Brown v. Com.

• Decision Date: 05 November 2009
• Docket Number: Record No. 090013.
• Citation: 685 S.E.2d 43,278 Va. 523
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: Douglas Michael BROWN, Jr. v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

685 S.E.2d 43

278 Va. 523

Douglas Michael BROWN, Jr. v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Record No. 090013.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

November 5, 2009.

Paul S. Roskin (Vergara & Associates, on briefs), for appellant.

Robert H. Anderson III, Senior Assistant Attorney General (William C. Mims, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Present: KEENAN, KOONTZ, KINSER, LEMONS, GOODWYN, and MILLETTE, JJ., and LACY, S.J.

OPINION BY Justice BARBARA MILANO KEENAN.

In this appeal from a defendant's conviction for involuntary manslaughter, we consider whether the evidence was sufficient to establish that the defendant was a proximate cause of the death of a driver who was killed when his car was struck by a police cruiser during a high-speed chase to apprehend the defendant.

Douglas Michael Brown, Jr. was convicted in a bench trial in the Circuit Court of the City of Colonial Heights of leaving the scene of an accident, in violation of Code § 46.2-894; feloniously eluding a police officer, in violation of Code § 46.2-817(B); driving after having been declared an habitual offender, second offense, in violation of Code § 46.2-357(B); and involuntary manslaughter. In this appeal, we consider only Brown's involuntary manslaughter conviction, for which he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, with five years suspended.

The evidence at trial showed that Officer Mark Bowen of the Chesterfield County Police Department was investigating the scene of an automobile accident when he heard "squealing" tires as a vehicle approached from around a corner. Officer Bowen used his flashlight to signal to the driver, whom he later identified as Brown, that he should stop the vehicle.

Brown stopped the vehicle at an intersection, and Officer Bowen approached the driver's side window. When Officer Bowen directed Brown to move his vehicle to the side of the road, Brown instead accelerated toward Officer Bowen. Brown's vehicle passed within five feet of Officer Bowen, and made the next available turn onto Route 1 in a southbound direction.

Officer Avery James, II, of the Chesterfield County Police Department, who was investigating the nearby accident, received a radio dispatch from Bowen. Officer Bowen described the "van" driven by Brown, and warned that Brown may be "a drunk driver." Officer James soon observed the van, which was traveling at a speed of about 70 miles per hour in a 45 mile-per-hour zone. He activated his police cruiser's emergency lights and siren, and began pursuing Brown's vehicle.

The two vehicles traveled toward Colonial Heights at speeds ranging between 80 and 110 miles per hour. The van weaved abruptly through traffic, forcing Officer James to "take evasive action" to avoid hitting other cars in the southbound lanes of Route 1.

Another driver, Rhonda Watts, was traveling eastbound toward Route 1 in Colonial Heights. When she entered the intersection at Route 1, she saw a "big flash" and a "big vehicle" move through the intersection in front of her. Officer James' police car followed behind that vehicle.

Officer James swerved to avoid hitting Watts' vehicle, lost control of his police car, and struck another car that was approaching the intersection from the opposite direction. The driver of the other car, James H. Sears, was killed in the collision. The police later apprehended Brown.

Following his conviction in the circuit court, Brown appealed only his involuntary manslaughter conviction to the Court of Appeals. In an unpublished order, the Court of Appeals affirmed Brown's conviction, holding that the evidence was sufficient to support the circuit court's judgment. Brown v. Commonwealth, Record No. 1274-08-2 (Nov. 25, 2008). The Court held that Brown was criminally negligent and that because he "set the course of events in motion" that resulted in the collision, he proximately caused Sears' death. Id., slip op. at 4. The Court also determined that "it was foreseeable that there was an inherent risk that a police officer could lose control of his vehicle while pursuing [Brown], posing a danger to others." Id. We awarded Brown this appeal.

Brown argues that his actions did not directly cause Sears' death, but that Sears died solely because of Officer James' decision to continue the high-speed chase into a populated area. Brown asserts that despite his own actions in attempting to elude the police, he is not criminally responsible for Sears' death because it was not foreseeable that Officer James would continue to chase Brown's vehicle at the speeds involved. We disagree with Brown's arguments.

On appeal, we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party in the circuit court, and we accord the Commonwealth the benefit of all reasonable inferences deducible from the evidence. Britt v. Commonwealth, 276 Va. 569, 573, 667 S.E.2d 763, 765 (2008); Jay v. Commonwealth, 275 Va. 510, 524, 659 S.E.2d 311, 319 (2008); Bolden v. Commonwealth, 275 Va. 144, 148, 654 S.E.2d 584, 586 (2008). When a defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, we give the judgment of a circuit court sitting without a jury the same weight as a jury verdict. Britt, 276 Va. at 573-74, 667 S.E.2d at 765; Tarpley v. Commonwealth, 261 Va. 251, 256, 542 S.E.2d 761, 763 (2001); Hickson v. Commonwealth, 258 Va. 383, 387, 520 S.E.2d 643, 645 (1999). We will affirm the circuit court's judgment unless it is plainly wrong or without evidence to support it. Code § 8.01-680; Britt, 276 Va. at 574, 667 S.E.2d at 765; Jay, 275 Va. at 524, 659 S.E.2d at 319; Bolden, 275 Va. at 148, 654 S.E.2d at 586; Tarpley, 261 Va. at 256, 542 S.E.2d at 763.

