Salva v. State

885 So. 2d 231, 2003 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 188, 2003 WL 22026362
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedAugust 29, 2003
DocketCR-01-2533
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 885 So. 2d 231 (Salva v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Salva v. State, 885 So. 2d 231, 2003 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 188, 2003 WL 22026362 (Ala. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

SHAW, Judge.

In February 1999, Edward James Salva was involved in an automobile accident on Highway 231 in Marshall County; the accident resulted in serious bodily injury to David Edward Hooten.1 Thereafter, Salva [234]*234was indicted for, and convicted of, first-degree assault, a violation of § 13A-6-20(a)(5), Ala.Code 1975,2 and driving while under the influence of alcohol, a violation of § 32-5A-191(a)(2), Ala.Code 1975.3 He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on the first-degree-assault conviction and 180 days’ on the driving-under-the-influence conviction. These sentences were to be served concurrently.

On appeal, Salva contends: (1) that the trial court committed reversible error when it denied his motion for a judgment of acquittal made at the conclusion of the State’s case and (2) that the trial court committed reversible error when it did not rule on Salva’s application for probation.

I.

Salva contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a judgment of acquittal made at the close of the State’s case because, he says, the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s verdict. It is not entirely clear whether Salva is challenging the weight of the evidence or the sufficiency of the evidence; thus, out of an abundance of caution, we will address both the weight and the sufficiency.

Our review of the record reveals the following: Around midnight on the night of February 25, 1999, Hooten and Jarrett Pate were traveling south on Highway 231 when headlights suddenly appeared directly in front of them — headlights on a car traveling north in the southbound lane. A head-on collision resulted, and the impact of the collision caused Hooten’s pickup truck to strike a third vehicle — a pickup truck — driven by Robin Anderson, which was also traveling south on Highway 231. The northbound and southbound lanes on the portion of Highway 231 where the accident occurred are separated by a grassy median. This grassy median has a “relatively steep pitch” on each side — ■ “probably a three to four foot grade down” to “a drainage area in the middle.” (R. 60-61.)

Eva Hambrick, who was also traveling south on Highway 231 at the time of the accident, was a witness to the accident. She testified at trial that two pickup trucks were traveling in front of her when headlights from an oncoming vehicle suddenly appeared in the southbound lane — “It was like someone had just thought, oh, no, my lights, and jerked their lights on because they was just right there and the second the lights come on, the wreck happened.” (R. 96.) Hambrick testified that after the accident occurred, she pulled over, telephoned emergency 911, and then let the occupants of the two pickup trucks involved in the accident know that help was on the way. When asked if she had been able to ascertain to which vehicle the headlights she had seen belonged, Hambrick testified that she noticed a red automobile — like a Chevrolet Camaro or a Pontiac Trans-Am — had come to rest “[b]ack behind [her].” (R. 95.)

James Wessel, an emergency medical technician who responded to the scene of the February 25, 1999, accident, testified to the following at trial: When he arrived [235]*235at the scene he immediately noticed a red two-door vehicle, like a Chevrolet Camaro or a Pontiac Firebird in the median of Highway 231 “[slitting at a fairly steep angle” (R. 60); that this vehicle had come to rest “angled between ... what would be the southbound lane and the ditch” (R. 60); and that there was significant damage to both the front of the vehicle and the front driver’s side of the vehicle. When he looked inside the vehicle, he saw Salva, who “was restrained [i.e., his shoulder belt and lap belt were in position and buckled] and entrapped in the driver’s compartment [and] slumped over the steering wheel.” (R. 59.) Wessel testified that after other rescue workers arrived on the scene, he climbed through the rear window of the vehicle so that he would be in a position to stabilize Salva’s head while the rescue workers cut Salva out of his vehicle. Wes-sel testified that he spent approximately 45 minutes with Salva after the accident— most of this time, Wessel was inside the vehicle stabilizing Salva’s head — and that he noticed “a smell consistent with that of alcohol in the vehicle.” (R. 66.) Wessel also testified that he attempted to communicate with Salva the entire 45 minutes he spent with Salva after the accident and while Salva attempted several times to answer Wessel’s questions, Salva’s answers were “never presented to [Wessel] in a way that [he] could understand, it was very slurred and very mumbled” and that Salva “was just not able to verbally respond to [Wessel’s questions] in a coherent way.” (R. 68.) Wessel testified that it was his opinion, based on his observations of Salva while inside Salva’s vehicle — i.e., “[t]he slurred speech [and] [t]he smell of alcohol” (R. 71) — that Salva was “under the influence of alcohol” (R. 75) and that “he would not have been able to operate a vehicle.” (R. 76.)

Wessel testified that he “leaned in through the driver’s window and [Salva] was [slumped] over the steering wheel with his eyes closed [and when Wessel asked,] ‘Sir, can you hear me?’ [Salva] didn’t respond to [Wessel, so Wessel] reached in and lightly shook him ... [and] said, ‘Sir, can you hear me?’ And [Salva] opened his eyes and made sort of slurred-type noises.” (R. 62.) The following exchange occurred during Wessel’s testimony: ■

“[Prosecutor]: In making your determination about [Salva] being under the influence, did you take into account his reaction when you attempted to wake him up or when you attempted to rouse him?
“[Wessel]: Yes, sir.
“[Prosecutor]: In what way?
“[Wessel]: Trauma patients that are unresponsive due to injury we generally do not have the capability to make responsive usually if their injuries are so significant that they are unresponsive when we get there due to a trauma injury there’s nothing we can do for them. Mr. Salva, or [the] patient at that time, was unresponsive when I got there and woke up or became responsive when I spoke loudly to him and tapped him on the shoulder.”

(R. 72.)

“ ‘In determining the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction, a reviewing court must accept as true all evidence introduced by the State, accord the State all legitimate inferences therefrom, and consider all evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution.’ ” Ballenger v. State, 720 So.2d 1033, 1034 (Ala.Crim.App.1998), quoting Faircloth v. State, 471 So.2d 485, 488 (Ala.Crim.App.1984). “ ‘The test used in determining the sufficiency of evidence to sustain a conviction is whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, a ration[236]*236al finder of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” Nunn v. State, 697 So.2d 497, 498 (Ala.Crim.App.1997), quoting O’Neal v. State, 602 So.2d 462, 464 (Ala.Crim.App.1992). “ ‘When there is legal evidence from which the jury could, by fair inference, find the defendant guilty, the trial court should submit [the case] to the jury, and in such a case, this court will not disturb the trial court’s decision.’ ” Farrior v. State, 728 So.2d 691, 696 (Ala.Crim.App.1998), quoting Ward v. State, 557 So.2d 848, 850 (Ala.Crim.App.1990).

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Related

W.F. v. State
214 So. 3d 1153 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2015)
Johnson v. State
922 So. 2d 137 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
885 So. 2d 231, 2003 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 188, 2003 WL 22026362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salva-v-state-alacrimapp-2003.