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State v. Fey8/8/2000
APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Ninth Judicial District, In and for the County of Toole, The Honorable Marc G. Buyske, Judge presiding.
Submitted on Briefs: March 9, 2000
1 Defendant and Appellant Jesse Fey (hereafter, Fey) appeals the Order of the Ninth Judicial District Court, Toole County, denying his motion for entry of a judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the charge of Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice.
2 We affirm.
3 The following issue is presented on appeal:
4 Whether the District Court erred in concluding that there was sufficient corroborating evidence in support of testimony that Appellant conspired to obstruct justice.
Standard of Review
5 We review a district court's denial of a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict for whether "the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party, tends to establish the case alleged in the party's pleading." Hauck v. Seright, 1998 MT 198, 45, 290 Mont. 309, 45, 964 P.2d 749, 45.
The sufficiency of evidence to corroborate the testimony of an accomplice is a question of law. See State v. Ungaretti (1989), 239 Mont. 314, 317-18, 779 P.2d 923, 925.
Factual and Procedural Background
6 On the evening of June 22, 1998 Fey, his mother, Mary Christaens (Christaens), a co-worker of Fey, Brian Russell (Russell), and a friend, Aaron Omsberg (Omsberg), watched professional wrestling on a television in Fey's trailer. They drank beer. Desirae Moss and her sister, Jolie Moss, came to Fey's trailer that evening. Later, everyone went in Christaens' car for a drive. They brought beer and whiskey with them. Fey drove. Fey lost control of the car on a gravel road. The car rolled repeatedly. Jolie and Desirae Moss and Christaens were thrown out of the car. Jolie Moss died at the scene of the accident. Desirae Moss and Christaens were both seriously injured.
7 After the accident, Fey climbed out of the car and determined that Jolie Moss was dead. He checked on the other car passengers and left the accident scene to get help. Fey testified at his trial that before he left the accident scene to get help, he grabbed three beers that he found outside the wrecked car, as he "was thirsty." Fey went to a house and summoned emergency assistance. He returned to the accident scene.
8 Russell testified that before Fey left the accident scene, Fey told him to get rid of the alcohol. Russell testified that he gathered up the beer and a whiskey bottle and left them in a field.
9 Police conducted an horizontal gaze nystagmus test of Fey; Fey scored a six out of a possible six points, indicating that his blood alcohol content exceeded 0.10. Police officers smelled alcohol but found no alcoholic beverages or containers in Christaens' car. Fey was taken by ambulance to a hospital. Fey agreed to give a blood sample but claimed that he drank three beers after the crash. His blood alcohol content was determined to be 0.16.
10 Police interviewed Fey several days after the accident. Fey asserted that the car struck something on the road, that a defect in the steering column of the car led him to overcorrect, and that he lost control of the car. At trial, Fey testified that he did not think that "alcohol was the major part of the accident. I believe it was just bad luck, wrong time to be on the road."
11 The day after the crash, Toole County Coroner Dan Whitted (Whitted) drove to the scene of the accident. Whitted looked north from the road and saw something shine in a field. He went to investigate and discovered a Bud Light beer box, cans of Bud Light beer, some of t
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