State of Iowa v. Ashley Nicole Hennings

• Court: Court of Appeals of Iowa
• Decided: March 8, 2023
• Docket: 22-0337
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

No. 22-0337 Filed March 8, 2023

STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellee,

vs.

ASHLEY NICOLE HENNINGS, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David Porter, Judge.

A defendant appeals her convictions for vehicular homicide, leaving the

scene of an accident, and eluding; she also challenges the sentencing order.

AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.

Martha J. Lucey, State Appellate Defender, and Robert P. Ranschau (until

withdrawal) and Maria Ruhtenberg, Assistant Appellate Defenders, for appellant.

Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Israel Kodiaga, Assistant Attorney

General, for appellee.

Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Schumacher and Chicchelly, JJ. 2

TABOR, Presiding Judge.

Ashley Hennings challenges her convictions for vehicular homicide, leaving

the scene of an accident, and eluding. She raises three issues: (1) Was she

entitled to an alternative jury instruction on causation? (2) Should the district court

have granted her a new trial? And (3) did the court violate the one-homicide rule?

On the first claim, we find the court adequately instructed the jury on causation.

For the second, we find the court properly exercised its discretion in ruling that the

weight of the evidence supported the verdicts. But turning to the third claim, we

remand for entry of a corrected sentencing order.

I. Facts and Prior Proceedings

“Brace for impact,” Erick Richter told his wife Shirlyna as they watched

Hennings’s Chrysler minivan barrel through a major intersection, ram a red sedan,

and come “flying” toward their car. Two police cars were chasing Hennings after

she sped away from a traffic stop initiated by Officer Brian Foster. A second officer,

Alberto Marquez, clocked her speed at ninety miles per hour on Des Moines city

streets.

After ramming the sedan and hitting the Richters’ car, Hennings’s van

flipped over, smashed into a tree, and came to rest on its side, catching fire.

Bystanders pulled Hennings from the smoking wreckage. She then fled on foot.

But she didn’t get far. Witnesses pointed Officer Chase Lohnes in the direction

she had run. And he located her about a block from the crash scene. Seeing her

injuries, Lohnes took her to a nearby fire station. From there, an ambulance

transported her to the hospital where staff drew her blood. It tested positive for

methamphetamine. 3

Meanwhile, Officer Foster raced to the crash scene—finding Kieran Stirling

unconscious and struggling to breath inside his badly damaged red sedan. Foster

supported Stirling’s neck while waiting for medics. But Stirling never regained

consciousness and died later at the hospital.

In a four-count trial information, the State charged Hennings with

(1) homicide by vehicle—operating while intoxicated, in violation of Iowa Code

section 707.6A(1) (2021), a class “B” felony; (2) homicide by vehicle—reckless

driving, in violation of section 707.6A(2)(A), a class “C” felony; (3) leaving the

scene of an accident resulting in death, in violation of sections 321.261(4) and

321.263, a class “D” felony; and (4) eluding in violation of section 321.279(3)(A)(3)

and (4), a class “D” felony. After a three-day trial, a jury found Hennings guilty of

all four counts. She now appeals.

II. Scope and Standards of Review

We review the refusal to give a requested jury instruction for the correction

of legal error. State v. Montgomery, 966 N.W.2d 641, 649 (Iowa 2021). We apply

this same standard to review a challenge to a merger decision. State v. Ceretti,

871 N.W.2d 88, 92 (Iowa 2015). By contrast, we review the denial of a new-trial

motion for an abuse of discretion. State v. Linderman, 958 N.W.2d 211, 218 (Iowa

Ct. App. 2021). And on a weight-of-the-evidence claim, we limit our review to the

district court’s exercise of discretion—leaving alone the underlying question

whether the scales tipped against the verdicts. Id. 4

III. Analysis

A. Causation Instruction

Up first, Hennings contends that the jury received inadequate instructions

on the causation element of homicide by intoxicated operation. She faults the

district court for rejecting her proposed instruction—borrowed from State v.

Hernandez-Mendoza, No. 18-0083, 2019 WL 1932539, at *5 n.6 (Iowa Ct. App.

May 1, 2019). To assess her contention, we look first to the marshalling

instruction. The second element required the jury to find that Hennings’s act of

operating while having methamphetamine in her system caused Stirling’s death.

Another instruction clarified that causation element. 5

But Hennings requested yet another instruction on causation, arguing to the

district court that “the instructions need to reflect that there should be and must be

a substantial causal connection between impairment and Mr. Stirling’s death.”1

The district court rejected Hennings’s request, reasoning that it was “nowhere near

a model instruction.” And that it was “duplicative” of Instructions No. 12 and 17,

which accurately conveyed the causation requirement.

