State v. Putnam, 14–020.

Decision Date04 September 2015
Docket NumberNo. 14–020.,14–020.
Citation130 A.3d 836
Parties STATE of Vermont v. Billy Joe PUTNAM.
CourtVermont Supreme Court

Glenn Barnes, Windsor County Deputy State's Attorney, White River Junction, for PlaintiffAppellee.

Matthew F. Valerio, Defender General, and Joshua S. O'Hara, Appellate Defender, Montpelier, for DefendantAppellant.

Present: REIBER, C.J., DOOLEY, SKOGLUND and ROBINSON, JJ., and MALEY, Supr. J., Specially Assigned.

ROBINSON, J.

¶ 1. This case calls upon us to consider the significance of the so-called "standard conditions" of probation. Defendant was convicted by jury of disorderly conduct and grossly negligent operation. He argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his grossly-negligent-operation conviction. Defendant also challenges various conditions of probation. We affirm defendant's conviction, but strike several probation conditions, and remand.

¶ 2. The charges here stem from a March 2013 incident involving defendant and his neighbor. The following evidence was presented at trial. The neighbor testified that he lives less than a mile away from defendant on a narrow dirt road. Defendant's house is on an S-shaped curve with a blind rise directly after it. On the afternoon in question, the neighbor was driving home on the dirt road. He was traveling approximately ten miles per hour and playing his music loudly with the windows rolled down. After passing defendant's house, the neighbor noticed a white car quickly coming up behind him. The car passed the neighbor on the left, pulled back into the middle of the road, and braked, turning sideways and blocking the road. During this maneuver, the white car slid ten or fifteen feet and left four sets of tire marks across the road.

¶ 3. Defendant got out of the white car and began screaming and swearing at the neighbor. He threatened the neighbor and said he was tired of the neighbor's loud music. Another person also witnessed defendant yelling. The neighbor took several pictures of the scene as he sat in his car, one of which was admitted into evidence. The picture showed tire marks across the road and defendant's car stopped in the middle of the road. The neighbor testified that had he not braked, he would have hit defendant's car.

¶ 4. A police detective who took statements from defendant and the neighbor also testified. Defendant told the detective that the neighbor had been playing his music too loudly and that he had gone after the neighbor to stop the neighbor's car. The detective testified that the tire marks depicted in the neighbor's photograph were consistent with someone slamming on their brakes, possibly pulling on the emergency brake, and coming around sideways. The detective stated that the tire marks and the position of defendant's car indicated that someone had either started or stopped unsafely.

¶ 5. At the close of the State's case, defendant moved for judgment of acquittal on the grossly-negligent-operation charge, arguing that the State failed to show that his driving placed anyone at risk of harm. According to defendant, he had been able to pass the neighbor safely on the left, turn his car, and put it in the middle of the road, and the neighbor had been able to stop well in advance of hitting him. The court denied defendant's motion. Defendant did not present any evidence on his own behalf. The jury found defendant guilty, and defendant was sentenced to two concurrent thirty-to-sixty-day sentences, all suspended, with two years of probation. We discuss the conditions of probation in more detail below. Defendant appealed.

I. Grossly Negligent Operation

¶ 6. Defendant first challenges the court's denial of his motion for a judgment of acquittal. According to defendant, the State needed to show that he "exercised no care due to others in a situation where there is great potential for immediate danger." He argues that his conduct did not meet this standard. Defendant also asserts that the facts here are less egregious than other cases where we have upheld convictions for grossly negligent operation.

¶ 7. On review of the trial court's denial of defendant's motion for acquittal, "we must consider whether the evidence, taken in the light most favorable to the State and excluding the modifying evidence, is sufficient to fairly and reasonably support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Devine, 168 Vt. 566, 566, 719 A.2d 861, 862 (1998) (mem.).

¶ 8. To establish defendant's guilt, the State needed to show that defendant operated his vehicle on a public highway in a grossly negligent way. 23 V.S.A. § 1091(b)(1). "The standard for a conviction" under § 1091(b) is "gross negligence, examining whether the person engaged in conduct which involved a gross deviation from the care that a reasonable person would have exercised in that situation." Id. § 1091(b)(2). The statute provides a heightened penalty if the grossly negligent operation results in "serious bodily injury ... or death of any person other than the operator." Id. § 1091(b)(3). Negligent operation, by contrast, requires the State to prove only "ordinary negligence, examining whether the person breached a duty to exercise ordinary care." Id. § 1091(a)(2).

¶ 9. In distinguishing these two crimes, "we have said that gross negligence amounts to a failure to exercise even a slight degree of care, and that it requires more than an error in judgment, momentary inattention, or loss of presence of mind." State v. Valyou, 2006 VT 105, ¶ 5, 180 Vt. 627, 910 A.2d 922 (mem.) (quotation omitted). We have recognized the difficulty in defining "gross negligence" with any precision, and, accordingly, have concluded that "the presence or absence of gross negligence turns upon the particular factual circumstances of each case, and therefore rests within the special province of the jury." Id. (quotation and brackets omitted). If "reasonable minds cannot differ," however, "the court can decide the question as a matter of law." State v. Free, 170 Vt. 605, 606, 749 A.2d 622, 624 (2000) (mem.).

