State v. Campbell, 83-276
| Decision Date | 31 May 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-276,83-276 |
| Citation | 146 Vt. 25,497 A.2d 375 |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of Vermont v. Virginia CAMPBELL. |
William E. Kraham, Windham County Deputy State's Atty., Brattleboro, for plaintiff-appellee.
O'Connor & Morse, Brattleboro, for defendant-appellant.
Before ALLEN, C.J., and HILL, UNDERWOOD, PECK and GIBSON, JJ.
This is an appeal by defendant Virginia Campbell from a conviction, after a trial by court, of careless and negligent operation of a motor vehicle, 23 V.S.A. § 1091(a), and leaving the scene of an accident, 23 V.S.A. § 1128(a). Defendant claims the trial court erred (1) in admitting evidence concerning the identity of her vehicle, and (2) in denying her motion for acquittal on the grounds of insufficiency of the evidence. We affirm.
The trial court found the facts as follows. On November 23, 1982, defendant was driving her car on High Street in Brattleboro, in a busy, highly populated area of town. An orange and white striped barricade had been placed near the centerline of High Street, at its intersection with Forest Street, to guard an open manhole. A town water department truck was parked near the barricade with its four-way flashers and yellow strobe lights in full operation.
As defendant's car approached the manhole she swerved to the left in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid the barricade. The right front portion of her vehicle struck the barricade, a broken part of which struck and slightly injured a town employee who was working at the site. The defendant continued on without stopping, rendering aid or reporting the accident.
Three eyewitnesses to the accident: the injured worker, a co-worker, and a bystander, all testified at trial, without objection, that a fourth eyewitness named Ann Egbert (Egbert), who was unavailable to testify at trial, had taken the registration plate number of the accident vehicle and told them what it was. This information was subsequently furnished to the investigating police officer by one of the eyewitnesses other than Egbert; the officer testified to the same effect, also without objection, as to the source of his knowledge of the plate number. This information enabled the officer to run a check on the number and by so doing he identified the defendant as the owner of the accident vehicle.
Based on the above information the officer went to defendant's home where he observed a steel-blue or gray car with Vermont registration plates parked in a carport. His inspection of the vehicle disclosed a streak of orange paint, similar in color to that used on the barricade, on the right side of the front fender. Defendant's ownership of the car is not in dispute; however, although she admitted to the officer that she had been driving the car "within the last hour" and had seen the barricade, she denied hitting anything.
The State charged defendant with operating her motor vehicle in a careless and negligent manner, 23 V.S.A. § 1091(a), and leaving the scene of an accident, 23 V.S.A. § 1128(a). After presentation of evidence by the prosecution, defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal claiming there was insufficient evidence to show that the defendant was operating the car involved in the accident. The court denied defendant's motion and convicted her on both counts.
Defendant's first claim of error relates to the testimony of the out-of-court statements allegedly made by Egbert relating to the registration plate number of the accident vehicle. She argues that these statements were inadmissible hearsay evidence, V.R.E. 802, and that their admission constituted reversible error.
We noted above that defendant made no objection in the trial court to the testimony challenged here on appeal for the first time. Under such circumstances, reversal is required only if "we find that plain error occurred in the [trial] court's failure to exclude [the testimony] sua sponte." State v. DeJoinville, 145 Vt. 603, ---, 496 A.2d 173, 175 (1985); V.R.Cr.P. 52(b). We will find plain error only in those rare and extraordinary cases where the error is both obvious and strikes at the very heart of the defendant's constitutional rights or results in a miscarriage of justice if we do not recognize it. DeJoinville, supra. In the instant case, even if the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Ayers
...v. Hoadley, 147 Vt. 49, 53, 512 A.2d 879, 881 (1986); State v. Ramsay, 146 Vt. 70, 75, 499 A.2d 15, 18 (1985); State v. Campbell, 146 Vt. 25, 27, 497 A.2d 375, 377 (1985). In challenges to the prosecutor's closing argument, we have found reversible error absent an objection only if the argu......
-
State v. Recor
...555 F.2d 605, 610 (7th Cir.1977)). Without an objection, defendant has failed to preserve this issue for appeal. State v. Campbell, 146 Vt. 25, 27, 497 A.2d 375, 377 (1985). Under such circumstances, we are bound to reverse only if " 'we find that plain error occurred in the [trial] court's......
-
State v. Simmons
...heart of the defendant's constitutional rights or results in a miscarriage of justice if we do not recognize it.” State v. Campbell, 146 Vt. 25, 27, 497 A.2d 375, 377 (1985). There was no such obvious and fundamental error here. ¶ 13. As conceded by defendant, federal courts consistently re......
-
State v. Spooner
...heart of the defendant's constitutional rights or results in a miscarriage of justice if we do not recognize it." State v. Campbell, 146 Vt. 25, 27, 497 A.2d 375, 377 (1985). ¶ 23. We have previously held that a trial court does not commit plain error by admitting, upon the parties' stipula......