Valentine v. State

• Decision Date: 10 June 2021
• Docket Number: NO. 2019-KA-01663-SCT,2019-KA-01663-SCT
• Citation: 322 So.3d 417
• Parties: Curtis VALENTINE a/k/a Curtis Lee Valentine v. STATE of Mississippi
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

322 So.3d 417

Curtis VALENTINE a/k/a Curtis Lee Valentine

v.STATE of Mississippi

NO. 2019-KA-01663-SCT

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 10, 2021

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: KEVIN DALE CAMP, Jackson

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: META S. COPELAND, Jackson

BEFORE RANDOLPH, C.J., MAXWELL AND BEAM, JJ.

BEAM, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:

¶1. Curtis Valentine appeals his conviction of aggravated driving under the influence (DUI), claiming the Warren County Circuit Court erred by denying his motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) and by denying his proposed jury instruction defining "under the influence."

FACTS

¶2. At approximately 11 a.m. on November 22, 2016, Katherine "Katie" Nicole Martin was killed while riding as a passenger in a vehicle operated by Valentine after the vehicle failed to negotiate a sharp curve at the end of Mosley Gap Road in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The vehicle left the roadway at a high rate of speed, slammed into a tree, and skidded approximately sixty feet before coming to rest on its passenger side.

¶3. Khalil Brown, who was riding in the back seat at the time, estimated the that vehicle's speed before approaching the curve was between seventy and ninety miles per hour. He said Katie was telling Valentine to stop before the crash. A twenty-mile-per-hour speed-limit sign was posted at the site of the crash, which the vehicle hit during the crash.

¶4. Katie died at impact from severe head trauma and internal injuries. Valentine and Brown survived the crash with minor injuries, and both were able to remove themselves from the vehicle. When authorities arrived on the scene, Valentine was described as "acting crazy," "irate, walking around," and "constantly yelling."

¶5. Accident reconstructionist Connie Dolan with the Warren County Sheriff's Department was called to the scene. She smelled the odor of marijuana from inside the vehicle. Her investigation confirmed that Valentine had driven the vehicle down Mosley Gap Road at a high rate of speed and had continued straight when the road curved left. Officer Dolan found no signs of braking before the car hit the tree, and she saw no reason that anyone would not see the approaching curve. Based on the circumstances surrounding the wreck, the smell of marijuana in the car, and the fatality, Officer Dolan requested a search warrant to obtain a blood sample from Valentine.

¶6. Valentine was transported by ambulance to a local hospital, where his blood was drawn. When Valentine was informed at the hospital that Katie had died, he "went ballistic." He pushed Officer Dolan against a metal cart hard enough that she cut her arm. Hospital personnel were forced to restrain him.

¶7. Days later, Officer Dolan interviewed Valentine at his home. She learned that Valentine and Katie had spent the night together at the Battleground Campground the night before the wreck after Valentine's mother had thrown him out of her house after an argument over Valentine's drug use.

¶8. On the morning of the wreck, Valentine was several hours late for work. He was taking Katie home when the wrecked occurred. Valentine admitted taking his eyes off the road moments before the crash. Valentine also told Officer Dolan that he had been taking his mother's prescribed Xanax, and he admitted smoking marijuana the night before and the morning of the wreck.

¶9. Valentine's blood was tested by the Mississippi Crime Lab. Toxicologist Alyssa Bailey testified at trial that Valentine's blood had tested positive for Delta-9-THC (the active ingredient in marijuana), Topiramate (Topamax, an anti-seizure medication), and Alprazolam (Xanax ). Bailey said Valentine was under the influence of all three drugs when his blood was drawn at the hospital after the wreck.

¶10. According to Bailey, both Xanax and Topamax are central-nervous-system depressants that can affect judgment, motor function, and coordination. They can "also increase someone's reaction time, meaning it takes longer for somebody to react to stimuli that presents itself." She said that a combination of these drugs would have a compounding effect on the central nervous system.

¶11. Bailey said the presence of Delta-9-THC indicates that someone has used marijuana fairly recently. Delta-9-THC also has psychoactive effects that can impair motor function or coordination, cause difficulty concentrating, and increase one's reaction time, which Bailey said means that it takes longer to react to a stimulus.