¶ 10. We have not held, as defendant posits, that grossly negligent operation exists only when a driver exercises "no care" in a situation where "there is great potential for immediate danger." Defendant does not cite any cases in support of this proposition, but appears to rely on language from State v. Carlin, a grossly-negligent-operation case that involved a driver's momentary inattention to the roadway. 2010 VT 79, 188 Vt. 602, 9 A.3d 312 (mem.). We held in Carlin that there are circumstances under which a driver's momentary inattention to the roadway can be gross negligence, including where "that inattention occurs in a place where there is great potential for immediate danger." Id. ¶ 9. That is not the situation here.

¶ 11. In this case, the court instructed the jury, over the State's objection, that the State needed to show that defendant "disregarded a risk of injury or death" and that "the risk was such that, considering the nature and purpose of the defendant's conduct, and the circumstances known to him, the defendant's failure to perceive it was a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in the same situation." Defendant does not challenge this standard on appeal. Assuming without deciding that the jury instruction was correct and that the State needed to prove that defendant "disregarded a risk of injury or death," the State met its burden here.1

¶ 12. As described by the trial court, the evidence showed that defendant, seized by anger, chased his neighbor and passed him on a road that was barely as wide as defendant's car turned sideways. He then turned abruptly so that his car sat across the roadway, leaving four tire marks. Defendant stopped just in front of the neighbor, and the neighbor had to put on his brakes to avoid hitting defendant and defendant's car. The jury could reasonably conclude that this conduct put the neighbor at risk of injury, regardless of the neighbor's ability to stop in time to avoid a collision. We agree with the trial court that this was sufficient evidence for the jury to find that defendant's conduct grossly deviated from the standard of care that a reasonable driver would have exercised under similar circumstances.

¶ 13. None of defendant's arguments persuade us otherwise. Defendant asserts that he was not grossly negligent because it was legal for him to pass the neighbor on the left, and even though he turned his car sideways and stopped abruptly in the middle of the road, the neighbor did not testify that he had to brake suddenly to avoid a dangerous collision. Defendant also notes that he did not push the neighbor off the road, run into him, or drive into oncoming traffic. Defendant essentially challenges the jury's assessment of the evidence. We have recognized that "[t]he presence or absence of gross negligence turns upon the particular factual circumstances of each case, and therefore rests within the special province of the jury."

State v. Koch, 171 Vt. 515, 516, 760 A.2d 505, 506 (2000) (mem.). Although defendant did not push the neighbor off the road or drive into oncoming traffic, there was still sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that defendant's actions grossly deviated from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have exercised.

¶ 14. Defendant's comparison of his case to other gross-negligence cases is unavailing. We have repeatedly recognized, particularly in the gross-negligence context, that each case turns on its own facts. See, e.g., Langdon–Davies v. Stalbird, 122 Vt. 56, 57, 163 A.2d 873, 874–75 (1960) ( "[D]ecided cases are of little assistance in determining the existence of gross negligence under the evidence in a particular case. Each case turns almost entirely on its own peculiar factual situation."). Here, there was sufficient evidence to allow the jury to find defendant guilty, and defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal was therefore properly denied.

II. Probation...

To continue reading

Request your trial
23 cases
  • State v. Webster
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Vermont
    • 20 Octubre 2017
    ...abused its discretion. ¶ 45. The "trial court has broad discretion in fashioning a sentence." State v. Putnam, 2015 VT 113, ¶ 28, 200 Vt. 257, 130 A.3d 836. Accordingly, our review on appeal is for an abuse of discretion. State v. Campbell, 2015 VT 50, ¶ 9, 199 Vt. 78, 120 A.3d 1148. If a s......
  • State v. Nash, 18-286
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Vermont
    • 25 Octubre 2019
    ...... State v. Levitt , 2016 VT 60, ¶ 21, 202 Vt. 193, 148 A.3d 204. Our review on appeal is for an abuse of discretion. Putnam , 2015 VT 113, ¶ 44, 200 Vt. 257, 130 A.3d 836. This is a limited and "deferential" form of review. See 221 A.3d 394 State v. Bailey , No. ......
  • State v. Webster
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Vermont
    • 20 Octubre 2017
    ...its discretion. ¶ 45. The "trial court has broad discretion in fashioning a sentence." State v. Putnam, 2015 VT 113, ¶ 28, 200 Vt. 257, 130 A.3d 836. Accordingly, our review on appeal is for an abuse of discretion. State v. Campbell, 2015 VT 50, ¶ 9, 199 Vt. 78, 120 A.3d 1148. If a sentence......
  • State v. Nash
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Vermont
    • 25 Octubre 2019
    ...... State v. Levitt , 2016 VT 60, ¶ 21, 202 Vt. 193, 148 A.3d 204. Our review on appeal is for an abuse of discretion. Putnam , 2015 VT 113, ¶ 44. This is a limited and "deferential" form of review. See State v. Bailey , No. 2013-457, 2014 WL 3714964, * 2 (July 24, 2014) ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT