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State v. Hart6/25/1999
The defendant, Willard Hart, appeals as of right from his conviction by a jury in the Henderson County Circuit Court of criminally negligent homicide, a Class E felony. He was originally indicted for vehicular homicide, reckless driving, driving under the influence (DUI), and vehicular assault, but he was found not guilty of these offenses. He was sentenced for the criminally negligent homicide conviction as a Range I, standard offender to two years confinement in the Department of Correction and was fined three thousand dollars. On appeal, the defendant claims that (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction and (2) the trial court improperly sentenced him. We affirm the judgment of conviction.
Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Edward Barrett testified that he was called to a car accident on Rock Springs Road at about 6:00 p.m. on March 23, 1996. He said that when he arrived, he saw a white Ford station wagon turned upside down. He said the defendant and the victim, Patsy Taylor, were in the car, and medical attendants were trying to remove them. He stated that one of the passengers, Dennis McKinney, had already been removed from the backseat of the car. He testified that Ms. Taylor was lying across the defendant, and her body was partially outside the passenger window. He stated that Ms. Taylor appeared to be dead. He said he spoke with the defendant after he was removed, and the defendant told him that he was driving and ran off the road. Trooper Barrett testified that the defendant and the car smelled of alcohol. He said the defendant told him that he had consumed about one quart of alcohol. Trooper Barrett stated that he found beer bottles in the car, and he concluded that the defendant was very intoxicated. He testified that a check of the license plate on the car revealed that the car was registered to the defendant.
Trooper Barrett testified that the defendant consented to a blood alcohol test and that the blood was drawn at the hospital. He said that after the blood had been drawn, the defendant refused to sign an implied consent form. He said that when he went to the defendant's house to serve an arrest warrant a few days after the accident, the defendant said he was not driving the car at the time of the accident.
On cross-examination, Trooper Barrett testified that he did not ask anyone at the scene if they had tried to remove the defendant or Ms. Taylor from the car before he arrived. He said it appeared as if Ms. Taylor's body was partially on top of the defendant's body. He said the defendant was unconscious and had blood, scrapes and scratches on him. He stated that rain had just started at the time of the accident, and the pavement was starting to get wet. He said the road had no standing water on it. He said the defendant did not appear to be intoxicated when he served the arrest warrant on him.
Dr. Charles White, Jr., an Assistant Chief Medical Examiner for Henderson County, testified that he examined Ms. Taylor's body on March 29, 1996. He said that Ms. Taylor died from a skull fracture on the left side of her head.
Michelle Ross, a laboratory technician at Methodist Hospital, testified that she collected a blood sample from the defendant at about 7:00 p.m. on March 28, 1996. She said the defendant must have given consent or she would not have drawn the blood. Sandra Romanek, a forensic scientist with the TBI, testified that the defendant's blood revealed an alcohol content level of .27 percent. On cross-examination, she said that Ms. Taylor's blood alcohol content level was .33 percent.
Gregory Rush, the District Chief of the Henderson County Fire Department, testified that he was dispatched to t
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