Barnes v. State, 4-86-2795
| Decision Date | 06 July 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 4-86-2795,4-86-2795 |
| Citation | 528 So.2d 69,13 Fla. L. Weekly 1576 |
| Parties | 13 Fla. L. Weekly 1576 Walter BARNES, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jack Gale of Phillips & Gale, P.A., Fort Pierce, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Robert S. Jaegers, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.
This is an appeal from convictions of manslaughter by intoxicated motorist, manslaughter by culpable negligence, and improper passing (a civil infraction), as well as from a sentence of five years' imprisonment and suspension of driver's license for life.
The facts below concern themselves with a head-on collision, with the appellant being the driver of one of those cars, and with one of the victims in the other car having died. No useful purpose would be served in reviewing the details of the accident, and of the various accounts of it by the eyewitnesses, but some of the operative facts should be discussed. Appellant took the stand in his own behalf and admitted to drinking four or five cans of beer several hours prior to the accident. Appellant's account varied considerably from that of the other witnesses to the event and of the physical evidence. The trooper at the scene testified that, of all the participants in or about the accident, it was only the appellant who gave the appearance of drinking. A blood sample was done on appellant's blood and the analysis revealed a blood alcohol concentration of 1.7 times higher than the statutory presumption for impairment. Additionally, the crime lab chemist testified that a person with that kind of alcohol level would have his normal faculties impaired and would not be able to handle an automobile properly.
Several issues are raised in this appeal that go to the quantum of proof necessary at trial. Suffice it to say there was an abundance of evidence below to find, beyond any reasonable doubt, the following necessary elements: appellant was intoxicated while driving his vehicle; appellant was deprived of full possession of his normal faculties; a death occurred; and the death resulted from the operation of the vehicle by appellant. § 316.1931, Fla.Stat. (1985); Baker v. State, 377 So.2d 17 (Fla.1979); Grala v. State, 414 So.2d 621 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982).
The appellant's next contention, that an alleged intervening cause of negligent medical treatment rather than his operation of the motor vehicle resulted in the victim's death, is of no avail. Appellant started the stream of events and should be held responsible for its meanderings.
In Tunsil v. State, 338 So.2d 874 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976), the court held that the alleged lack of affirmative medical treatment of the victim, whose initial injury was proximately caused by the defendant's actions, did not constitute an intervening cause relieving the defendant of criminal responsibility for the victim's death. Similarly, in State v. Smith, 496 So.2d 195, 196 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986), the court held:
The rule in Florida has long been that where an assailant inflicts a wound which is in itself dangerous to life, the supervening lack of optimal medical attention or affirmative medical malpractice is not an intervening cause of the victim's death.
While this case was sub judice, appellant's attorney brought to our attention Magaw v. State, 523...
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