State v. Jacobsmeier
| Decision Date | 10 December 1940 |
| Docket Number | 45261. |
| Citation | 294 N.W. 920,229 Iowa 878 |
| Parties | STATE v. JACOBSMEIER. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from District Court, Lee County; James S. Burrows, Judge.
Defendant was charged with reckless driving. Upon trial to the court he was convicted and has appealed. Opinion states the facts.
Reversed.
Herminghausen & Herminghausen, of Fort Madison, for appellant.
John M. Rankin, Atty. Gen., R. N. Johnson, Jr., Co. Atty., of Fort Madison, and Jens Grothe, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Upon trial to the court J. C. Jacobsmeier was convicted of the crime of reckless driving. He appeals. The alleged offense occurred during the night of March 18, 1939. Appellant was driving his automobile along a paved highway, about 18 feet wide, and was ascending a hill outside the city limits of Fort Madison. While rounding a right curve or turn the car struck and injured Robert Miller, who, with his uncle, Arthur Miller, was walking along the pavement in the same direction the car was traveling. The only damage to the car was a dent in the left front fender.
Because of the turn the headlights did not shine upon these pedestrians for any appreciable time immediately before Robert was struck, although the lights had shone upon them previously as the car rounded a left curve near the foot of the hill. Robert and Arthur testified they were walking abreast near the left edge of the pavement; that, as the car approached, Robert walked a step or two directly behind Arthur; that Arthur said, " Maybe that is somebody we know and we will get a ride" ; and that an instant thereafter Robert was struck. Robert was thrown forward and lay at the edge of the pavement about 10 feet in front of Arthur, who was not touched by the car or by Robert's body. Arthur estimated the speed of the car, as it passed him, at 60 miles per hour.
Three men passengers were riding in appellant's car. None of them saw Robert at or just prior to the time he was struck. They testified appellant was attending to his driving and that the car was, at the time, traveling 35 or 40 miles per hour on the right side of the pavement. One passenger testified that 15 seconds previously he had noticed the two men walking along the center of the pavement some distance ahead of the car as the headlights temporarily shone on them. He also testified, " I was so sure that the car would not strike them going 35 to 40 miles an hour, and it was so casual that I turned back to talk to the other boys."
Appellant testified,
Robert was taken to a hospital in appellant's car after which appellant went to the police station and made a report of the accident.
Section 5022.04, Code of 1939, under which appellant was charged provides,
We have not heretofore had occasion to consider this statute but have frequently passed upon the question of the criminal liability of one who causes the death of another while operating a motor vehicle in such a manner as to show wanton and reckless disregard and indifference for the safety of others, or in the language used in one case, " in wilful or wanton disregard of the safety of others."
The most recent of these cases is State v. Graff, Iowa, 290 N.W. 97, 104, which marshals and reviews the earlier authorities. Therein the court approves and follows a former holding that the definition of recklessness used in civil cases under the " guest" statute is not applicable in such criminal cases. It seems to us that the reckless driving statute fixes the same basis of criminal liability as...
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