The second-highest leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook, will be charged with several crimes including vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving after a hit-and-run that killed a bicyclist on December 27th.
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In California, driving under the influence is a crime. Using a handheld cell phone, or texting while driving, on the other hand, is a mere traffic violation under Penal Code 23123, also known as California’s “distracted driving” law. But there is little difference between a DUI and distracted driving if you injure someone as a result. And if you kill someone while using a handheld phone, you could face charges under Penal Code 192(c) PC Vehicular Manslaughter, which makes it a crime for a driver to kill another person by driving in an unlawful way, or in a lawful way that is, nevertheless, dangerous.
District attorneys in California have the discretion to prosecute vehicular manslaughter as either a misdemeanor or a felony. If convicted of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, you may face up to one year in a county jail. If convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter, you may face two to ten years in state prison.
It happened to a Costa Mesa man in 2008, when a jury found him guilty of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence after he killed a pedestrian while sending a text message as he was driving. And last month, a Bakersfield woman was arrested and charged with felony vehicular manslaughter for killing three people after she first ran a stop sign, and then a red light, while talking on her cell phone.
According to the California Office of Traffic Safety, texting while driving can delay a driver’s reactions as much as driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08, the current legal limit. The OTS and the California Highway Patrol report that more than 57,000 California drivers were ticketed for handheld cell phone talking or texting during April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
A recent case suggests that courts are getting tougher on people who use handheld wireless devices while they drive, even if it’s just to look at a map of where they’re going. In December, a California appellate court ruled that holding a phone to check a GPS or other mapping application constitutes a violation of California Vehicle Code section 23123(a), which prohibits driving a motor vehicle while using a wireless telephone. The court said that the distraction a driver faces when using his or her hands to operate a phone is present whether it is being used as a telephone, a GPS navigator, a clock or a device for sending and receiving text messages and emails.
The message that courts and prosecutors are sending is clear: if you look at your handheld phone while you drive, you might find yourself in need of a good lawyer.
DUI can be enhanced in several ways, according to Fort Lauderdale DUI attorney William Moore. If the defendant’s blood alcohol content is measured over 0.15, the state can pursue enhancement. If convicted, the defendant will pay higher fines, be required to install an ignition interlock, and face tougher penalties that he would otherwise, including more time in jail. Where a minor is in the car, the penalties are also enhanced in the same way. Involvement in an accident, even if there were no other vehicles involved, also leads to enhancing factors. Leaving the scene after a DUI accident will usually be charged as a separate offense.
DUI causing serious bodily injury and DUI manslaughter are separate from regular DUI and are more serious. Nonetheless, a jury still has the option of convicting a person tried for DUI manslaughter or DUI causing serious bodily injury of simple DUI only, depending on the facts and particular circumstances surrounding the case before them.
What, then, constitutes DUI manslaughter? The driver must first be committing a DUI: driving while his normal faculties are too impaired to do so. This can be demonstrated through a breath or blood alcohol test at or above a 0.08. The state can also, or alternatively, use other evidence such as performance on roadside field sobriety tests, slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, damaging statements, or the driver’s demeanor or state of mind.
In addition to simple DUI, however, a conviction for DUI manslaughter also requires the driver to cause or contribute to the death of another person. Usually, this occurs during a traffic accident. However, some prosecutors have been interpreting it more broadly. A Tampa man, for instance, was recently tried for DUI manslaughter after he caused an accident. His BAC was over the legal limit. A good Samaritan stopped to render aid following the accident, but was struck and killed by a third party -- who was also intoxicated. The first driver, who apparently caused the accident, was charged with DUI manslaughter on the theory that he had caused or contributed to the conditions resulting in the good Samaritan’s death. The connection is fairly tenuous and the man was not convicted of DUI manslaughter after trial. The other driver, who struck the good Samaritan, took a plea agreement.