The common law crime of involuntary manslaughter consists of two elements: 1) the accidental killing of a person, contrary to the intention of the parties; and 2) the death occurs during the defendant's performance of an unlawful but not felonious act, or in the defendant's improper execution of a lawful act. West v. Director, Dep't of Corrs., 273 Va. 56, 63-64, 639 S.E.2d 190, 195 (2007); Dowden v. Commonwealth, 260 Va. 459, 470, 536 S.E.2d 437, 443 (2000); Cable v. Commonwealth, 243 Va. 236, 240, 415 S.E.2d 218, 220 (1992). To constitute involuntary manslaughter, the "improper" execution of a lawful act must amount to an unlawful commission of that lawful act, demonstrating criminal negligence. West, 273 Va. at 64, 639 S.E.2d at 195; Cable, 243 Va. at 240, 415 S.E.2d at 220; Kirk v. Commonwealth, 186 Va. 839, 847, 44 S.E.2d 409, 413 (1947).

In cases involving the operation of a motor vehicle, we generally have defined involuntary manslaughter as an accidental killing that is proximately caused by criminal negligence involving conduct "so gross, wanton, and culpable as to show a reckless disregard of human life." Greenway v. Commonwealth, 254 Va. 147, 154, 487 S.E.2d 224, 228 (1997) (quoting King v. Commonwealth, 217 Va. 601, 607, 231 S.E.2d 312, 316 (1977)); see also Riley v. Commonwealth, 277 Va. 467, 483-84, 675 S.E.2d 168, 177 (2009); Gooden v. Commonwealth, 226 Va. 565, 571, 311 S.E.2d 780, 784 (1984). Criminal negligence is judged according to an objective standard and, thus, may be found when the defendant either knew or should have known the probable consequences of his acts. Riley, 277 Va. at 483-84, 675 S.E.2d at 177; see Gallimore v. Commonwealth, 246 Va. 441, 445-46, 436 S.E.2d 421, 424 (1993); Cable v. Commonwealth, 243 Va. 236, 240, 415 S.E.2d 218, 220 (1992).

We also have defined criminal negligence with reference to gross negligence. We have stated that gross negligence is punishable as criminal negligence when acts of a wanton or willful character, committed or omitted, show "a reckless or indifferent disregard of the rights of others, under circumstances reasonably calculated to produce injury, or which make it not improbable that injury will be occasioned, and the offender knows, or is charged with the knowledge of, the probable result of his acts." Riley, 277 Va. at 484, 675 S.E.2d at 177 (quoting Cable, 243 Va. at 240, 415 S.E.2d at 220); see also Bell v. Commonwealth, 170 Va. 597, 611-12, 195 S.E. 675, 681 (1938). To convict a defendant of involuntary manslaughter based on such acts of criminal negligence, the Commonwealth must also prove that the defendant's criminally negligent conduct was a proximate cause of the victim's death. Gallimore, 246 Va. at 445-46, 436 S.E.2d at 424; Cable, 243 Va. at 240, 415 S.E.2d at 220; King, 217 Va. at 607, 231 S.E.2d at 316.

Established principles of proximate causation are applicable in both civil and criminal cases. Robinson v. Commonwealth, 274 Va. 45, 53, 645 S.E.2d 470, 474 (2007); Gallimore, 246 Va. at 447, 436 S.E.2d at 425. A proximate cause is "an act or omission that, in natural and continuous sequence unbroken by a superseding cause, produces a particular event and without which that event would not have occurred." Williams v. Joynes, 278 Va. 57, 62, 677 S.E.2d 261, 264 (2009); accord Williams v. Le, 276 Va. 161, 167, 662 S.E.2d 73, 77 (2008); see Coyle v. Commonwealth, 50 Va.App. 656, 666, 653 S.E.2d 291, 296 (2007). Because an event can have more than one proximate cause, criminal liability can attach to each actor whose conduct is a proximate cause unless the causal chain is broken by a superseding act that becomes the sole cause of the death. See Gallimore, 246 Va. at 447, 436 S.E.2d at 425; O'Connell v. Commonwealth, 48 Va. App. 719, 728, 634 S.E.2d 379, 383 (2006).

When a defendant's criminally negligent conduct "put[s] into operation" an intervening cause of a death, the defendant remains criminally responsible for that death. See Commonwealth v. Jenkins, 255 Va. 516, 521, 499 S.E.2d 263, 265-66 (1998); Gallimore, 246 Va. at 447, 436 S.E.2d at 425. Thus, an intervening cause of such death that is a probable consequence of the defendant's own conduct will not constitute a superseding cause breaking the chain of proximate causation. See Gallimore, 246 Va. at 447, 436 S.E.2d...