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Ashley v. State8/18/2000
A jury convicted Ricky Wayne Ashley of reckless driving and failure to report a motor vehicle accident. Ashley appeals his reckless driving conviction, contending that it is supported by insufficient evidence. Ashley also argues that Judge Wood abused his discretion in denying his motion to sever the reckless driving and failure to report an accident charges. He further contends that Judge Woods erred in admitting the testimony of police officers regarding possible causes of the accident and in qualifying Sergeant Charles Lovejoy as an expert. We conclude that Judge Wood did not abuse his discretion in denying Ashley's motion to sever the two charges against him. Ashley did not object to the officer's testimony at trial, nor did he object to Judge Wood's qualification of Lovejoy as an expert. We, therefore, conclude that he has waived these evidentiary arguments on appeal. We also conclude that the evidence was sufficient to sustain Ashley's reckless driving conviction.
In the early morning hours of April 26, 1997, military police officer Christopher Enoch was dispatched to investigate a single vehicle accident that occurred on the Richardson Highway. When he arrived at the scene, he found an overturned four-wheel drive Dodge pick-up truck. Enoch searched the nearby woods for possible injured occupants. When none were found, he then began looking for possible causes of the accident.
Enoch stated that the truck was damaged and all of the glass was broken out of its windows. He noticed a strong odor of alcohol inside the truck and a substance that appeared to be vomit on the steering wheel. Enoch also detected blood stains on the outside of the driver's door. Outside of the truck, Enoch found a half a case of beer. Four or five of the beers were opened, and some of them appeared to have been damaged by impact.
According to Enoch, the weather on the night in question was clear. The road was damp with dew that had fallen the night before, but it was not slippery. In addition, the area to the right and left of the road was clear and cut back. Enoch measured skid and yaw marks at the scene and found that the driver's initial reaction point was approximately 538 feet from where the truck came to rest. Enoch testified that it looked like the driver had started to go off the road, perhaps as a result of falling asleep, swerving, or being distracted by something in the cab.
Later that morning, Alaska State Trooper Dane Gilmore was dispatched to the accident scene. Gilmore detected the odor of alcoholic beverages and saw vomit on the steering wheel. He also found that the glass in the windows was broken and detected a small amount of blood on the outside of the truck near the door. Gilmore estimated that the truck sustained approximately $20,000 to $25,000 in damage.
Sergeant Charles Lovejoy testified on behalf of the state as an expert on accident reconstruction. Lovejoy reviewed several photographs of the accident scene and talked to the military police and state troopers who investigated the accident. Lovejoy noted that the tire tracks went off the road and then back onto it as the road entered a curve. Lovejoy did not come to any conclusion as to why the truck initially left the road, and he was unable to determine the truck's speed at the time of the accident. But he stated that, in his experience, accidents that take place at a curve are often the result of the driver's inattention. Lovejoy concluded that this was likely what happened to Ashley.
Following the state's case-in-chief, Ashley moved for acquittal on the reckless driving charge, arguing that there was a lack of evidence of any conduct on his part that constituted reckless
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