State v. Bailey4/6/2005
CONVICTION REVERSED AND SET ASIDE; APPELLANT ACQUITTED.
Amy, J., dissents and assigns written reasons.
FACTS
On May 30, 2003, shortly after 9:00 p.m., an automobile driven by the defendant struck an automobile driven by Lillie C. Ingram on Highway 84 in Concordia Parish. According to witnesses, Ms. Ingram's car was stopped on the highway in a left-hand lane proximate to a store when it was struck from the rear by the defendant's car. The responding officer interviewed the defendant. Following that interview, and based on his observations and field sobriety tests, the officer arrested the defendant for driving while intoxicated. Ms. Ingram was removed from her vehicle and placed in an ambulance, where she was pronounced dead by the coroner at 10:05 p.m.
On August 6, 2003, the defendant, Sherry Bailey, was charged with vehicular homicide, a violation of La.R.S. 14:32.1. On May 3, 2004, the bill of information was amended to include the allegation that at the time of the accident which caused the victim's death, the defendant was under the influence of alcohol or a combination of drugs and alcohol and that her blood alcohol concentration exceeded 0.08 percent.
On May 10, 2004, and following the trial, the jury found the defendant guilty as charged. On August 18, the trial court sentenced the defendant to six years imprisonment at hard labor, a fine of $2000 and court costs. The trial court further specified that the first year of the sentence was to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence and ordered the defendant to attend a substance abuse program.
On August 30, 2004, a judgment of felony conviction was entered, and on September 22, 2004, a motion for appeal was filed. The defendant now appeals her conviction and alleges three assignments of error.
DISCUSSION
In her second assignment of error, the defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction because the state failed to prove that the accident was caused by the defendant, and not by the dangerous position of the victim's car immediately prior to the impact.
The analysis for a claim of insufficient evidence is well-settled:
When the issue of sufficiency of evidence is raised on appeal, the critical inquiry of the reviewing court is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, rehearing denied, 444 U.S. 890, 100 S.Ct. 195, 62 L.Ed.2d 126 (1979); State ex rel. Graffagnino v. King, 436 So.2d 559 (La.1983); State v. Duncan, 420 So.2d 1105 (La.1982); State v. Moody, 393 So.2d 1212 (La.1981). It is the role of the fact finder to weigh the respective credibility of the witnesses, and therefore, the appellate court should not second guess the credibility determinations of the triers of fact beyond the sufficiency evaluations under the Jackson standard of review. See State ex rel. Graffagnino, 436 So.2d 559 (citing State v. Richardson, 425 So.2d 1228 (La.1983)). In order for this Court to affirm a conviction, however, the record must reflect that the state has satisfied its burden of proving the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
State v. Kennerson, 96-1518, p. 5 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/7/97), 695 So.2d 1367, 1371.
The elements of the crime at issue are set forth in La.R.S. 14:32.1, which states, in pertinent part:
A. Vehicular homicide is the killing of a human being caused proximately or caused directly by an
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