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Ashley v. State8/18/2000
driving. Judge Wood denied Ashley's motion and the defense then presented its case. Ashley testified that he and his friend were driving from Fairbanks to Glennallen when the accident occurred. Before leaving Fairbanks, they stopped at a store, where Ashley bought a 12-pack of Dr. Pepper and his friend bought a 12-pack of beer. Ashley testified that after he drove through Delta Junction, he accelerated and put his truck on cruise control. Shortly thereafter a moose jumped out in front of him. Ashley dropped off the shoulder of the road on the right to avoid the moose and swerved back and forth on the road a few times, overcorrecting. Ashley finally slammed on his brakes and ultimately flipped his truck over. The jury convicted Ashley of reckless driving.
Before we address the question of whether there was sufficient evidence to support Ashley's reckless driving conviction, we will briefly address the two other arguments that Ashley raises on appeal. First, Ashley argues that under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the police officers' testimony at trial regarding the possible causes of the accident was inadmissible because the officers failed to apply accident reconstruction techniques. Ashley did not object to the officers' testimony at trial, nor did he object to the court's qualification of Lovejoy as an expert. Ashley also failed to raise the admission of the officers' testimony, or the qualification of Lovejoy as an expert in his points on appeal. We therefore find that Ashley has waived these evidentiary arguments on appeal.
Second, Ashley contends that the trial court abused its discretion when it denied his motion to sever the reckless driving and failure to report an accident charges. Prior to trial, Ashley moved to sever the reckless driving and failure to report a motor vehicle accident charges on the grounds that the alcohol evidence found at the accident scene was not admissible on the reckless driving charge. Judge Wood disagreed, and denied the motion to sever.
A motion to sever joined offenses encompasses two separate inquiries. First, we must determine whether the two offenses charged are so related as to make joinder proper. Second, we must determine whether joinder of the offenses for trial would unduly prejudice the defendant. The two offenses with which Ashley was charged both arose out of his single-vehicle accident on April 26, 1997. The charges were thus based on the same "act or transaction" and properly joined under Criminal Rule 8(a)(2).
Ashley claims that the alcohol evidence was not relevant to the reckless driving charge and he was unfairly prejudiced by its admission. To the contrary, the record reflects that Judge Wood found that the alcohol evidence was relevant to the reckless driving charge. As Judge Wood noted, the alcohol containers were "part of the observations of the police officers at the scene [from which] the jurors can draw reasonable conclusions[.]" We agree that the alcohol evidence was relevant to the reckless driving charge and accordingly find that Judge Wood did not abuse his discretion in denying Ashley's motion to sever.
We now turn to Ashley's argument that the evidence does not support his reckless driving conviction. Under AS 28.35.040(a), the state was required to prove that Ashley drove a motor vehicle in a "manner that create a substantial and unjustifiable risk of harm to a person or to property." The statute defines "substantial and unjustifiable risk" as "a risk of such a nature and degree that the conscious disregard of it or a failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation."
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