State v. Knoefler
| Decision Date | 01 April 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 14837,14837 |
| Citation | 563 P.2d 175 |
| Parties | STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Leslie G. KNOEFLER, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | Utah Supreme Court |
James L. Shumate, Cedar City, for defendant and appellant.
Vernon B. Romney, Atty. Gen., Earl F. Dorius, Asst. Atty. Gen., Salt Lake City, David L. Mower, Garfield County Atty., Panguitch, for plaintiff and respondent.
Defendant appeals from a conviction of driving under the influence of intoxicants and inflicting bodily injury on another in violation of Utah Code, Ann., Sec. 41--6--44(b) and (d), (1953). The facts reveal that defendant and two other individuals, Stevens and Lund, were injured when an automobile in which they were riding overturned near Circleville, Utah, at approximately 6:15 a.m. on January 28, 1976. The defendant and Lund escaped with minor bruises and abrasions while Stevens was seriously injured. The transcript disclosed that there existed 'an abundance of beer' in the vicinity of the wreckage. Both defendant and Lund were staggering, slurring their speech, and both smelled of alcohol. Witnesses to the accident, also detected the odor of alcohol on Stevens' breach, although the serious nature of his injuries made it impossible for him to move. While at the scene of the accident, defendant admitted to an investigating police officer that he had been the driver of the automobile at the time of the accident. He was then placed under arrest and taken to Circleville where a breathalyzer test was administered, the results of which indicated his blood alcohol content to be .21 percent by weight. The defendant contends that the State at the trial below failed to establish the corpus delicti (i.e., that a crime had been committed) independently of his admission that he was the driver of the automobile, and he therefore seeks reversal of his conviction.
An admission or a confession, without some independent corroborative evidence of the corpus delicti, cannot alone support a guilty verdict. 1 To sustain a conviction, the requirement of independent proof of the corpus delicti requires only that the State present evidence that the injury specified in the crime occurred, and that such injury was caused by someone's criminal conduct. 2 An admission or confession is admissible to connect an accused with the crime committed; but the connection of the accused with the crime need not be proven to establish the corpus delicti. 3
The State produced evidence of the corpus delicti--that the crime of driving under the influence of intoxicants and inflicting bodily injury on another had occurred--independent of the defendant's admission of having driven the automobile at the time of the accident. The evidence clearly disclosed that all three occupants of the automobile were injured, one of them quite seriously. Injuries resulting from an automobile accident are those contemplated by the crime herein involved. 4 All three...
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City of Easley v. Portman
...the State sufficiently prove that someone drove the automobile. State v. Stimmel, 800 S.W.2d 156 (Mo.Ct.App.1990); see State v. Knoefler, 563 P.2d 175, 176 (Utah 1977) (DUI case wherein the court noted "the connection of the accused with the crime need not be proven to establish the corpus ......
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...(test to determine whether alleged prosecutorial misconduct arises to reversible error).155 734 P.2d at 920.156 Id.157 State v. Knoefler, 563 P.2d 175, 176 (Utah 1977).158 State v. Kimbel, 620 P.2d 515, 517 (Utah 1980); Knoefler, 563 P.2d at 176.159 State v. Rebeterano, 681 P.2d 1265, 1267 ......
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...or admission, that "the injury specified ... occurred, and that such injury was caused by someone's criminal conduct." 8 State v. Knoefler, 563 P.2d 175, 176 (Utah 1977); see also State v. Calamity, 735 P.2d 39, 41 (Utah 1987); Johnson, 95 Utah at 580-81, 83 P.2d at 1014-15. Our past cases ......
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State v. Archuleta
...criminal activity. State v. Allen, 839 P.2d 291, 301 (Utah 1992); State v. Kimbel, 620 P.2d 515, 517 (Utah 1980); State v. Knoefler, 563 P.2d 175, 176 & n. 2 (Utah 1977).25 Hamilton, 827 P.2d at 239 (brackets in original) (citations omitted); accord Verde, 770 P.2d at 120.26 See supra note ......