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Love v. Commonwealth2/22/2001
AFFIRMING IN PART AND REVERSING IN PART
In the early morning hours of December 13, 1997, a three-car accident on Louisville's eastbound Watterson Expressway claimed the lives of two individuals and injured seven others. A jury convicted Appellant, Christopher Love, of two counts of wanton murder, two counts of assault in the first degree, one count of assault in the third degree, four counts of assault in the fourth degree, and one count each of operating a motor vehicle with a suspended operator's license and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. He was sentenced to prison for twenty years and appeals to this Court as a matter of right. Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b).
At 2:21 a.m. on December 13, 1997, a Chrysler Laser, driven by William Shaw, merged onto the eastbound lanes of Watterson Expressway from the northbound lanes of Dixie Highway. Shaw, drunk and on methamphetamines and amphetamines, failed to notice a Ford Aerostar minivan, driven by Clark Vinson, and prematurely merged over the raised median. The collision caused the minivan to flip three times and land on its passenger side, perpendicular to the Watterson, with its nose facing the barrier wall. Vinson was ejected through the front windshield and onto the highway. Shawls vehicle struck the barrier wall, flattened its left side tires , and rolled to a stop further down the expressway.
At the site of the accident, eastbound Watterson is a three-lane highway for through traffic divided by white intermittent lines. A small hill lies to the west of the scene. An emergency lane borders the left lane, with a concrete barrier wall dividing the emergency lane from westbound traffic. To the right of the through lanes, a raised median separates the entrance ramp from Dixie Highway to the Watterson. The posted speed limit is 55 miles per hour.
Immediately after the accident, occupants of several eastbound vehicles stopped to render assistance. David Morrison parked his tractor-trailer rig between Vinson's minivan and Shawls Chrysler and started placing red warning triangles on the road. A group of Fort Knox soldiers, including Christopher Ochs, also stopped to render aid. At 2:23 a.m., Shively police arrived on the scene in two cruisers. They parked one cruiser to block the entrance ramp from Dixie Highway and the other to block the left and center lanes of the Watterson. Two of the officers went to aid Vinson who was conscious but so seriously injured that the officers radioed for a helicopter to transport him to a hospital. A third officer, cadet Clark, had been instructed to move his cruiser from the entrance ramp to further west on the Watterson to provide additional warning time for motorists topping the rise above the accident.
At 2:26 a.m., Appellant Love crested the hill in his Ford Thunderbird and approached the accident scene at a high rate of speed. Eyewitnesses estimated Appellant's speed at seventy to ninety miles per hour. Appellant successfully swerved to miss the police cruiser partially blocking the left two lanes, but struck the minivan, flipping it onto Vinson and killing him instantly. The Thunderbird then struck soldier Christopher Ochs, who also died instantly. Six other bystanders, including two police officers, were injured as a result of being struck by the Thunderbird, the minivan, or debris. The Thunderbird then careened off of the tractor-trailer rig and crashed perpendicularly into the barrier wall, injuring both Appellant and his passenger, Kimberly Morris.
There were no skid marks at the scene attributable to the Thunderbird. No one saw any brake lights on the Thunderbird as it swerved around the police cruiser. Four unopened and t
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