¶12. Dr. James O'Donnell, an expert in pharmacology, testified on Valentine's behalf. He stated that there was no appearance of Valentine's being intoxicated based on the reports and body-camera footage of Deputy Ricketts from the hospital that Dr. O'Donnell had reviewed. Dr. O'Donnell opined that the lab report showed 1.2 ng/ml of marijuana in Valentine's system, which is considered to be a very low trace-amount number, not enough to have a clinical effect on Valentine. Additionally, according to Dr. O'Donnell, there was no measurement of the other drugs found in Valentine's system according to the lab report he had reviewed. Dr. O'Donnell testified that based on the drug levels and all the materials he reviewed, Valentine was not under the influence at the time of the crash.

DISCUSSION

I. Whether the trial court erred by denying a JNOV.

¶13. Valentine claims the trial court erred by denying his posttrial motion for a JNOV because the State's evidence failed to prove that Valentine was under the influence at the time of the accident. Valentine contends that all of the law-enforcement officers who observed him at the scene of the accident and testified at trial "were unable to testify to any observed indicators that would show that any drugs [had] impact[ed] or lessen[ed] Valentine's ability or control of the motor vehicle." Valentine relies on Leuer v. City of Flowood , in which this Court said that "courts have recognized for over half a century that driving ‘under the influence’ is commonly understood to mean driving in a state of intoxication that lessens a person's normal ability for clarity and control." Leuer v. City of Flowood , 744 So. 2d 266, 269 (Miss. 1999) (quoting Gov't of Virgin Islands v. Steven , 134 F.3d 526, 528 (3rd Cir. 1998) ).

¶14. Valentine argues that the act of speeding, alone, is not an indicator of being under the influence of anything. Valentine contends that out of the twenty-four "DWI" detection cues issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), speeding is not one of them. And he contends that the Court of Appeals so held in Thomas v. Mississippi Department of Public Safety , 882 So. 2d 789 (Miss. Ct. App. 2004).

¶15. A JNOV motion challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence. Knight v. State , 72 So. 3d 1056, 1063 (Miss. 2011). In reviewing the trial court's denial of the motion, we view all evidence, including all reasonable inferences, in the light most favorable to the State. Thomas v. State , 277 So. 3d 532, 535 (Miss. 2019). We will affirm the conviction if "any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." Id. (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Cotton v. State , 144 So. 3d 137, 142 (Miss. 2014) ).

¶16. To prove Valentine guilty of aggravated DUI causing death, the State was required to show that Valentine caused Katie's death by unlawfully operating a motor vehicle in a negligent manner under Mississippi Code Section 63-11-30(1), (5) (Supp. 2020). Section 63-11-30(1) states in relevant part:

(1) It is unlawful for a person to drive or otherwise operate a vehicle within this state if the person:

....

(b) Is under the influence of any ... substance [other than intoxicating liquor] that has impaired the person's ability to operate a motor vehicle; [or]

(c) Is under the influence of any drug or controlled substance, the possession of which is unlawful under the Mississippi Controlled Substances Law ....

¶17. The jury was instructed that in order to find Valentine guilty of aggravated DUI, it must "find beyond a reasonable doubt from the evidence" that when Valentine drove the vehicle in question, he "was under the influence of a drug or controlled substance, the possession of which is unlawful under the Mississippi Controlled Substance Law" and that "Valentine was negligent in his operation of said vehicle ...." The jury was further instructed that "under the influence" means "driving in a state of intoxication that lessens a person's normal ability for clarity and control."

¶18. We find that the State presented sufficient evidence to support Valentine's conviction. At the outset, Valentine's reliance on Thomas is misplaced. In that case, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety and one of its highway-patrol officers were sued for not performing a DUI test on a driver who was ticketed for going ninety-two miles per hour in a fifty-five-mile-per-hour zone. Thomas , 882 So. 2d at 791. Minutes after the driver was ticketed and released, the driver wrecked his vehicle, killing his fifteen-year-old son who was riding as a passenger in the vehicle. Id. It was determined that the driver's blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) at the time of the accident was greater than .1825. Id. at 790.

¶19. The trial court granted judgment in favor of the defendants. Id. The Court of Appeals affirmed, agreeing with the trial court that the officer's failure to check the driver's sobriety at the time he issued the driver a speeding ticket did not rise to the level of reckless disregard required for the plaintiff to recover against the State. Id. In so holding, the Court of Appeals noted, inter alia , the "DWI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Tests , which Mississippi highway officers must learn as part of their training." Id. at 794. According to the Court of Appeals, the "DWI manual lists twenty characteristics of drivers under the influence; excessive speed is not one of those characteristics." Id. at 795.

¶20....