State v. Aims

• Decision Date: 20 June 1958
• Docket Number: No. 8584,8584
• Citation: 326 P.2d 998,80 Idaho 146
• Parties: The STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Bernard H. AIMS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 998

326 P.2d 998

80 Idaho 146

The STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Bernard H. AIMS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 8584.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

June 20, 1958.

Harry Povey, E. L. Rayborn, Kramer & Walker, Twin Falls, for appellant.

Graydon W. Smith, Atty. Gen., Wm. B. Taylor, Asst. Atty. Gen., James M. Cunningham, Pros. Atty., Twin Falls, for respondent.

PORTER, Justice.

An information was filed against appellant in the District Court of Twin Falls County charging him with the crime of negligent homicide arising out of an automobile accident. Upon the trial of the cause no witnesses were called in defense. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and a judgment of conviction was entered. Appellant moved for a new trial which motion was by the court denied. Appellant has appealed from the judgment of conviction and from the order overruling the motion for new trial.

On the evening of April 5, 1957, appellant, with one Beulah Buckley as his guest, went by automobile from Twin Falls to a gambling resort located in Nevada on Highway 93 about 22 miles south of Rogerson, Idaho, and just across the border between the states of Idaho and Nevada. Appellant and guest spent most of the night at such resort and started back to Twin Falls early in the morning of April 6.

Somewhere between five o'clock and five-thirty o'clock a. m. on the morning of April 6, the witnesses Reuben Stohler and his wife were proceeding north on Highway 93 at a point about 13 miles south of Rogerson. It was still dark. The weather was cold and windy and the road was icy and slippery. There was some snow on the ground. Mr. Stohler and wife noticed the lights of an automobile overtaking them from the south. Mr. Stohler caught a glimpse in his rearvision mirror of the approaching automobile going into the east borrow pit. He stopped his car and backed up four or five hundred feet to where the other car was standing in the borrow pit. Appellant and his companion were in such car. Mr. Stohler inquired if anyone were hurt and appellant replied in the negative. Mr. Stohler assisted appellant in getting the car out of the borrow pit. Appellant drove his car north for a short distance then turned around and drove south toward Nevada.

About six o'clock a. m. on the morning of April 6, Dr. L. E. Messman and his sons, Lynn Messman and Lonn Messman, were traveling north on Highway 93 at a point about one and one-half miles south of where the accident occurred. They observed a wrecked car headed south, parked on the west side of the highway. They stopped their car and Lonn Messman and Lynn Messman went to investigate the parked car. In it they found appellant and his companion. They called their father, Dr. L. E. Messman, who made an examination of appellant's companion, Beulah Buckley, and found her to be dead, estimating that she had been dead between thirty minutes and one hour, and that the cause of death was a broken neck. The Messmans laid the deceased woman down in the seat of the car, covered her up and took appellant to the Magic Valley Memorial Hospital in Twin Falls. Later the body of Beulah buckley and the damaged automobile were removed by the authorities.

The statute under which appellant was prosecuted is Section 49-1101, I.C., and reads in part as follows:

'Negligent homicide.--(a) When the death of any person ensues within one year as a proximate result of injury received by the driving of any vehicle in reckless disregard of the safety of others, the person so operating such vehicle shall be guilty of negligent homicide.'

The information in this case charges that appellant while operating an automobile 'did wilfully and unlawfully drive, manage and operate said motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor and at such an excessive rate of speed and in a reckless disregard of the safety of others so as to endanger persons and property.'

Appellant does not challenge the form or sufficiency of the information but makes the contention that the state failed to prove the allegations contained in the information; and for that reason the trial court erred in refusing to grant a new trial.

Appellant first contends that the evidence was insufficient to show that at the time of the accident appellant was operating his automobile while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The evidence shows that appellant had some drinks at the resort in Nevada. Appellant asked the witness Stohler not to report the accident as he, appellant, had taken a few drinks. When the witness, Lynn Messman, inquired of appellant at the parked automobile as to whether his companion was hurt, appellant replied that she was ok, she was just drunk like he was. Both the witness, Lynn Messman and the witness, Lonn Messman testified that they smelled liquor on the breath of appellant and as to appellant's abnormal condition. Dr. L. E. Messman, after testifying as to appellant's symptoms, testified that appellant was drunk. At the Magic Valley Memorial Hospital appellant told Idaho State Patrolman, Howard Carr, that he, appellant, had taken some drinks and was drunk. The evidence is sufficient to sustain a finding by the jury that appellant was driving his automobile at the time of the accident while under the influence of intoxicating liquor.