Hennings challenges that rejection. She asserts the jury needed more

guidance on causation. She points to its question during deliberations: “On Count

1, do we need to prove the presence of the substance had any impact on her

driving ability or influence the likelihood of a crash? Does this matter?”2

But Hennings does not explain how the Hernandez-Mendoza instruction

would have answered the jury’s question. The first paragraph of that instruction,

on factual causation—traditionally called but-for causation—was embodied in

Instruction No. 17. See id. at *2; see also State v. Adams, 810 N.W.2d 365, 371

1 Our record does not include a copy of Hennings’s proposed instruction. But here is the instruction from the Hernandez-Mendoza footnote: The State must prove a causal connection between the act or acts of Ramon Hernandez and the death of [Y.A.]. The alleged acts or conduct of Ramon Hernandez “caused” the death of [Y.A.] when her death would not have happened except for the acts or conduct. . . . The State must also prove that the death of [Y.A.] was within the scope of Ramon Hernandez’s criminal responsibility. The death is within the scope of criminal responsibility if that death arises from the same types of danger created by Ramon Hernandez’s act or acts. You should consider whether repetition of Ramon Hernandez’s act or acts would make it more likely that the death of [Y.A.] would happen. If Ramon Hernandez’s act or acts would not make [Y.A.’s] death more likely to occur, they are not within the scope of his criminal responsibility. 2019 WL 1932539, at *5 n.6 (alterations in original). 2 The court instructed the jury to reread the instructions and continue deliberating. 6

(Iowa 2012) (interpreting section 707.6A(1) as requiring proof of causal connection

between specific criminal act—“intoxicated driving”—and victim’s death, but not

proof of “a specific causal connection between the defendant’s intoxication and the

victim’s death”). The second paragraph, on scope of criminal responsibility—

traditionally called proximate cause—applies only if the chain of causation is

attenuated. See State v. Tyler, 873 N.W.2d 741, 749 (Iowa 2016), superseded by

statute on other grounds. And even then, Tyler did not settle whether “criminal

causation might still require more than proof of but-for factual causation.” Id.

at 750.3 So with only a passing mention of our supreme court’s civil cases on

scope of liability, Hennings’s brief does not address how her proposed instruction

was proper or necessary on these facts.

Without that advocacy, we are left with the district court’s well-supported

conclusion that the existing instructions tracked Adams and properly conveyed the

concept of causation to the jury. Thus, we find no instructional error.

B. Greater Weight of the Evidence

Hennings next contests the district court’s denial of her motion for a new

trial on the convictions of homicide by intoxicated operation and leaving the scene

of a fatal accident. A new trial is appropriate only when the evidence

preponderates heavily against the jury’s verdicts. State v. Ernst, 954 N.W.2d 50,

60 (Iowa 2021). That standard allows the district court to make its own credibility

3 Tyler cites Adams, 810 N.W.2d at 372 n.7, where our supreme court also declined to decide whether the proximate cause doctrine had continuing viability in criminal cases after the supreme court’s embrace of the Restatement (Third) of Torts in Thompson v. Kaczinski, 774 N.W.2d 829, 839 (Iowa 2009). Tyler, 873 N.W.2d at 748–50. 7

determinations. Id. The court must decide whether “a greater amount of credible

evidence” suggests the verdicts were a miscarriage of justice. State v. Ellis, 578

N.W.2d 655, 658 (Iowa 1998). We will consider each challenged verdict in turn.

1. Homicide by Intoxicated Operation

To convict Hennings of this offense, the jury had to find two elements:

(1) Hennings operated a motor vehicle while having any amount of a controlled

substance in her body. See Iowa Code § 707.6A(1). And (2) her criminal act

unintentionally caused the death of Kieran Stirling. See id. § 707.6A(1). Hennings

does not dispute that she was operating her van and her blood tested positive for

methamphetamine. Rather, she claims the State “produced no evidence that she

was under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of the accident.”

Her claim fails for two reasons. First, the State was not required to prove

Hennings was “under the influence of a controlled substance” when she was

operating the van. “Iowa’s homicide-by-intoxicated-operation statute makes it a

crime to unintentionally cause someone’s death ‘by operating a motor vehicle while

intoxicated, as prohibited by section 321J.2.’” State v. Johnson, 950 N.W.2d 232,

236 (Iowa 2020). “The definition of ‘intoxicated’ . . . means a person is under the

influence of alcohol or drugs (or some combination of them), has a blood alcohol

content .08 or greater, or has any amount of a controlled substance present as

measured in a blood or urine test.” Id. (emphasis added). The State prosecuted

Hennings using that third definition of intoxication. See Iowa Code § 321J.2(1)(c).

