and then caused the collision resulting in Smith's death, all within a 2-to 3-hour period.
Doub was charged with: (1) second-degree depraved heart murder, with lesser included offenses of involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide; (2) involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, with the lesser included offense of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs; and (3) leaving the scene of an injury accident. The jury found Doub guilty of all three primary offenses, but the court later dismissed the second offense of involuntary manslaughter. Doub appeals, challenging the sufficiency of evidence to support his conviction of second-degree depraved heart murder.
Standard of Review
When the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged in a criminal case, the standard of review is whether, after review of all the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the appellate court is convinced that a rational factfinder could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Jamison, 269 Kan. 564, 571, 7 P.3d 1204 (2000).
Elements of Second-degree "Depraved Heart" Murder
K.S.A. 2003 Supp. 21-3402 defines second-degree murder as follows:
"Murder in the second-degree is the killing of a human being committed:
(a) Intentionally; or
(b) unintentionally but recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life."
When the offense is committed pursuant to subsection (b), our courts have employed the common-law nomenclature of "depraved heart" second-degree murder. See, e.g., State v. Hebert, 277 Kan. 61, 104, 82 P.3d 470 (2004).
In State v. Robinson, 261 Kan. 865, 876-78, 934 P.2d 38 (1997), our Supreme Court discussed the requirements for depraved heart murder:
"Both depraved heart murder and reckless involuntary manslaughter require recklessness--that the killing be done under circumstances showing a re
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