Appellant next contends that the evidence is insufficient to sustain a finding that he was driving his automobile at an excessive rate of speed. The evidence shows there were skid marks on the shoulder of the road for 24 feet and that appellant's automobile then went into the borrow pit, hit a boulder, turned completely over and landed on its wheels at a point 147 feet from where it entered the borrow pit. The car was badly damaged and much of the glass, including the windshield, broken out. Taking into consideration the time of night of the accident, the icy and slippery roads, the weather conditions and the distance traveled by the car after it went into the borrow pit, the evidence is sufficient to sustain a finding by the jury that appellant was driving at an excessive rate of speed under the circumstances.

In determining whether appellant drove his automobile in reckless disregard of the safety of others, the jury was entitled to consider all the facts and circumstances surrounding the accident. These facts and circumstances are such that they will sustain findings by the jury that appellant was guilty of more than mere ordinary negligence, and that his actions were within the definition of 'reckless disregard' as we have defined that term. State v. Davidson, 78 Idaho 553, 309 P.2d 211; State v. Gummerson, 79 Idaho 30, 310 P.2d 362.

Appellant's additional assignments of error are to the effect that the court erred in failing to grant the motion for a new trial on the ground of alleged inflammatory and prejudicial remarks of the Prosecuting Attorney. The remarks of the Prosecuting Attorney were not made a part of the record. Appellant attempted to get them before the court by stating the substance of said alleged inflammatory and prejudicial remarks in an affidavit signed by three attorneys for appellant. We have heretofore held that alleged inflammatory and prejudicial remarks by the prosecuting attorney will not be considered on appeal unless such argument is made a part of the record; and that a record silent as to the remarks cannot be corrected by affidavit on a motion for new trial containing the substance of such remarks. Hayward v. Yost, 72 Idaho 415, 242 P.2d 971; 32 A.L.R.2d 1064; State v. Johnson, 77 Idaho 1, 287 P.2d 425, 51 A.L.R.2d 1386.

The admission of evidence of intoxication and of excessive speed is not assigned as error. However, since the admission of such evidence has been urged by the dissenting Justice as ground for reversal, we deem it necessary to respond thereto.

Driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor and driving at excessive speed are each criminal offenses. However, in a case such as this, they are components and elements of the offense of negligent homicide. They are, in a sense, the manner and means of the commission of the offense charged. The reckless disregard of the safety of others, as here charged, arises out of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor and at excessive speed. Evidence of those acts is admissible to prove the charge. State v. Brown, 36 Idaho 272, 211 P. 60; State v. Alvord, 46 Idaho 765, 271 P. 322; State v. Farnsworth, 51 Idaho 768, 10 P.2d 295; State v. Salhus, 68 Idaho 75, 189 P.2d 372; State v. Ayres, 70 Idaho 18, 211 P.2d 142; State v. Scott, 72 Idaho 202, 239 P.2d 258.

The offenses of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, and at an excessive speed, are also inseparable offenses so linked to the offense charged in time and circumstance that one cannot be shown without proving the others. State v. Driskill, 26 Idaho 738, 145 P. 1095; State v. Alvord, 46 Idaho 765, 271 P. 322; State v. Arnold, 52 Idaho 349, 15 P.2d 396; State v. Parris, 55 Idaho 506, 44 P.2d 1118.

By his reply brief, appellant for the first time raises the question of the constitutionality of the negligent homicide statute. Since the filing of the original briefs this court has decided the case of State v. Pigge, Idaho, 322 P.2d 703, wherein we held that the negligent driving statute was unconstitutional and void as indefinite and uncertain. Appellant takes the position that the negligent driving statute and the negligent homicide statute are parallel and subject to the same criticism. In this he is in error. The negligent driving statute contained no definite and certain description of what acts would constitute negligent driving. The negligent homicide statute definitely makes it a crime for the operator of an automobile to injure and cause the death of another by driving an automobile in reckless disregard of the safety of others. The criterion set out by the negligent homicide statute is whether the...