State v. Coates

862 S.W.2d 418, 1993 Mo. App. LEXIS 1471, 1993 WL 358766
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 20, 1993
DocketNo. 18368
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 862 S.W.2d 418 (State v. Coates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Coates, 862 S.W.2d 418, 1993 Mo. App. LEXIS 1471, 1993 WL 358766 (Mo. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

CROW, Judge.

About 7:29 p.m., May 14, 1991, Defendant, Ray Lee Coates, was driving a 1985 Pontiac Sunbird station wagon north on County Road 222 in Benton County. Debra1 Jean Turner, age 35, the only other occupant, was seated on the passenger side in front. Approximately a mile north of Warsaw, the vehicle crossed into the southbound (west) lane, left the road and overturned, lolling Ms. Turner.

Defendant was charged with the class C felony of assault in the second degree, in violation of § 565.060, RSMo 1986. That section reads, in pertinent part:

1. A person commits the crime of assault in the second degree if he:
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(3) Recklessly causes serious physical injury to another person
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A jury found Defendant guilty and assessed punishment at one year’s imprisonment in jail. The trial court entered judgment per the verdict. Defendant appeals, presenting two claims of error: (1) the State failed to make a submissible case on the element of recklessness, and (2) the information stated no offense.

In addressing Defendant’s first point, we view the evidence, together with all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, in the light most favorable to the verdict, and [420]*420disregard contrary evidence and inferences. State v. Feltrop, 803 S.W.2d 1, 11 (Mo. banc 1991), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 111 S.Ct. 2918, 115 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1991). Our function is not to weigh the evidence, but to determine whether there was sufficient evidence from which reasonable persons could have found Defendant guilty as charged. Feltrop, 803 S.W.2d at 11.

So viewed, the evidence shows there is a “four-way stop” at the intersection of Van Burén and Jackson Streets in Warsaw. Shortly before the fatal occurrence, Sharon Hoff, a friend of Ms. Turner, saw Defendant driving on Jackson Street, accompanied by Ms. Turner. Defendant drove through the Van Burén intersection without slowing down at the stop sign. Two or three minutes later, Ms. Hoff saw Defendant’s vehicle going the opposite direction on Jackson. It turned right on Benton Street without slowing down or signaling, “threw gravel everywhere,” and nearly hit a parked car.

At the intersection of Polk Street and Highway 7 in Warsaw there are stop signs for traffic each way on Polk. Constance Baker, who resides on Polk Street about a mile from the crash site, saw Defendant driving on Polk near her home. She testified: “[T]he brakes slammed on. It skidded for a few feet and then it lunged forward.” The speed limit on Polk is 25 miles per hour. According to Ms. Baker, Defendant was going “[m]uch faster” than 35. Defendant’s vehicle went through the intersection at Highway 7 — a “[v]ery busy highway” — without slowing down at the stop sign. A few minutes later, Ms. Baker saw an ambulance go past her home. She followed it to the crash site and saw Defendant’s vehicle there.

Jolene Grobe and her husband, Lynn, also reside on Polk Street in Warsaw. Ms. Turner lived nearby on Polk. Jolene heard an automobile “making a lot of noise” coming down Polk. The vehicle “came to a screeching halt.” Jolene went to her front door and saw an automobile in Ms. Turner’s driveway. Defendant was the driver. Jolene heard “a lot of loud talking, children crying.”

Jolene testified, “[Defendant] zipped down the driveway and into the street.” According to Jolene, Defendant’s vehicle was swerving “all over the road.” Jolene called to Defendant, “Slow that thing down or you’re gonna have a wreck.” Defendant replied with “a few choice words.” Defendant “sped on up the street,” across Highway 7 and out of sight. Jolene telephoned the sheriffs office.

Lynn Grobe overheard the verbal exchange between his wife and Defendant. Lynn got into his automobile and pursued Defendant north out of Warsaw. Arriving at the crash site, Lynn saw Defendant’s automobile “upside down in the ditch.” Shortly afterward, an ambulance and Trooper Leland Burnett of the Missouri State Highway Patrol arrived.

An emergency medical technician with the ambulance determined Ms. Turner was dead at the scene.

Trooper Burnett saw Defendant on the ground near the overturned automobile. Burnett noted Defendant “smelled of intoxicants like he’d been drinking.” Defendant’s eyes were “watery, blood-shot, appeared to be dilated.” Asked about Defendant’s speech, Burnett testified: “He was very excited. He was using profanity, yelling and then he’d get quieter and mumble to himself. ... His speech was slurred.” A “blood test” performed on a specimen drawn from Defendant at a hospital at 8:55 p.m., some 86 minutes after the crash, showed an “alcohol content” of .08 percent.

Burnett described the road where the crash occurred as a “rural, blacktop road.” The surface was dry. The speed limit was 55 miles per hour. Burnett observed sand and gravel on the road “along the edge.” A “tire mark” on the road led to the overturned car.

After the crash, a motor vehicle inspector for the Missouri State Highway Patrol inspected the vehicle Defendant was driving. The brake fluid and tire tread depth were adequate. The steering mechanism was working. The brake pads, rotors and brake lines would have passed inspection.

Corporal David Holt of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, an “accident reeonstruetionist” whose expertise was unquestioned by Defendant, investigated the crash and testified as to how it occurred. At the site where [421]*421Defendant’s vehicle left the road and overturned, the road curves to the east (right) for a northbound vehicle. Corporal Holt calculated the “critical speed” — the maximum speed at which Defendant’s northbound automobile could have traveled through the curve and remained in the northbound lane — was “a fraction less than 45 miles per hour.” Holt computed the speed of Defendant’s vehicle as it crossed the center of the road into the southbound (west) lane at 56.7 miles per hour. The only sign of braking detected by Holt was just before the front driver’s side wheel left the west edge of the pavement. Summarizing his findings, Holt testified:

My opinion the accident occurred as the north bound vehicle was attempting to make a right-hand curve and was traveling too fast to safely do so. The vehicle skidded off the left-hand side of the road, struck a dirt embankment with the left-front wheel, the collision with the left front wheel pushed the wheel back into the sheet metal of the automobile cutting a hole in the tire. The tire went flat. The vehicle went up the dirt embankment, came back down and overturned, and came to rest on the highway.

Section 562.016.4, RSMo 1986, reads:

A person “acts recklessly” or is reckless when he consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that circumstances exist or that a result will follow, and such disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation.

In arguing the evidence was insufficient to show he acted recklessly, Defendant emphasizes there was no road sign south of the curve to warn an approaching motorist that the curve could not be negotiated at a speed above 45 miles per hour.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
862 S.W.2d 418, 1993 Mo. App. LEXIS 1471, 1993 WL 358766, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-coates-moctapp-1993.