Campbell v. State

858 So. 2d 177, 2003 Miss. App. LEXIS 1000, 2003 WL 22434609
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedOctober 28, 2003
DocketNo. 2002-KA-00626-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 858 So. 2d 177 (Campbell v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Campbell v. State, 858 So. 2d 177, 2003 Miss. App. LEXIS 1000, 2003 WL 22434609 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

IRVING, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Jimmy E. Campbell was convicted in the Circuit Court of Jones County by a jury for causing the death of another while driving negligently and while intoxicated. The trial judge sentenced Campbell to twenty-five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections with five years suspended and denied Campbell’s post-trial motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or in the alternative for a new trial. Feeling aggrieved, Campbell appeals and argues that the State failed to prove venue and that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to establish the crime for which he was convicted.

¶ 2. Detecting no reversible error, this Court affirms the trial court’s judgment.

FACTS

¶ 3. Three youths were traveling along First Avenue in Laurel, Mississippi, around 10 p.m. Two of the youths, Laconia Evans and her nephew, Jeremy Bonner, walked while Matthew Taylor, also Evans’s nephew, rode a bicycle behind them. While traversing a hill with their backs to oncoming traffic, the youths were hit from behind by a vehicle. After the car passed, Taylor blacked out. When he awakened, he saw Evans lying in the middle of the road and Bonner lying on the side of the road. Bonner died from the impact. Taylor also saw the person who was driving the vehicle that had hit them, for the driver stopped and exited the vehicle. However, Taylor was unable to identify the person.

¶ 4. Eric Varnado, an officer with the Laurel Police Department (hereinafter referred to as the LPD), investigated the accident involving Taylor, Evans, and Bonner. From dispatch, Officer Varnado received a description of the vehicle, the license plate number, and an address to which the license plate was registered. When Officer Varnado arrived at the accident scene, a witness also gave him the license plate number of the vehicle that hit the youth. The number matched the license plate number previously provided to him. Officer Varnado then cruised on First Avenue in an attempt to locate the suspected vehicle. When Officer Varnado arrived at the address to which the license plate was registered, the vehicle in the driveway and the license plate on it matched the description of the vehicle and license plate given him by dispatch.

¶ 5. Officer Varnado approached the residence and came into contact with a male standing next to the vehicle. Officer Var-nado confronted the male and discovered that he was Jimmy E. Campbell. Campbell admitted that he had driven the vehicle that night. Officer Varnado observed that Campbell had a strong odor of alcohol, his breath smelled of alcoholic bever[179]*179age, his speech was slurred, and he had a staggered stance. Varnado placed Campbell into custody to investigate a possible DUI and also Campbell’s possible involvement in the hit and run accident.

¶ 6. Other germane facts will be related during the discussion of the issues.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

¶ 7. In his first issue, Campbell argues that the State failed to prove venue, which is an essential element of the crime. Campbell points out that Jones County has two judicial districts and that the State failed to put forth any evidence that the crime occurred in the Second Judicial District of Jones County.

¶ 8. Proof of venue, as any other element of an offense, must be made beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Fabian, 263 So.2d 773, 776 (Miss.1972).

¶ 9. The State called victims Taylor and Evans to testify that they were walking northbound on First Avenue when they were struck by a vehicle on the night in question. Officer Varnado, as well as Detective Layne Bounds, testified as to the area of Jones County in which the accident took place. Detective Bounds in particular testified as to the description of First Avenue including the width of the street, the shoulders of the street and lane markings.

¶ 10. It is undisputed that proof of venue is indispensable to a criminal trial and it may be proved by direct or circumstantial evidence. Smith v. State, 646 Solid 538, 541 (Miss.1994). “The local jurisdiction of all offenses, unless otherwise provided by law, shall be in the county where committed.” Id. (citing Jones v. State, 606 So.2d 1051, 1055 (Miss.1992)).

¶ 11. In this ease, several witnesses testified during the State’s case-in-chief that the crime took place in Laurel, Jones County, Mississippi. It is not open to dispute that Laurel is located in the Second Judicial District of Jones County. We find that sufficient evidence was presented during the State’s case-in-chief to establish the requisite venue.

¶ 12. Campbell alleges in his next issue that reasonable fair-minded jurors could not have found him guilty of negligently killing another while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. Campbell argues that what happened on the night in question was an unavoidable accident and that his driving intoxicated was not a contributing factor to the accident. In other words, Campbell challenges the sufficiency of the evidence offered in support of his conviction.

¶ 13. Campbell undergirds his argument that what happened was an unavoidable accident due to the fact that the victim and his companions wore dark clothing and were walking in the street with their backs to oncoming traffic. Furthermore, Campbell explains that the area of First Avenue where the accident occurred contains a series of hills, that the street narrows at certain points, and that the street was unmarked and without sidewalks. Campbell implies that the physical layout of the street — coupled with the fact that the victims were wearing dark clothing, walking with their backs to traffic, and walking in the street in the path of traffic — made the accident not only unavoidable but inevitable. Campbell emphasizes a defense witness’s testimony that she did not observe Campbell speeding on the night of the accident and that he was driving straight in the center of his lane. Thus, Campbell maintains that there was no evidence that put his car off the side of the road.

¶ 14. In Mississippi, there is no requirement that the negligence which [180]*180caused the death of another be caused by the alcohol. Joiner v. State, 835 So.2d 42, 44(¶ 5) (Miss.2003); Miss Code Ann. § 63-11-30(5) (Supp.2003). The pertinent part of Mississippi Code Annotated section 63-11-30(5) states that “[e]very person who operates any motor vehicle in violation of the provisions of subsection (1) of this section and who in a negligent manner causes the death of another shall ... be guilty of a felony.” Miss.Code Ann. § 63-11-30(5) (Supp.2003).1 Therefore, the State had the burden of proving that Campbell was not only driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor at the time of the accident, but that he performed a negligent act that caused the death of Bonner. Hedrick v. State, 637 So.2d 834, 837-38 (Miss.1994). The State was not required to prove that the intoxicating liquor caused or contributed to the accident, only that Campbell, while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, committed a negligent act that caused the death of Bonner.

¶ 15. We apply a familiar standard of review to the resolution of this issue:

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Bluebook (online)
858 So. 2d 177, 2003 Miss. App. LEXIS 1000, 2003 WL 22434609, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campbell-v-state-missctapp-2003.