State v. Cutting

488 P.2d 667, 15 Ariz. App. 311, 1971 Ariz. App. LEXIS 757
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedSeptember 13, 1971
Docket1 CA-CR 327
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 488 P.2d 667 (State v. Cutting) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Cutting, 488 P.2d 667, 15 Ariz. App. 311, 1971 Ariz. App. LEXIS 757 (Ark. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

DONOFRIO, Judge.

This is an appeal by defendant Glenn Eugene Cutting from a jury conviction of the crime of manslaughter in the driving of a motor vehicle, a misdemeanor, and leaving the scene of an accident involving death, a misdemeanor. The information charged these crimes in two separate counts. . The court suspended the imposition of sentence and placed the defendant on probation on both counts for a period of two years.

On appeal the defendant raises two questions for review: (1) whether defendant’s acquittal in the city court of the charge of driving' an automobile while under the influence of intoxicating liquor (A.R.S. § 28-692) and the subsequent conviction in Superior Court of manslaughter in the driving of a motor vehicle (A.R.S. § 13-456) placed the defendant in double jeopardy; and (2) whether there was suffi-' cient evidence to find the defendant guilty of the charge of leaving the scene of the accident.

The relevant facts are as follows. At approximately 10:00 p. m. on February 12, 1970, the defendant while driving his automobile in a southerly direction on 52nd Street, a two-lane street in a Phoenix residential area, crossed into the oncoming lane of traffic and collided head on with an automobile approaching from the opposite direction. The driver of the other automobile was killed as a result of the collision.

At the Superior Court trial it was established that immediately after the collision the defendant left the scene of the accident afoot, failing to give his name, address, vehicle registration number, or give assistance or make arrangements for any of the injured persons, and proceeded to a nearby tavern where shortly thereafter he was taken into custody, driven to the police station and was administered a breatholizer test to determine intoxication. The breatholizer test showed a .21 percent of alcohol by weight in defendant’s blood, indicating a statutory presumption that defendant -vyas under the influence of intoxicating liquor.

On February 13, 1970, the defendant was charged in Superior Court with two offenses : Count I, “Manslaughter (In Driving of Motor Vehicle), a Misdemeanor”, and Count II, “Leaving the Scene of an Accident Involving Death, a Misdemean- or.”

On May 1, 1970, defendant filed a request for a bill of particulars, asking that the prosecution “state the unlawful act, not amounting to a felony, which was without gross negligence that is referred to in Count One.” The State thereafter supplied this bill of particulars:

“The unlawful acts, not amounting to felonies, which were without gross negligence, that is referred to in Count I of the State’s direct information in the above cause number are (1) the driving *313 of a motor vehicle while intoxicated to a degree which lessened the defendant’s ability to drive, (2) crossing the center line on a highway or public street and colliding head-on with an on-coming car (3) and failure to yield the right-of-way to a vehicle having such right-of-way, (4) Failure to keep his vehicle under control at all times, contrary to the laws of this state.”

At arraignment the defendant stood mute and the court entered a plea of not guilty, granting defendant leave to file motions to the information at a later time. On May 11, 1970, two days before trial, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss, grounded upon the fact that defendant had been previously tried in the Phoenix Municipal Court for driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor; that the matter was at the time under advisement; and that the City Court trial precluded trial in Superior Court for manslaughter because of the constitutional provision of ■double jeopardy, driving while under the influence being based on the same act as the manslaughter charge. The motion was denied.

The case came on for trial on May 13, 1970, and proceeded for some five days. At the trial considerable testimony was introduced concerning defendant’s drinking on the evening of the accident and of his being under the influence of intoxicating liquor.

We shall first direct our attention to the question raised concerning double jeopardy. Defendant contends the Superior Court wrongfully denied his motion to dismiss, which was based on the principles of double jeopardy. We do not agree.

Defendant was asking for a dismissal of the vehicular manslaughter charge solely because a charge of driving while intoxicated was pending in the Municipal Court. If for no other reason than that the defendant was accused of several unlawful acts other than driving while intoxicated to support the charge of vehicular manslaughter, the court was correct in denying the motion to dismiss the entire charge at that stage before trial.

In an attempt to further analyze defendant’s assertion of double jeopardy, we have searched the record and find no evidence or proffer thereof of defendant’s alleged trial and acquittal in Phoenix Municipal Court of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. In fact, before the verdict in this case was rendered the file contains only one mention of the proceedings in the Municipal Court, and that is supplied by defendant’s unverified motion to dismiss. This motion states the trial in the Municipal Court was under advisement at the time. As we read the record, at no time after the trial commenced did the defendant raise the question of double jeopardy, nor did he object to the introduction of any evidence when offered on the question of intoxication. Neither did defendant ask for any instructions, cautionary or otherwise, limiting the use of the evidence concerning intoxication. In view of the fact that the crime of vehicular manslaughter in this case is supported by evidence of other unlawful acts not amounting to felonies, namely, crossing the center line on a highway or public street and colliding head on with an oncoming car and failure to yield the right-of-way to a vehicle having such right-of-way, and failure to keep his vehicle under control at all times, contrary to the laws of this State, and also because the question of intoxication is material and the defendant relied upon it in the explanation of his actions upon leaving the scene of the accident, we hold that the burden was upon defendant to properly object when evidence concerning intoxication was introduced.

Our Supreme Court, through a long line of cases, holds that matters in criminal cases must be reviewed and decided solely on the record made in the trial court. State v. Telavera, 76 Ariz. 183, 261 P.2d 997 (1953); Sam v. State, 33 Ariz. 383, 265 P. 609 (1928); Shew Chin v. State, 33 Ariz. 419, 265 P. 621 (1928); *314 Gee Long v. State, 33 Ariz. 420, 265 P. 622 (1928).

It is within defendant’s control as to what the record on appeal will contain, and it is-defendant’s duty to prepare the record in such a manner as to enable us to pass upon the questions sought to be raised in his appeal. Because of the record and defendant’s failure to object to the evidence of intoxication, we feel ourselves bound not to consider the matter of double jeopardy.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
488 P.2d 667, 15 Ariz. App. 311, 1971 Ariz. App. LEXIS 757, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cutting-arizctapp-1971.