State v. Cantrell

186 P.2d 539, 64 Wyo. 132, 1947 Wyo. LEXIS 26
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 18, 1947
Docket2370
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 186 P.2d 539 (State v. Cantrell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Cantrell, 186 P.2d 539, 64 Wyo. 132, 1947 Wyo. LEXIS 26 (Wyo. 1947).

Opinions

*138 OPINION

Riner, Chief Justice.

This case is a direct appeal proceeding brought by Luther A. Cantrell, defendant and appellant, to obtain the review of a record which resulted in a judgment and sentence against him by the district court of Albany County. The record in that court was initiated by the filing therein by the County and Prosecuting Attorney of a verified information charging Cantrell as defendant with the crime of manslaughter. Omitting the formal parts and the allegations of time and place, this information stated that Luther Cantrell “did unlawfully kill Charles Frederick Winchell, a human being, contrary to the form of the statute” etc. The defendant had previously been arrested and was in due course admitted to bail.

Briefly, the facts upon which this charge was filed were that on the 21st day of October, 1945 Cantrell *139 had driven his Chevrolet truck weighing approximately a ton and a half, its body loaded with loose apples which he had purchased in the Grand Valley of the State of Colorado for subsequent sale, from Rawlins, Wyoming to a point on U. S. Highway No. 30 nearly one mile south of Bosler — a total distance of about 100 miles. At this point he attempted to pass a Dodge sedan car made over into a pick up truck driven by Winchell, both vehicles traveling in a southerly direction. The Dodge truck at the time was proceeding well over on its own side, the westerly half, of the highway, Winchell being an elderly man, 78 years old, and a slow, careful driver. The defendant stated as a witness in his own behalf in explanation of the accident which occurred on the highway at this place:

“Just as I came up on the car and started to go around him, you know, started to pass him, the right tire blew out. When it did, it throwed me right into him just that (snapping fingers) quick.”

There was other testimony, however, that the collision between the two trucks was caused by the Cantrell vehicle striking that driven by Winchell in the rear so that the impact of the two cars was on “the inside of that rim” i. e. on the inside of the right front tire of Cantrell’s car, the left wheel track of that truck being on the center line of the road and the other wheel track being over towards the Winchell Dodge pick up. The front of the Cantrell truck was severely damaged and the Winchell car was wrecked, as one witness put it “it was practically a total wreck”.

The testimony of A. W. Wheeler, a Wyoming Highway patrolman who had seen ten years of service as such is instructive in this connection. As a witness for the State he testified: That he arrived at the scene of the accident shortly thereafter at 4:10 P. M. on October 21st, 1945; that the weather was “perfect”; that the road at this point was level with 26 feet width of oiled *140 surface for travel, six feet of solid shoulder that was level with the oiled surface making- a total width of the road from shoulder to shoulder for highway travel of 38 feet; that the flange that held the tire on the right front wheel of Cantrell’s truck had been hit by the frame of the Winchell car and knocked it back; that the tire on that wheel was cut out and the spring hanger was broken so that it allowed the front wheel to go clear back to the cab of the truck and that pulled the left front tire into the frame of Cantrell’s vehicle and cut it out also; that the marks are on the tires and the witness knew “positively there was no flat tire on the Cantrell truck prior to the impact”; that marks left on the road by the two cars showed that the left wheel of the Winchell car was three feet over on the right hand side of the center of the highway’s oiled surface; that his truck was hit so hard in the rear and on an angle that it pushed the body around and pulled the left front wheel off the Winchell car; that that car had its axle stripped off and was knocked a distance of 90 feet and it upset in the borrow pit on its side; that the frame of the Winchell car was buckled up in the center; that being hit in the rear just made it arch up; that the tie rod of the Cantrell car was not broken but the drag link was; that previous to the impact, Cantrell’s car had been entirely off the oiled surface and upon the shoulder of the highway; that Cantrell told the witness he had been on an all night party in Raw-lins, had had a drink of whiskey in Rock River on the way from Rawlins and at the time the witness saw him he was under the influence of liquor and witness detected the odor of intoxicating liquor on Cantrell’s breath.

On cross examination the same witness said that neither of the two front tires of the Cantrell truck blew out; they were cut out; that the right front tire was cut on its inside; that the wheel immediately started *141 taking dips out of the road with the rim after the impact ; that prior to that time there were no rim marks. Other witnesses gave substantially similar testimony.

In addition there was testimony given by a number of witnesses for the State, people who were driving on the highway at the time and who had stopped and gathered at the scene of the accident and who had abundant opportunity to observe Cantrell shortly after the two cars had collided, that Cantrell was then staggering; that he could not talk plainly; that he was stammering and stuttering; that they could smell alcohol on his breath and that he was drunk; that he was at that time under the influence of intoxicating liquor. A practicing physician and surgeon of the city of Laramie to whom Cantrell was taken for examination as to injuries approximately three or four hours after the accident happened, also gave testimony as a witness for the State that at that time Cantrell was “inaccurate in his movements, unsteady in the stance, moving in a weaving kind of a way”; that “there was no external mark of any injury whatsoever” on Cantrell’s body although he complained of a soreness in his chest; that Cantrell’s staggering gait, dilation of eye pupils which were sluggish in their reaction, inaccurate movements, were in the doctor’s opinion “the result of over indulgence of alcohol”.

The consequence of the impact of the two vehicles was that both of them left the highway which was there raised above the adjacent terrain and, as before stated, both went into the borrow pit on the right hand side of the highway. The Cantrell truck remained upright on its own wheels but the Winchell vehicle toppled over on its side. The Chevrolet truck stopped 125 feet south and west of the Dodge pick up. One witness stated after examining the tracks left on the highway by the two cars and taking measurements that the Cantrell truck went about 240 feet after the collision *142 while the Winchell truck went 75 feet before it left the road; that during that 75 feet it left indications on the highway that it was going sidewise.

After the collision Winchell was taken out of the Dodge truck critically injured. An ambulance was called and he was taken to a hospital in Laramie distant about 17 or 18 miles.

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Bluebook (online)
186 P.2d 539, 64 Wyo. 132, 1947 Wyo. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cantrell-wyo-1947.