State v. Lucore

• Decision Date: 25 January 2023
• Docket Number: 21-1803
• Parties: STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. STEPHEN DELOI LUCORE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Iowa

STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. STEPHEN DELOI LUCORE, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 21-1803

Court of Appeals of Iowa

January 25, 2023

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Jason D Besler, Judge.

Stephen LuCore appeals various criminal convictions and sentences following a bench trial.

Martha J. Lucey, State Appellate Defender, and Melinda J. Nye Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Kyle Hanson, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Considered by Greer, P.J., Badding, J., and Mullins, S.J ^[*] MULLINS, Senior Judge.

Following a bench trial, Stephen LuCore was convicted of homicide by vehicle, serious injury by vehicle, second-degree murder willful injury causing serious injury, and three counts of willful injury causing bodily injury-all stemming from a motor vehicle collision precipitated by LuCore driving in the wrong direction on an interstate in an attempt at suicide. For purposes of sentencing, the district court stated it would merge two of the convictions with two others. Yet the court entered judgment and imposed sentence on all counts.

LuCore raises various arguments on appeal. First, as to his four willful injury convictions, LuCore argues the evidence was insufficient to establish he acted with the specific intent to cause serious injury to the passengers in the other vehicle. Second, for his murder conviction, he argues the evidence was insufficient to establish he acted with malice aforethought. Third, LuCore argues the verdicts are inconsistent because his convictions of homicide and serious injury by vehicle, which involve recklessness and unintentional harm, are incompatible with his convictions of willful injury and murder, which involve specific intent and malice aforethought. Fourth, LuCore argues the district court erred in failing to actually merge his convictions and sentences.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings

On June 16, 2019, a family was traveling through Iowa by motor vehicle, returning to Texas from a family reunion in Wisconsin. David was driving; his father, Robert, was in the front passenger seat; and David's two young children, D.S. and L.S., as well as his mother-in-law, Luz, were in the back seat. As the family was traveling in the dark on westbound Interstate 80 through Johnson County at roughly 9:30 p.m., "a black sedan car with the headlights off"-being driven by LuCore-approached, traveling eastbound in the westbound thoroughfare. Robert noticed it first and "shouted right away watch out." David swerved the vehicle to his left, and LuCore swerved to his right, resulting in a head-on collision between the vehicles at a combined speed of 151 miles per hour. The culminating wreckage was catastrophic. Several law enforcement officers testified they had never seen anything like it. The collision was so forceful that the black sedan's engine block left the vehicle and settled in the roadway. Before trial, the parties stipulated Robert died as a result of the injuries he sustained in the collision, Luz sustained serious injuries, and David and his two children sustained bodily injuries.

Trooper Matthew Schwenn is certified as a technical accident investigator, collision reconstructionist, and crash data retrieval technician. His investigation of the collision included collecting data from both of the vehicles involved. Information from the data recorder system of LuCore's vehicle showed that, five seconds prior to the collision, he was traveling at a rate of sixty-five miles per hour with an acceleration throttle of thirty percent. One-half of a second later, the throttle percentage increased to ninety-six percent, which means the accelerator was "nearly floored" or "floored." It stayed in that position up until the collision, and the vehicle's speed increased to eighty miles per hour, without the service brake ever being applied. The data from the vehicles is consistent with a conclusion that LuCore corrected his course of travel to ensure he collided with the family vehicle after David swerved to avoid contact.

The evidence is undisputed that LuCore drove against traffic in an attempted suicide. When Deputy Kyle Campbell of the Johnson County Sheriff's Office arrived on the scene, he observed LuCore "on the side of the road sobbing on the ground." Deputy Matthew Hendricks also observed LuCore crying. Deputy Hendricks questioned LuCore whether he was trying to kill himself because, in his experience with wrong-way drivers, two reasons "that jump to mind right away would be impairment or suicide attempt," and LuCore's "emotional state led [him] to believe that it was probably a suicide attempt." LuCore responded that he was trying to kill himself. During his ensuing interactions with LuCore, Deputy Jesse Lenz observed LuCore to be distraught, "very emotional," and crying intermittently.^[1] Trooper Adam Wiltfang of the Iowa State Patrol went to the hospital to speak with LuCore about an hour after the collision. Wiltfang described LuCore to be in a state of shock.

