Langdon v. State

798 So. 2d 550, 2001 WL 192651
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedFebruary 27, 2001
Docket1999-KA-00852-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 798 So. 2d 550 (Langdon 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
Langdon v. State, 798 So. 2d 550, 2001 WL 192651 (Mich. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

798 So.2d 550 (2001)

Tammy LANGDON a/k/a Tammy Michele Langdon, Appellant
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 1999-KA-00852-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

February 27, 2001.

*553 Willard L. McIlwain Jr., Greeneville, for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Dewitt T. Allred III, for Appellee.

Before McMILLIN, C.J., BRIDGES, and MYERS, JJ.

McMILLIN, C.J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Tammy Langdon has appealed her conviction for negligently causing the death of another while driving a motor vehicle at a time when she was under the influence of alcohol. She urges this Court to find (a) that the trial court improperly prevented her from introducing evidence of a prior inconsistent statement by an eyewitness to the vehicular accident, (b) that the trial court erroneously excluded her proposed expert witness on DUI testing procedures, (c) that the trial court permitted the State to introduce evidence of other bad acts (specifically Langdon's tendency to drink alcoholic beverages to excess) in violation of the rules of evidence, (d) that the trial court improperly limited defense counsel's closing argument, and (e) the court improperly admitted the results of testing of Langdon's blood alcohol content conducted shortly after the accident. Additionally, Langdon alleges a series of errors in the trial court's rulings on the propriety of certain jury instructions requested by the defense. We find ourselves unpersuaded by these claims of error and affirm Langdon's conviction and resulting sentence.

*554 I.

Facts

¶ 2. Langdon, while driving alone at night on an unlit stretch of county road in Bolivar County, struck and killed Willie Webber, a pedestrian who was walking along the shoulder of the road with a female companion, Debra Green. Langdon admitted to having consumed several beers earlier in the evening, but denied that she was impaired by alcohol consumption at the time of the accident. An intoxilyzer test conducted after the accident indicated that Langdon's blood alcohol content stood at .118%. A blood sample was obtained from Langdon approximately fifty-two minutes after the intoxilyzer test. The blood sample was subjected to chemical analysis that indicated a blood alcohol content of .10%.

¶ 3. Langdon's version of events was that she was driving along the road at a safe rate of speed and in her proper lane of travel when Webber suddenly either jumped or was shoved off the shoulder and into the roadway in her path of travel at a time when it was too late for her to avoid striking him. Green, on the other hand, testified for the State and said that she and Webber were walking on the gravel shoulder adjacent to the paved roadway when Langdon's vehicle suddenly veered onto the shoulder and struck Webber. The defense called three witnesses who testified that Green had given a different version of the events in conversations with them after the accident. In those versions, Green had apparently suggested that, in the moments immediately preceding the accident, Webber was making unwanted physical advances against her and that, in an effort to deflect those advances, she either shoved Webber into the roadway, or he fell into the path of Langdon's vehicle as he attempted to pull away from her grasp, or he jumped into the roadway to avoid a blow she had directed at him. The jury, apparently finding Green's trial testimony believable, despite the impeachment of her testimony through these prior inconsistent statements, found Langdon guilty and this appeal ensued.

II.

The First Issue: Prior Inconsistent Statement

¶ 4. The official accident report compiled by Bolivar County Deputy Sheriff James Moorehead indicated that Green, on the night of the accident, had related a version of the events to Deputy Moorehead that was largely consistent with those extrajudicial statements related by three defense witnesses. The defense sought to introduce that portion of the accident report into evidence for impeachment purposes, but the trial court did not allow its introduction. Langdon now claims this as prejudicial error since the report contained evidence of a prior inconsistent statement by the witness that was, on its face, admissible to impeach Green. Knickel v. State, 764 So.2d 1247(¶ 15) (Miss.Ct.App.2000).

¶ 5. While Langdon's legal premise is correct, there arise certain unusual factual considerations in this case that affect our determination of whether reversible error occurred. It is a matter of pure logic that, in order to admit a prior inconsistent statement by a witness for purposes of impeachment, there must be competent evidence that such a prior statement was, in fact, made. In this case, the defense attempted to prove the fact of Green's prior inconsistent statement through the testimony of Deputy Moorehead since he was the person alleged to have heard the statement and he had subsequently memorialized that statement in his written accident report.

*555 ¶ 6. However, the defense's proof in that regard hit a snag when Deputy Moorehead testified at trial that the pertinent entry on his accident report did not accurately reflect the version of events related to him by Green. By way of explanation, he said that he had taken a recorded statement from Green on the night of the accident, but had prepared the written accident report some time later and did so without refreshing his memory of the contents of Green's recorded statement. It was for that reason he said that his written version of Green's statement in the accident report did not accurately reflect the actual contents of Green's verbal statement.

¶ 7. Moorehead's testimony in that regard was not contradicted or impeached, and for that reason there was no basis to conclude that the defense had proven the existence of a prior inconsistent statement made by Green recorded in Deputy Moorehead's report. Once Moorehead disavowed the accuracy of his recollection of Green's statements as recorded in the accident report, there was no reasonable basis to conclude that Moorehead's report constituted evidence that Green had given a different version of events prior to trial. For that reason, it was not error to exclude the accident report for the limited purpose for which it was offered.

¶ 8. Langdon argues alternatively that the report was admissible for the purpose of impeaching Deputy Moorehead himself. The only possible point of Moorehead's testimony that would be subject to impeachment by introduction of the accident report would be to cast into doubt Moorehead's trial testimony that Green had not reported to him that Webber had suddenly jumped or been shoved into the path of Langdon's vehicle. The only result of successfully impeaching Moorehead on that point would be to cast that denial into doubt. Casting doubt on Moorehead's testimony denying having heard such a statement could not be used as affirmative evidence that Green had, in fact, made such a statement. Since that was the relevant disputed issue regarding the contents of the accident report, merely casting the matter into doubt would not advance the defendant's case in any respect. Therefore, the trial court's failure to admit the report to impeach Deputy Moorehead cannot be seen as error.

III.

The Second Issue: The Defendant's DUI Expert Witness

¶ 9. Robert Dismuke, a private investigator with extensive background experience in the administration of DUI testing by law enforcement officers, was called by the defense as an expert witness.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
798 So. 2d 550, 2001 WL 192651, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/langdon-v-state-missctapp-2001.