State Of Mo. v. Seeler, SC 90583.
| Decision Date | 31 August 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. SC 90583.,SC 90583. |
| Citation | 316 S.W.3d 920 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent,v.Ryan SEELER, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
316 S.W.3d 920
Supreme Court of Missouri,
En Banc.
STATE of Missouri, Respondent,
v.
Ryan SEELER, Appellant.
No. SC 90583.
July 16, 2010.
Rehearing Denied Aug. 31, 2010.
Terrence M. Messonnier, Shaun T. Mackelprang, Jayne T. Woods, Attorney General's Office, Jefferson City, for the State.
MICHAEL A. WOLFF, Judge.
This is a simple story, versions of which are repeated with depressing regularity. Ryan Seeler went to a baseball game, then to a restaurant in downtown St. Louis and then headed home on westbound Interstate Highway 64 (U.S. highway 40). He had had some drinks. He drove into a construction zone on I-64 in Chesterfield, where he struck and killed Gavin Donahue, a 22-year-old engineering student who was working on a paving project on the highway.
The crime charged, first-degree involuntary manslaughter, should be simple as well. That, unfortunately, is not so.
The Missouri statute's simple version of the crime is this: A person in an intoxicated condition commits first-degree involuntary manslaughter if he operates a motor vehicle and acts with criminal negligence to cause the death of any person. Section 565.024.1(2).1 A person is criminally negligent “when he fails to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that circumstances exist or a result will follow, and such failure constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation.” Section 562.016.5. In prosecuting Seeler, the state must specify, and the jury must find, the particular facts that lead to the conclusion that he was criminally negligent. See MAI-CR 3d 314.12.
This simple version of involuntary manslaughter is classified as a class C felony, results in a sentence of up to seven years
The state however, apparently sought a harsher penalty than the class C felony punishment that the simple version of the involuntary manslaughter law allows. There is a more complicated option offered in section 565.024, which allows the state to charge Seeler with involuntary manslaughter as a class B felony, which carries punishment of up to 15 years in prison.2 This class B felony, as described in section 565.024.1(3)(a), defines the crime of involuntary manslaughter as to “[c]ause the death of any person not a passenger in the vehicle operated by the defendant, including the death of an individual that results from the defendant's vehicle leaving a highway ... or the highway's right-of-way....”
Citing this more complicated option of a class B felony, the indictment charged that Seeler acted “[w]hile under the influence of alcohol and/or a controlled substance caus[ing] the death of Gavin Donahue by striking him with a motor vehicle while operating a motor vehicle with criminal negligence in that defendant was driving in a close[d] construction zone, thereby leaving said highway's right-of-way....”
After the close of the state's evidence, the defense moved for acquittal because the evidence did not show that Seeler's car had left the highway's right-of-way. In response, the state requested leave to amend the indictment and substitute an information in which the phrase “leaving the highway's right-of-way” (quoted above) was replaced with “drove into a lane closed to traffic.”
Seeler objected that the timing of the amended charge was prejudicial because it changed the facts charged-Seeler's defense had come prepared to respond to the charge that his car had left the highway's right-of-way. The trial court allowed the amended class B felony charge over Seeler's objection.
The jury found Seeler guilty of the amended charge and recommended seven years in prison, which the court imposed.
Seeler's appeal raises two questions: (1) whether the statute is unconstitutionally void for vagueness; 3 and (2) whether the amended information-which changed the state's factual theory after the state's evidence had been presented-was prejudicial.
The Court concludes:
(1) Though confusing, the manslaughter law is not vague. Its meaning can be discerned. It is not unconstitutional.
(2) The change in the factual basis of the charge, as contained in the information and in the jury instruction-after the state had presented its evidence-was prejudicial to Seeler's opportunity to defend himself against the offense as charged.
Seeler came to trial prepared to defend against the charge that he left the highway's right-of-way and the amendment rendered his defenses inapplicable.
The circuit court's judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded.
