 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Brown v. Commonwealth6/16/2005
nted the dangerous nature of a highway condition. .." Id. at 359. And who hasn't driven ten miles per hour over the speed limit on a four-lane highway on occasion? And he did run a red light. However, running a red light is insufficient grounds to support a charge of "wanton murder." Johnson at 952.
As to the T.V., there was absolutely no evidence in this case that Brown was watching the television on the approach to the intersection. There was evidence from Calvin Quick, Dewayne Thomas, and the Appellant that he had been playing the Playstation (using the T.V. screen), while waiting in the parking lot for Laticia. Quick also testified he saw it on when they passed him, which was 50 feet to 50 yards from the parking lot and six-tenths of a mile from the intersection and also at a time when he testified that Brown and Kaylor went by him "like he was sitting still." Yet, Quick was traveling in a vehicle doing "about 35 miles per hour" at the time and 50 feet to 50 yards from the starting point (the parking lot). And, on cross-examination, he admitted he could have just seen a blue screen, since Brown's windows were tinted and he could not say there was a picture on it. Brown and all the other occupants in the vehicle said the T.V. was off. Moreover, there was no evidence the T.V. had the capability of picking up local T.V. stations or had any video feed other than its use to play the Playstation. After the accident, the Playstation was in the floor in front of the passenger seat, which was Laticia's position, not Brown's. But that is also where his brother was sitting while they were playing the Playstation while waiting on Laticia in the parking lot.
The majority concurrently suggests, "the jury could reasonably have inferred the Appellant and Kaylor were racing during the period immediately preceding the collision and that Appellant ran the red light to `outrun' Kaylor." How does someone race a "souped up" police car on a 55 mile per hour four-lane while keeping it between 60-65 miles per hour? Not one person actually testified they were "racing" as we would understand it. Dewayne Thomas said, "I seen what they were doing," but if they were "racing," why wasn't the matter clarified or raised in the evidence? Surely the Commonwealth knew the answer to the follow-up question that was never asked.
The evidence in this case fairly supports a criminal charge deserving of penitentiary time, but it is simply not sufficient to establish conduct "manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life," the standard for 20 years to life.
We can say that! We should say that! And we must say that - on these facts! Never before in our jurisprudence have we subjected members of Kentucky's families to convictions of "wanton murder" on facts as these.
Every case l have reviewed where we have upheld a "wanton murder" conviction, (or its close-equivalent, pre-penal code voluntary manslaughter) in the context of a motor vehicle collision, has involved multiple facts indicating a "high rate of speed," "collision in the wrong lane," "running a red light," coupled with the additional element of intoxication, except one. Cook v. Commonwealth, 129 S.W.3d 351 (Ky. 2004); (defendant intoxicated plus "high rate of speed" on "curvy road"); Love v. Commonwealth, 55 S.W.3d 816 (Ky. 2001) (intoxicated, speeding 70-90 miles per hour - attempting to evade police); Estep v. Commonwealth, 957 S.W.2d 191 (Ky. 1998) (zonked on drugs - head on collision in wrong lane); Renfro v. Commonwealth, 893 S.W. 2d 795 (Ky. 1995) overruled on other grounds (under the influence of alcohol, driving at a high rate of speed, on wrong side of road and ran a red light); Walden v. Commonwealth, 805 S.W.2
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Kentucky DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|