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Redmond v. State11/8/2000
A jury found Cathy Carmen Redmond guilty of Intoxication Manslaughter and Intoxication Assault, in a single trial on two indictments. The trial court assessed as punishment concurrent sentences of four years' confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division. Redmond raises ten issues on appeal.
The first two issues challenge the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support the convictions. Redmond argues the State failed to prove she and not one of the other occupants was the driver of the vehicle. When reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence, we look at the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573 (1979). When reviewing the factual sufficiency of the evidence, we view all the evidence impartially and set aside the verdict only if it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. Cain v. State, 958 S.W.2d 404, 410 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997); Clewis v. State, 922 S.W.2d 126, 129 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996).
Three people, all of them intoxicated, were in the appellant's truck at the time of the accident: Redmond, Chad Pearson, and Nick Gottardo . The truck crossed into the oncoming lane of traffic, colliding with a vehicle driven by Donna Beth Mendez . Daniel House and Timothy White came upon the scene within two minutes of the accident. One male, Gottardo, was up the road a short distance, laying on the side of the road. Another male, Pearson, was in front of the appellant's truck and walked around behind the appellant's pickup towards the driver's side. He said, "I really messed up this time." Redmond lay unconscious face down right next to the pickup by the driver's side door. Redmond regained consciousness and started screaming about her legs.
Ronald Riley, the paramedic on the scene, treated Redmond as the driver, but he did not recall why he believed she had been driving. Trooper George Holleway spoke with the appellant while she was in the ambulance. Asked what happened, Redmond responded, "I was going down the road." Holleway asked, "Are you telling me you were driving the vehicle?" Redmond nodded in the affirmative.
Pearson testified Redmond was driving when the accident occurred. At the hospital, Pearson told Trooper Holleway Redmond was the driver. Redmond testified she gave the keys to her truck to the men, but she could not recall who drove. She could not recall being in the ambulance or speaking with Trooper Holleway.
The pickup's steering column broke from the impact of the driver's body in the collision. Redmond's injuries included fluid around her lungs, a collapsed lung, and multiple rib fractures, a broken tooth and nose, and fractures to the tibia and fibula of her right leg. These injuries were consistent with having been the driver. Her blood was recovered from the steering wheel. Neither Gottardo nor Pearson suffered chest injuries. A rational trier of fact, having heard Pearson's testimony, Redmond's admission to Holleway, and the physical evidence, could have found Redmond was operating the vehicle at the time of the accident. Issue one is overruled.
There is evidence in the record supporting the appellant's claim that she was a passenger, including her testimony that she was not capable of driving at the time. The first eyewitness on the scene thought Pearson was the driver because Pearson stated he had really messed up. Defense counsel cross-examined Pearson on his grand jury testimony, in which he cl
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