Com. v. McIntyre, 92-P-1666

• Decision Date: 26 May 1994
• Docket Number: No. 92-P-1666,92-P-1666
• Citation: 629 N.E.2d 355,36 Mass.App.Ct. 193
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. James L. McINTYRE.
• Court: Appeals Court of Massachusetts

Page 355

629 N.E.2d 355

36 Mass.App.Ct. 193

COMMONWEALTH v. James L. McINTYRE.

No. 92-P-1666.

Appeals Court of Massachusetts,

Bristol.

Argued May 20, 1993.

Decided March 8, 1994.

Further Appellate Review Denied

May 26, 1994.

Kenneth L. Sullivan, Fall River, for defendant.

Elspeth B. Cypher, Asst. Dist. Atty., for Com.

Before ARMSTRONG, DREBEN and SMITH, JJ.

SMITH, Judge.

The defendant was found guilty by a jury of manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, and one count of an indictment charging him with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, recklessly and negligently, and by such operation causing serious bodily injury. He was found not guilty of a second count charging the same offense. All of the indictments ¹ arose from an accident that occurred shortly after midnight on April 4, 1989. The judge later vacated the defendant's conviction on the motor vehicle homicide indictment and dismissed that charge.

On appeal, the defendant claims that the judge committed error in denying (1) his motion for required findings of not guilty, (2) his motion to dismiss the indictments or, in the alternative, to suppress certain evidence, and (3) his motion for a new trial.

1. Denial of the defendant's motion for required findings of not guilty. The defendant claims that the Commonwealth failed to present sufficient evidence in regard to the indictments charging manslaughter and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, recklessly and negligently and by such operation causing serious bodily injury, and, therefore, that the judge committed error in denying his motion for required findings of not guilty.

"The standard which we apply in reviewing the propriety of the denial of a motion for a required finding of not guilty is 'whether the evidence, read in a light most favorable to the Commonwealth, was sufficient to satisfy a rational trier of fact of each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.' " Commonwealth v. Amado, 387 Mass. 179, 186, 439 N.E.2d 257 (1982), quoting from Commonwealth v. Basch, 386 Mass. 620, 622, 437 N.E.2d 200 (1982), and cases cited. "We consider the evidence at the close of the Commonwealth's case and at the close of all the evidence to determine whether the motion should have been granted." Commonwealth v. Marley, 396 Mass. 433, 442, 486 N.E.2d 715 (1985).

We summarize the evidence introduced by the Commonwealth on its case in chief. ² Just past midnight on April 4, 1989, the victim, Steven Martin, was driving his motor vehicle, a Datsun, north on route 152 in North Attleborough. Two friends of Martin were passengers in his automobile. It was a foggy night. Suddenly one of the passengers saw headlights coming across the road toward the Martin vehicle through the fog. He yelled, "Look out." Martin braked, but his vehicle was hit head-on by a Ford Bronco driven by the defendant. Martin died as a result of his injuries sustained in the collision. One of his passengers was confined to a hospital for ten days with a skull fracture, two sprained ankles, and an injury to his lower back; the other passenger suffered a bruised and chipped hip.

When the police arrived at the accident scene, they noticed that both vehicles that had been in the head-on collision were in the northbound lane. The defendant was not at the scene, and a police officer was dispatched to the defendant's home, which was located nearby. The officer was informed by the defendant's father that the Bronco belonged to his son, who had just arrived home and was upstairs.

After being called by his father, the defendant came downstairs, wearing pajama bottoms, a shirt and no shoes. Upon being questioned by the officer, the defendant responded that he had been in an accident and came home in order to call an ambulance. The defendant told the officer that the accident occurred when a vehicle had swerved into his lane and hit his vehicle head-on. The officer noticed that the defendant's voice sounded "thick" and that the defendant slurred his words. The officer also noticed that the defendant had a bloody nose, a cut lip and what appeared to be a fresh bruise over one eye. The defendant declined the officer's offer to take him to the hospital for medical treatment.

The defendant agreed to return to the accident scene with the officer. The defendant's father also drove to the accident scene. After the defendant entered the cruiser, the officer advised the defendant of his Miranda rights.

