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Dunaway v. State5/3/2005
NATURE OF THE CASE: CRIMINAL - FELONY
DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 05/03/2005
. Billy Ray Dunaway was found guilty of vehicular homicide. The Circuit Court of Pike County sentenced Dunaway as a habitual offender to twenty-five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and to pay a $10,000 fine. On appeal, Dunaway challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and avers that certain evidentiary errors occurred that entitle him to a new trial.
. We find no error and, therefore, affirm Dunaway's conviction and sentence.
FACTS
. On January 25, 2002, Dunaway was living with his girlfriend Becky Hux and her eighteen-year-old son Edward Lloyd Hux (Lloyd). That evening, Dunaway and Lloyd visited The Point After, a lounge where Becky worked as a bartender. Becky observed that Dunaway was drunk. Dunaway and Lloyd left the lounge at approximately 8:05 p.m.. As they were leaving, Becky saw Dunaway's white Chevrolet pickup truck parked in front of the bar. She asked Dunaway to allow Lloyd to drive because Dunaway was drunk. Dunaway replied, " here [isn't] no m-----f------ driving truck but ." Becky observed Dunaway walking to the driver's side of the truck and Lloyd walking to the passenger's side; she then went back into the bar. Though Becky did not see Dunaway and Lloyd enter the truck, she observed them three to four feet away from the truck with Dunaway approaching the driver's side and Lloyd approaching the passenger's side.
. At approximately 8:15 or 8:20 p.m., Jeremy Roberts was driving westbound on the McCombHolmesville Road with his girlfriend, Eva Reeves. An oncoming white truck swerved into Roberts' lane and Roberts left the roadway to avoid a collision. The truck swerved to the right, exited the roadway, brushed against trees lining the road, and flipped over. Dunaway was thrown from the truck and received minor injuries. Lloyd was pinned beneath the passenger's side door. Lloyd and Dunaway were transported to Southwest Regional Medical Center, and Lloyd was pronounced dead shortly after their arrival. Dunaway's blood alcohol level was .266.
. At the scene, Roberts heard Dunaway state that the truck was not his and that he did not know the boy. Dunaway told Reeves that he did not want to say anything because he did not want to get into trouble. When the authorities arrived, Dunaway told Officer Davis Haygood that he had not been driving and that he was unsure who had been in the truck with him.
. Becky Hux testified that the truck belonged to Dunaway. She stated that, because Dunaway was approximately five feet, two inches tall, in order to reach the gas pedal of the truck he customarily put the bench seat in its most forward position and sat on a pillow that he secured by partially tucking it beneath the seatback. Lloyd was six feet, three inches tall and two hundred and sixty pounds. Becky stated that, when Lloyd drove the truck, he put the bench seat in its most rearward position and did not use the pillow. Becky further testified that, the day after the accident, she retrieved her house keys from the wrecked truck. She noticed that the bench seat was in a forward position and Dunaway's pillow was in the driver's seat, partially tucked underneath the seatback. Officer Case, an accident reconstructionist, also observed that the bench seat was in a forward position close to the steering wheel. A corroborative photograph of the seat was admitted into evidence.
LAW AND ANALYSIS
I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING DUNAWAY'S MOTION FOR A JNOV OR A NEW TRIAL BECAUSE THE JURY'S VERDICT WAS BASED ON INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE.
. After the tria
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