Shadden v. State

455 S.W.2d 164, 2 Tenn. Crim. App. 450, 1970 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 427
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMarch 25, 1970
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 455 S.W.2d 164 (Shadden v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shadden v. State, 455 S.W.2d 164, 2 Tenn. Crim. App. 450, 1970 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 427 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

OPINION

OLIVER, Judge.

Johnny W. Shadden, the defendant below, represented there and here by retained counsel, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the Criminal Court of Washington County and was sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than two years. His motion for a new trial being overruled, he is before this Court upon an appeal in the nature of a writ of error duly perfected.

By his first three Assignments of Error the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, insisting that it preponderates against the verdict and in favor of his innocence. In reviewing the evidence under these three Assignments of Error, we are bound by the rule, stated and restated over and over by our Supreme Court and this Court, that a jury’s verdict of guilt, approved by the trial judge, accredits the testimony of the witnesses for the State and resolves all conflicts in the evidence in favor of and establishes the State’s theory of the case. Under such a verdict, the presumption of innocence, which the law accords an accused prior to conviction, [452]*452disappears and is replaced by a presumption of guilt which puts upon him the burden of showing upon appeal that the evidence preponderates against the verdict and in favor of his innocence. We may review the evidence only to determine whether it preponderates against the verdict and, in doing so, we must take the verdict as having established the credibility of the State’s witnesses. The verdict will be disturbed on the facts only if the evidence clearly preponderates against it and in favor of the innocence of the accused. Gulley v. State, 219 Tenn. 114, 407 S.W.2d 186; Jamison v. State, 220 Tenn. 280, 416 S.W.2d 768; Webster v. State, Tenn. Crim. App., 425 S.W.2d 799; Brown v. State, Tenn. Crim. App., 441 S.W.2d 485.

The rule that the credibility of the witnesses and conflicts in the testimony are all settled by the verdict of the jury, “makes unnecessary and, indeed, inappropriate, a detailed discussion of that evidence, pro and con, * * * in stating what we conclude the material facts to be as established by that testimony.” Hargrove v. State, 199 Tenn. 25, 28, 281 S.W.2d 692, 694; Morrison v. State, 217 Tenn. 374, 397 S.W.2d 826, 400 S.W.2d 237.

The material evidence clearly accredited by the jury may be summarized briefly. Shortly after 12:00 a.m. on May 14, 1967, one James Leland Boyd, a pedestrian walking along the highway, was struck by an automobile operated by the defendant and died enroute to the hospital. The State and defense counsel stipulated that the deceased died as a result of being struck by an automobile driven by the defendant.

The deceased’s body was found on the left side of the road, 82 feet from where his cap was found on the same [453]*453side of the road; one of his shoes was across the fence in a field on the left side of the highway near the body, and the other shoe was found on the right side of the road, 70 feet beyond the body.

The damage to the defendant’s automobile was on the left front, hood and radiator. The site of the accident was in a dip in the highway located between 200 and 300 feet beyond a right-hand curve the defendant had just passed. The highway was dry. He told two investigating Highway Patrolmen on the scene that the deceased was walking on the right side of the road and suddenly jumped out in front of him; that he stopped and saw the man was hurt and went for help; that he had been drinking earlier in the evening and had gone to bed and had had two beers after he got up; that he was driving between 40 and 50 miles per hour; and that he saw the deceased with his hands up just about the time of impact. He was definitely under the influence of alcohol, in the opinion of the patrolmen. Two other witnesses had passed the deceased on the road that night prior to the accident.

The defendant testified that the accident occurred between 200 and 250 feet beyond the curve; that he was driving with his lights on dim, as he always does; that he was within 10 feet of the deceased when he saw him, and that the impact occurred by the time he got his foot on the brake; that the deceased came up on the hood of his car and was carried about 50 or 60 feet before he fell off; that he stopped and saw the deceased was hurt, then went to the home of Earl Lewis, the nearest acquaintance, who lived between 100 and 200 yards further on in the direction he was going, and called an [454]*454ambulance and the officers and then returned to the scene; that he was familiar with the road and was driving between 40 and 50 miles an hour; that the deceased was in the middle of the road and was turned sideways to him at impact; that he was driving on the righthand side of the road, possibly with the left side of his car a little to the left of the center of the road; that he drank two 12-ounce bottles of beer at the Eagle’s Club after 10 o’clock that night and left there about midnight, but this did not affect his driving in any way; that he did not tell the Highway Patrolmen that he had been in bed the night before and drank both before and afterwards.

Although one of the Highway Patrolmen suggested to the defendant and his father, who was a deputy seheriff, the advisability of taking a blood alcohol test if he had not in fact had more than two beers, the defendant declined to do so after conferring privately with his father.

The defendant introduced various witnesses, including his father and the Sheriff under whom his father served, who testified that although the odor of alcohol was noticeable on the defendant’s breath he was not, in their opinion, under the influence of an intoxicant. Other defense witnesses were equally positive that the defendant’s breath bore no odor of alcohol.

Clearly, the evidence presented a jury question as to whether at the time and place of the fatal accident the defendant was so far under the influence of alcohol as to impair his ability to operate his automobile in the manner in which an ordinarily reasonable and prudent person, in full possession of his faculties, would operate a motor vehicle under the same or substantially similar [455]*455circumstances. The jury resolved that question against the defendant. He has not carried the burden of demonstrating here that the evidence preponderates against the verdict and in favor of his innocence.

T.C.A. § 59-1031 proscribes operation of motor vehicles on the highways and streets of the State by persons under the influence of an intoxicant or certain drugs. In Daniels v. State, 155 Tenn. 549, 558, 296 S.W. 20, the Supreme Court of this State said this:

“And in Hart v. State, 26 Ga.App. 64, 105 S.E. 383, it was held that it was not necessary for a driver to partake of intoxicating liquors until a state of drunkenness is reached, in order to violate a statute making it unlawful for a person to operate a motor vehicle upon a public highway while ‘under the influence of intoxicating liquors.’ ”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Griffin v. State
578 S.W.2d 654 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1978)
Meade v. State
530 S.W.2d 784 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1975)
Withers v. State
523 S.W.2d 364 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1975)
Freeman v. State
520 S.W.2d 739 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1974)
Moore v. State
519 S.W.2d 604 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1974)
Headrick v. State
519 S.W.2d 403 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1974)
Jenkins v. State
509 S.W.2d 240 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1974)
Bailey v. State
479 S.W.2d 829 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1972)
Spears v. State
466 S.W.2d 543 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
455 S.W.2d 164, 2 Tenn. Crim. App. 450, 1970 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shadden-v-state-tenncrimapp-1970.