Estes v. State

605 So. 2d 772, 1992 WL 236309
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 5, 1992
Docket89-KA-0387
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 605 So. 2d 772 (Estes v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estes v. State, 605 So. 2d 772, 1992 WL 236309 (Mich. 1992).

Opinion

605 So.2d 772 (1992)

Ronnie ESTES
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 89-KA-0387.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

August 5, 1992.

Jim Waide, Jimmy D. Shelton, Tupelo, for appellant.

Michael C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Patricia W. Sproat, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before HAWKINS, P.J., and PITTMAN and BANKS, JJ.

HAWKINS, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

Ronnie Estes appeals from his conviction in the circuit court of Lee County of causing serious bodily injury while driving a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquor under the provisions of Miss. Code Ann. § 63-11-30 (Supp. 1988) and sentence to five years imprisonment. We have reviewed his assignments of error, and finding no ground for reversal, we affirm.

*773 FACTS

Bethany Road in Lee County west of Baldwyn runs in an East-West direction. Around 4:00 p.m. on Friday, August 5, 1988, a hot, dry day, Lee Outlaw, a 21-year-old man in physical training, was riding his bicycle East along a flat, straight stretch of the road. He was on the right side of the asphalt surface near the white line painted on the pavement edge.

At that point in time and place, two cars headed West were meeting Outlaw, the lead car being driven by Brenda Agnew, followed close behind by a blue car. Behind Outlaw was a red Ford automobile being driven by Estes. According to Agnew, she passed the bicycle and when she looked in her rear view mirror she saw the red Ford turn into the left lane, or west-bound lane, of traffic and then swerve back into the eastbound lane and hit the bicycle. She saw Outlaw go up into the air and come back down on the car.

Estes drove his car another 250 yards and stopped. Curtis Roberts was at a shop nearby, and hearing the noise, walked to where Estes was stopped. He saw Estes remove cans of beer from a cooler in his car and empty them. He told Estes he should back his car back to the scene or he would be charged with leaving the scene of the accident. Roberts could smell "sour beer" coming from the "car and him," and he detected slurring in Estes' speech. In Roberts' opinion Estes was intoxicated.

Sylvester Williams, a local policeman, arrived on the scene in a few minutes, detected alcohol on Estes' breath and slurring in his speech, and arrested him. Estes was taken to the police department in Baldwyn where Lovice McGaha, a dispatcher, administered a breath test on an intoxilyzer machine, which recorded .19 percent (.19%) alcohol in his blood.

Outlaw received severe injuries: a severely broken leg; many cuts and abrasions on his face, neck, chest, arms, upper shoulders, hips and buttocks; and deep lacerations approximately ten inches in length which "gouged out hunks of skin" on the backs of the shoulders. Dr. Janice Burns, the plastic surgeon who treated Outlaw, estimated that Outlaw received "maybe a thousand stitches." She and Dr. Clyde Phillips, who treated Outlaw's leg, testified that Outlaw's injuries would likely leave much permanent scarring.

On November 7, 1988, the grand jury of Lee County, pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-7(2) (Supp. 1988), indicted Estes for feloniously "... while having .10% or more by weight volume of alcohol in his blood, commit[ting] an aggravated assault upon Lee Outlaw, a human being, by causing serious bodily injury to the said Lee Outlaw, purposely, knowingly or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life." Estes was tried March 13, 1989.

Estes was found guilty of negligently injuring Outlaw while intoxicated under the provisions of Miss. Code Ann. § 63-11-30(1), (4) and sentenced to serve five years imprisonment. He has appealed, and we will make further reference to the record in addressing his assignments of error.

LAW

I. CONVICTED UNDER NEGLIGENT INJURY WHILE INTOXICATED STATUTE, YET INDICTED UNDER AGGRAVATED ASSAULT STATUTE.

Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-7 in pertinent part states:

§ 97-3-7. Simple assault; aggravated assault.
.....
(2) A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he...
(b) attempts to cause or purposely or knowingly causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon or other means likely to produce death or serious bodily harm; and, upon conviction, he shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one (1) year or in the penitentiary for not more than twenty (20) years.

Miss. Code Ann. § 63-11-30(1), (4) in effect August 5, 1988, provided in pertinent part:

*774 § 63-11-30. Penalties for operation of vehicle while under influence of intoxicating liquor or other substance that impairs ability to operate vehicle; where violation causes injury or death to another person.
(1) It is unlawful for any person to drive or otherwise operate a vehicle within this state who (a) is under the influence of intoxicating liquor; (b) is under the influence of any other substance which has impaired such person's ability to operate a motor vehicle; or (c) has ten one-hundredths percent (.10%) or more by weight volume of alcohol in the person's blood based upon milligrams of alcohol per one hundred (100) cubic centimeters of blood as shown by a chemical analysis of such person's breath, blood or urine administered as authorized by this chapter.
.....
(4) Every 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 or mutilates, disfigures, permanently disables or destroys the tongue, eye, lip, nose, or any other limb or member of another shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a felony and shall be committed to the custody of the State Department of Corrections for a period of time not to exceed ten (10) years.

When the State and Estes had both rested at trial, defense counsel moved for a directed verdict of not guilty of aggravated assault under Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-7, and also added to his motion:

Also, we would move that the lesser charge that is being also tried, evidently, here today which is set forth in Section 66-11-30 of the Mississippi Code, which states that every person that operates a motor vehicle in violation of provision of Subsection One of this Section, which causes the death of another, mutilates, disfigures, permanently disables or destroys the tongue, eye, lip, nose or any other limb or member of another; and we submit to the Court this has not been proven and we would request that this lesser charge also be dismissed.

(Vol. III, pp. 300-301)

The motion was overruled.

The State's Instruction S-1 embodied the elements of aggravated assault, and Instruction S-2 embodied the elements of negligent injury of another while intoxicated.[1]

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Bluebook (online)
605 So. 2d 772, 1992 WL 236309, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estes-v-state-miss-1992.