Jim Leyritz, the former professional baseball player, has been awaiting trial on a DUI manslaughter charge for several years. He was involved in a car wreck in the early morning hours of December 28, 2007, that left a woman in another vehicle dead. The trial was completed yesterday, says Broward DUI lawyer Moore, who has followed the case in the news. The Leyritz case was complicated: the toxicology tests performed on the driver of the other vehicle demonstrated that her blood alcohol content was well over the legal limit at which intoxication is presumed, 0.08 percent. Likewise, a blood test taken several hours after the accident showed Leyritz’s BAC over the limit as well. This has resulted in public controversy as Leyritz has maintained his innocence. According to media reports, the prosecution never offered any sort of plea deal.
Leyritz was charged with DUI manslaughter. The jury found him guilty of simple DUI, determining that he was in fact driving under the influence of alcohol but there was insufficient evidence to find that he had actually caused or contributed to the car accident. On the contrary, there was evidence presented by an expert witness showing that due to the timing of Leyritz’s consumption of the alcohol -- some of it shortly prior to getting in his car to leave his birthday celebration -- rendered his BAC higher hours later than it was when he was driving. Nonetheless, because the jury convicted Leyritz of driving under the influence, the jurors were apparently not persuaded by this argument, notes Fort Lauderdale DUI attorney Moore.
The passenger in Leyritz’s car testified that Leyritz had driven through the intersection where the accident occurred as the light changed from yellow to red. Based on that timing, the other vehicle would have likely had a completely red light, rather than a green light. In the absence of hard evidence showing otherwise, the jury apparently accepted this explanation, concluding that they could not find beyond a reasonable doubt that Leyritz had caused the unfortunate accident.
This matter has received widespread media attention due to both Leyritz’s fame and the unusual facts of the case. It is uncommon for a DUI-related accident to involve two drivers whose blood tested over the legal limit. The criminal standard “beyond a reasonable doubt” does not mean beyond all possible doubt, or beyond the shadow of any doubt, but simply beyond any doubts which would be plausible or realistic. In this case, the jurors returned for a rare Saturday session to finish up the case.
Jim Leyritz once played in the most famous ballparks alongside baseball stars like Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens, but now he is on trial for DUI manslaughter after a tragic night left a mother dead.
The Florida DUI trial has most recently featured the testimony of a witness who testified that Leyritz ran his Ford Expedition through a red light and hit the SUV driven by Fredia Ann Veitch, killing her.
The witness, a bouncer at a bar in Ft. Lauderdale, claimed that Leyritz appeared to be trying to make it through the intersection before a yellow light turned red. He didn’t make it, said the accident witness, as reported by the New York Daily News.
The accident took place in December of 2007, at just after 3 in the morning. Henry also said that Veitch had the green light as she entered the intersection. “She didn’t have to stop because it was green,” he testified.
Henry was cross-examined regarding the timing of his witnessing of the accident, and he did offer that he looked up to see the incident only after he heard brakes screeching nearby.
Some evidence in the case, namely that there were no skid marks before the intersection, could shed some doubt on the timing claimed by Henry. There were screech marks on the road after the traffic lights, which may suggest that Henry did not see what the state of the traffic lights was at the time that he started viewing the incident.
According to the prosecution, Jim Leyritz had been out on the town, taking shots of vodka and tequila to celebrate his birthday when he took the wheel. His blood alcohol content was measured at .14 percent, which is almost double the legal BAC limit of .08.
Leyritz has pleaded not guilty to the DUI charge and to vehicular homicide. If he is convicted of the crime, he could face 15 years in prison.
In addition to Henry’s testimony, the prosecution has said that another witness, a passenger in Leyritz’s vehicle, would also testify that Leyritz ran the red light.
Other evidence in the trial includes testimony from witnesses who say that Leyritz did not appear intoxicated following the accident. One of those witnesses is a police detective.
Prosecutors will counter those accounts by asking jurors to look at police video of Leyritz’s field sobriety test.
“What you will see is a man who is being given instructions and can’t follow those instructions, even though he is not falling-down drunk,” prosecutor Stefanie Newman told the jury.
Leyritz had previously settled a civil suit with the family of the victim, though he did not admit any liability.