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Walden v. State5/20/2005
Paula Ann Walden lost control of the truck she was driving and struck and killed a pedestrian. A jury found Walden guilty under OCGA § 40-6-393 (a) of first degree vehicular homicide based on the charge that she caused the death by driving the truck in reckless disregard for the safety of persons or property in violation of OCGA § 40-6-390 (a). Walden was also found guilty on a separate charge of reckless driving in violation of OCGA § 40-6-390, but that conviction was vacated by operation of OCGA § 16-7-1 (a) when the trial court merged it into the first degree vehicular homicide conviction and imposed sentence only on the vehicular homicide. Wade v. State, 258 Ga. 324, 326 (368 SE2d 482) (1988). On appeal, Walden claims the evidence was insufficient to support the guilty verdict for first degree vehicular homicide because the State failed to produce evidence that she drove the truck in violation of the reckless driving statute set forth in OCGA § 40-6-390. Because we find there was ample evidence that Walden recklessly drove the truck in violation of OCGA § 40-6-390, we affirm the conviction for first degree vehicular homicide based on the predicate violation of reckless driving.
A grand jury returned a nine-count indictment against Walden that included three counts of attempted acquisition of controlled substances, two counts of acquisition of controlled substances by material omission, reckless driving, driving under the influence of drugs, and two counts of first degree vehicular homicide. Walden's motion to sever the five charges relating to the acquisition of controlled substances was granted. Thereafter, Walden was tried separately on charges of reckless driving, driving under the influence of drugs, and two counts of first degree vehicular homicide. After the jury found Walden guilty on one count of first degree vehicular homicide and reckless driving, she entered a guilty plea to the five counts that were severed.
On appeal, Walden no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence and the evidence adduced at trial must be viewed in a light most favorable to the jury's verdict. Pollard v. State, 230 Ga. App. 159 (495 SE2d 629) (1998). So considered, the evidence shows that on September 4, 1997 at approximately 3:30 p.m., Walden was driving a pickup truck in Athens. As Walden drove westbound on a four-lane section of Prince Avenue, Bertha Moore, the driver behind her, noticed her "erratic driving." Moore saw Walden's truck twice cross over the center line of the road and weave back across the line. While continuing behind Walden at about 35 or 40 mph, Moore then saw Walden's truck cross the center line for a third time, go across the two lanes of oncoming traffic, just miss a telephone pole, jump the curb, and then proceed down the adjacent sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. The truck hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk, throwing the victim onto the hood of the truck. The force of the impact knocked the victim out of her shoes and imbedded some of her groceries in the front grill of the truck. The victim died shortly after arriving at a hospital as a result of severe injuries she sustained when she was hit by Walden's truck.
Police interviewed Walden and other witnesses and examined the physical evidence at the scene. Officer Frank Smith described Walden as "swaying kind of from side to side" and having difficulty responding coherently to his questions. He suspected the involvement of alcohol. After being read the implied consent notice and advised of her rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 (86 SC 1602, 16 LE2d 694) (1966), Walden signed a waiver of rights form and consented to a blood test. In a statement she later gave to police, Walden said that she had slep
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