That section criminalizes operating with “any amount of prohibited substances in

one’s body” whether or not those substances impair the operator. See State v.

Childs, 898 N.W.2d 177, 184 (Iowa 2017). So it was enough for the State to prove 8

a causal connection between Hennings’s criminal offense—operating with any

controlled substances present in her blood—and Stirling’s death. Contrary to

Hennings’s claim, the State was not required to prove that the methamphetamine

in her system “in any way influenced” her driving. See id. at 183 (reaffirming State

v. Comried, 693 N.W.2d 773, 776 (Iowa 2005)). Indeed, our courts have

interpreted section 321J.2(1)(c) as creating “a per se ban on driving with any

amount of a controlled substance in the body, whether or not [drivers] are under

the influence.” Childs, 898 N.W.2d at 183 (citations and quotations omitted).

Second, if the State needed to prove that Hennings was under the influence

of methamphetamine, the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding

credible evidence to support that she was. Criminalist Justin Grodnitzky testified

that the state crime lab detected 496 nanograms of methamphetamine per one

milliliter of Hennings’s blood. He said that amount fell in the average range for

impairment cases. And he explained that when this drug is prescribed for

conditions such as ADHD, it is at a therapeutic level of twenty nanograms per

milliliter. The district court determined that credible evidence supported the jury’s

verdict: “A reasonable jury could conclude that having twenty-five times the

therapeutic level of methamphetamine in a person’s system may have a negative

impact on that person’s physical condition, including their ability to safely operate

a motor vehicle.” On top of the lab report, the court pointed to Hennings’s erratic

behavior in recorded interactions with Officer Foster.

On this record, we cannot say the district court abused its discretion in

denying Hennings’s motion for a new trial. See Ernst, 954 N.W.2d at 61. 9

2. Leaving the Scene of a Fatal Accident

To convict Hennings of this offense, the jury had to find five elements:

(1) Hennings drove a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in Stirling’s death;

(2) she knew about the accident; (3) she knew the accident resulted in injury or

death or knew the accident was “of such a nature” that a reasonable person would

expect that injury or death occurred to another person; (4) Hennings failed to stop

her vehicle at the scene of the accident or as close as possible to the scene or

failed to return to and remain at the scene though able to do so; and (5) after the

accident, Hennings failed to: (a) leave her driver’s license, registration, or other

identification data at the scene of the accident; or (b) promptly report the accident

to law enforcement authorities after leaving the scene. See Iowa Code

§§ 321.261(4), .263.

Hennings takes aim at the State’s proof for elements (4) and (5). On the

fourth element, Hennings recounts the evidence that her van was disabled and

asserts that she was “directed by law enforcement away from her vehicle due to

the explosion risk.”4 On the fifth element, she contends that the State did not offer

evidence that she failed to provide information. Citing State v. Tarbox, she insists

that she did not fail to report the accident because police were already at the scene

when the crash occurred. See 739 N.W.2d 850, 854−55 (Iowa 2007).

4 Hennings cites no part of the record to support that assertion. See Iowa Rs. App. P. 6.903, .904(4). And on our review, we cannot find that any officer directed her to run blocks away from the accident scene. 10

In response, the State quotes a long passage from the district court’s order

denying the new-trial motion. But the State does not zero in on the elements

challenged by Hennings. Nor does it address Tarbox.

Despite those omissions in the State’s response, we find no abuse of

discretion. The court highlighted Officer Lohnes’s dash cam video, admitted as an

exhibit, to show Hennings’s flight from the crash scene. Indeed, Lohnes saw

someone running at “a dead sprint” away from the accident when he first arrived.

When he learned from witnesses that the runner had been driving the van, he set

out to find her. He circled his patrol car around and, within minutes, found

Hennings in a nearby yard. The district court could rely on that evidence to

conclude that Hennings did not remain at the scene, though she could have, and

that she left without providing anyone with identifying information. See State v.

Sebben, 185 N.W.2d 771, 774 (Iowa 1971) (stating that the “manifest intent” of

section 321.261 was to prevent motorists involved in personal injury accidents from

evading liability, civil or criminal, by escaping before their identify can be

established). The court properly exercised its discretion in finding the jury’s verdict

was supported by the greater weight of the evidence.

C. One-Homicide Rule

Finally, Hennings contends the district court violated the one-homicide rule

by entering judgment on both homicide by intoxicated operation and homicide by

reckless driving. The State agrees. We thus “annul[] and set aside” her conviction

for homicide by reckless driving. See State v. Wissing, 528 N.W.2d 561, 567 (Iowa

1995). And we remand for entry of a new sentencing order reflecting that change.