At the accident scene, the defendant informed a detective investigating the accident that he had gone to a bar in Providence, Rhode Island, at 9:00 P.M., drank two vodkas mixed with grapefruit juice, and left between 11:00 P.M. and 11:30 P.M. He dropped a friend off and then proceeded to North Attleborough by route 95. After leaving route 95, he drove south on route 152. As he was traveling south, a vehicle traveling north approached him in his lane. The defendant stated that he swerved to the opposite side of the road to avoid a collision. As he did so, however, the other vehicle swerved back into its proper lane and a head-on collision occurred. The defendant stated that he left his automobile and went to his house, which was near the scene of the accident, to call the fire or police department.

Upon hearing the defendant's story, the officer commented to him that there were no swerve marks coming from the southbound lane into the northbound lane but that there were straight skid marks, about thirty feet in length, left by the defendant's vehicle in the northbound lane up to the point of impact.

During the defendant's recitation, the detective observed that the defendant was unsteady on his feet, his eyes were red and glassy, and he had an odor of alcohol about him. Another officer asked the defendant if he would submit to field sobriety tests. The defendant agreed. As a result of the defendant's performance of the tests, the defendant was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of liquor. As the defendant was being driven to the police station, he recited the alphabet over and over in a singsong manner, asking, "How's that? Is that a lot better?"

The police investigation continued at the accident scene. Two damaged telephone poles were observed two tenths of a mile from the scene of the collision. They were alongside the southbound lane, the same lane in which the defendant was traveling before the accident. The first telephone pole (approaching the accident scene from the north) was missing a piece about fourteen inches from the ground and appeared to have been scraped about four and one-half feet up the pole. It appeared to have been side-swiped. Tire tracks were visible on the grassy dirt area running from the first pole to the second pole. The second pole (132 feet from the first pole) was cracked in half, and a metal pole, attached to the wooden pole, was bent. A cracked Ford insignia from a vehicle's grille was discovered inside a hole in the pole. An examination of the defendant's grille showed that it was missing the Ford insignia. In addition, a piece of wood was wedged between the right front tire and the rim of the defendant's vehicle.

An accident reconstruction expert testified for the Commonwealth. In his opinion, the Martin vehicle had been traveling between twenty and forty miles per hour and the defendant's vehicle between forty-five to fifty-five miles per hour at the time of the collision. He also opined that the defendant's vehicle had been in the wrong lane for almost 100 feet before the collision and that the Martin vehicle was, at all times, in its proper lane. In the witness's opinion, the defendant's explanation of the accident--that he was in the southbound lane when he saw a vehicle in his lane which caused him to turn left into the northbound lane just as the other vehicle did--was not possible as the operators of the vehicles would have been unable to see each other because one vehicle was traveling around a curve and the other vehicle was traveling up a hill.

At the close of the Commonwealth's evidence, there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant operated his motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, recklessly and negligently, and by such operation caused serious bodily injury. The defendant admitted that prior to the accident he had consumed two drinks that contained alcohol. There was evidence that after consuming the alcoholic drinks, the defendant while operating his motor vehicle crashed into two telephone poles, crossed the center line of the road, and traveled between forty-five and fifty-five miles per hour in the wrong lane for at least 100 feet until he collided with the Martin vehicle, killing Martin and causing serious bodily injuries to at least one of the passengers. After the accident, he was unsteady on his feet, his eyes were red and glassy, he had an odor of alcohol about him, and he failed field sobriety tests.

The Commonwealth also presented sufficient evidence to justify sending the manslaughter indictment to the jury under the required finding standard. It was the Commonwealth's theory at trial that the defendant's actions constituted the crime of involuntary manslaughter. "Involuntary manslaughter is defined as an unlawful homicide unintentionally caused by an act that constitutes such a disregard of the probable harmful consequences to another as to amount to wanton or reckless conduct." Commonwealth v. Jones, 382 Mass. 387, 389-390, 416 N.E.2d 502 (1981). The jury could have concluded that the manner in which the defendant operated his motor vehicle after consuming alcoholic beverages, including its speed, the striking of the telephone poles, the failure to stop afterwards, the crossing of the center line of the road and continuing on for a distance before colliding with the victim's vehicle,...