Dr. Luis Rosell, a psychologist, testified as an expert on behalf of the defense at trial. His evaluation of LuCore and the other evidence presented discloses the following. LuCore has a history of depression, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, and prior attempts at suicide. He began using methylone-"an empathogen and stimulant psychoactive drug"-some time ago. He maintained sobriety for a period of about five years but, in 2016, he relapsed and thereafter continued using similar substances through the time of the collision. LuCore's substance abuse resulted in his dismissal from his graduate studies, had negative effects on his personal relationships, and led to legal troubles. He was previously hospitalized several times due to his suicidal ideations and attempts at suicide. His attempts at suicide involved trying to jump off buildings and poison himself with carbon monoxide. He then "found a list of the most effective suicide modes. These included guns, jumping, hanging, and motor vehicle accidents." Based on his previous failures and his lack of access to a firearm, LuCore formulated a plan to die by motor vehicle collision. LuCore reported the following to Dr. Rosell:

I had the plan in my head I would be on top of an off-ramp and then see far enough to see two semis and then drive down the off-ramp towards them....

On the day of the crash, I decided I was going to kill myself. I went looking for the place on the off-ramp so I could go down towards the semis. I was trying to engineer a crash to kill myself. That night I waited until it was dark and went towards I-80 west and started driving. At this point, I had tried suicide a bunch of times, and I still did not know if it was going to work. I was not sure if I would actually do something that day.... I was driving and driving and had not made up my mind. I was west of 380 and was thinking what am I going to do.... Then I looked in my rearview mirror and there were two sets of headlights and then they disappeared behind the hill. At that moment, I thought I could just turn around and drive towards them. I slowed down and as I came to a stop, which was the decision moment and I have thought about this a lot over the past two years. I thought I could pull off and go home, or this is the chance to turn around and speed up to the semis. But I always had the hesitation and the last step off the ledge, and even when I lit the charcoal, I knew that I would jump up and stop. The last step always kept me from following through. That question posed itself in my mind. My answer was yes, and I did it. I spun the wheel around and hit the gas, and a few seconds later, the crash happened. I turned my lights off and had taken off my seat belt . . . first.... I remember veering into their direction to maintain the head on.... I call it the crash as it was not an accident. I feel terrible about it, I never intended for anyone to be hurt but me. I never considered anyone else involved. I know it is hard to believe that. The calculation ended when I thought I would be dead. I was not considering what would happen to others.... It did not happen the way I had planned it. My only intention was to kill myself and not anyone else. I agree that I acted recklessly and stupidly to obtain release from my problems. I should have known that I was putting others at risk. But that was not something I was thinking about. I was depressed, thoughtless, and did not consider the impact on others. I did not do this for the purpose of hurting anyone but myself. My intent was suicide by car.... I didn't treat the vehicles as if there were not any drivers. I knew there were people in the cars, when I was out on the road and was driving and had the idea already in my mind. I was just focused on my own anguish and pain and was trying to escape, and sadly did not think of others at the time.

For his assessment, Dr. Rosell reached the following overall conclusion:

Mr. LuCore understands how it appears he must have known his plan would have possibly killed someone, and therefore it was based on malicious thought. Although he admits his conduct was wrongful and unlawful, he denies the crash was not grounded in hatred or evil. Mr. LuCore was focused on his dependency and depression. He was searching for a way to end the pain he was experiencing. In every facet of his life, there was despair; relationships, occupation, school, housing, finances, and through this, his addiction remained. His ability to problem-solve effectively and consider aspects and consequences of every situation clearly was severely compromised. His depression and chronic substance use affected his mental status and failure to consider his actions' overall

...