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State v. Kolbet11/15/2001
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Chickasaw County, Margaret L. Lingreen, Judge.
Defendant appeals from convictions of homicide by vehicle in violation of Iowa Code section 707.6A(2)(a) (Supp. 1997) and serious injury by vehicle in violation of Iowa Code section 707.6A(4) (Supp. 1997). REVERSED AND REMANDED.
Defendant, Nathan John Kolbet, appeals from convictions of homicide by vehicle in violation of Iowa Code section 707.6A(2)(a) (Supp. 1997) and serious injury by vehicle in violation of Iowa Code section 707.6A(4). He contends that the State's proof of speed, which was the essential evidence of the reckless-operation element of the offenses of which he was convicted was invalid on its face and that rebuttal evidence on the issue of speed was offered by the State in bad faith. After reviewing the record and considering the arguments presented, we reverse defendant's convictions on both offenses and remand for a new trial on these charges.
Defendant, a twenty-year-old college student, resided with his parents in rural Alta Vista on October 5, 1997, the date of the motor vehicle mishap that produced the criminal charges which are at issue. On the day prior to the accident, he worked until 10:30 p.m. at a home providing care for mentally handicapped teens in Charles City. Upon getting off work, he went to visit a friend. The friend was having a party where beer was consumed by those present, including defendant. At 2 a.m. defendant drove a woman home from the party, had one more beer, and then drove seven miles home without incident. His mother awoke him at 7:30 a.m. on the following morning, which was a Sunday. He left for work at 8 a.m. and proceeded to drive west on county road B28. It was eighteen miles from his home to his workplace in Charles City. He was due at work at 8:30 a.m.
After driving 4.3 miles, defendant encountered a horse-drawn buggy on the county road and passed it. The buggy driver and his wife testified at the trial that they remembered the car passing them and thought it was going too fast, probably over the speed limit. Defendant proceeded west another two miles when he encountered another horse-drawn buggy, which was also traveling in a westerly direction. Although defendant braked and steered to the right, his vehicle struck the right rear corner of the buggy, which at the time of the collision was slightly to the left of the centerline.
During the collision, defendant's head was thrown against the windshield of his car. His skull was fractured and the hippocampal structure of his brain was injured. As a consequence of those injuries, he is unable to recall any details of the collision.
The occupants of the buggy were the Oberholtzer family, a husband and wife and their five children. On impact they were all thrown onto the road. The two adults were sufficiently injured that they were unable to recall any of the details of the accident. Three of the children were uninjured. The two youngest children, a seven year old and a baby, sitting immediately above the point of impact were catapulted from the buggy and seriously injured. Katie Oberholtzer, age seven, later died of cerebral edema. The baby, Ruth Oberholtzer, who had been sitting on Katie's lap, suffered a serious head injury.
The damaged buggy and the injured horse, which had been pulling it, remained on the roadway following the collision. The right rear wheel of defendant's automobile went off the traveled portion of the highway on the north side of the road. The auto then changed directions, veered into the ditch on the south side of the roadway, passed through a fence into a farm field, and then traveled in a circular path back into th
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