Seeler attended a Cardinals baseball game in July 2007 in St. Louis. He left the game around 11 p.m. and went to a downtown restaurant that serves liquor. At 1:45 a.m., Seeler left to go home. According to Seeler, between 6:30 p.m. and 1:45 a.m. he drank four beers-two at the game and two at the restaurant-and ate two hot dogs. As Seeler was driving west on Interstate 64 (U.S. highway 40), he noticed signs indicating road work ahead. The two left lanes were blocked off, starting on westbound I-64 at Olive Blvd., leaving only the far right lane open. Construction cones were set up such that they intruded into the open right lane, forcing motorists onto the shoulder and rumble strips. According to Seeler's defense, the cones were anywhere from 168 to 175 feet apart, which he contends was not sufficient to close the lane.
As Seeler entered the Chesterfield valley, he traveled behind a dump truck in the far right lane. The dump truck moved into the middle lane, and Seeler followed. Seeler then followed the truck back into the right lane. Because Seeler was driving on the shoulder and rumble strips, he re-entered the middle lane. As he did so, he struck Donahue, who was re-striping the newly paved road.
After the accident Seeler was not administered any field-sobriety tests, but he was placed under arrest and taken to a nearby hospital where, pursuant to a warrant, his blood was drawn to test for the presence of alcohol. Three tests were done on two separate blood draws from Seeler (one at 7:55 a.m. and another at 8:25 a.m.). The average of the three tests indicated a blood alcohol content of .16 percent. Using a regression analysis based on the difference between the two blood samples, Dr. Christopher Long, a toxicologist, testified that Seeler's blood alcohol level at the time of the accident was around 0.24 percent-or three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Seeler was indicted in August 2007 and charged with involuntary manslaughter pursuant to section 565.024.1(3)(a). The indictment charged that Seeler “committed the class B felony of involuntary manslaughter in the first degree [when he], while under the influence of alcohol and/or a controlled substance caus[ed] the death of Gavin Donahue by striking him with a motor vehicle while operating a motor vehicle with criminal negligence in that defendant was driving in a close[d] construction zone, thereby leaving said highway's right-of-way, and Gavin Donohue was not a passenger in the vehicle operated by the defendant.”
At the beginning of trial, Seeler filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on the ground that the statute is unconstitutionally vague as to whether “leaving a highway's right-of-way” is an element of the offense. The motion was overruled. At the close of the state's evidence, Seeler filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, or to enter judgment of acquittal, arguing that no evidence was produced that he ever left the “right-of-way.” The state requested leave to file an information in lieu of indictment to clarify that Seeler was being charged with leaving the open part of the highway, which the court granted. The next day, the information was filed that substituted “defendant was driving in a construction zone and drove into a lane closed to traffic” for the indictment's language of “defendant was driving in a close
The jury found Seeler guilty of first-degree involuntary manslaughter and, in accordance with the jury's recommendation the trial court sentenced him to seven years in prison. Seeler appeals.
Seeler was charged with involuntary manslaughter pursuant to section 565.024, which provides:
1. A person commits the crime of involuntary manslaughter in the first degree if he or she:
(1) Recklessly causes the death of another person; or
(2) While in an intoxicated condition operates a motor vehicle in this state and, when so operating, acts with criminal negligence to cause the death of any person; or
(3) While in an intoxicated condition operates a motor vehicle in this state, and, when so operating, acts with criminal negligence to:
(a) Cause the death of any person not a passenger in the vehicle operated by the defendant, including the death of an individual that results from the defendant's vehicle leaving a highway, as defined by section 301.010, RSMo, or the highway's right-of-way; or
(b) Cause the death of two or more persons; or
(c) Cause the death of any person while he or she has a blood alcohol content of at least eighteen-hundredths of one percent by weight of alcohol in such person's blood;....
(Emphasis added).
Seeler was convicted under section 565.024.1(3)(a). A conviction under section 565.024.1(1) or (2) results in a class C felony, while a conviction under section 565.024.1(3)(a), (b) or (c) results in a class B felony. 5 Subdivisions (2) and (3)-quoted above-contain similar language that criminalizes causing the death of another person while intoxicated and acting with criminal negligence. In addition, subdivision (3) paragraphs (a), (b) and...
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