State v. Geske

2012 WI App 15, 810 N.W.2d 226, 339 Wis. 2d 170, 2012 Wisc. App. LEXIS 6
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 4, 2012
DocketNo. 2010AP2808-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2012 WI App 15 (State v. Geske) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin 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. Geske, 2012 WI App 15, 810 N.W.2d 226, 339 Wis. 2d 170, 2012 Wisc. App. LEXIS 6 (Wis. 2012).

Opinion

HOOVER, P.J.

¶ 1. Anrietta Geske appeals a judgment of conviction for recklessly endangering safety and two counts of first-degree reckless homicide, and an order denying her motion for postconviction relief. Geske argues there was insufficient evidence supporting the utter disregard for human life element of the homicide charges. She further argues that computer-[175]*175simulated accident reconstruction evidence was erroneously admitted for multiple reasons, and that the circuit court erroneously exercised its sentencing discretion. We reject Geske's arguments and affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2. Geske consumed prescription medication, had drinks at a bar, and then drove her Porsche into the side of a rusty Buick at a high speed, killing the Buick's two occupants. Moments earlier, sixteen-year-old Tyler Hampton was operating his vehicle on South Oneida Street in Green Bay, a well-traveled commercial strip. Hampton was in the left lane, stopped at a red light at Cormier Road. He noticed a Porsche convertible in the right lane. When the light turned green, Hampton "[took] off. .. kind of fast," leaving the Porsche behind.

¶ 3. The speed limit was thirty miles per hour. Hampton was driving between forty and forty-five miles per hour when, in the middle of the next block, he started to slow down for a red light at Willard Drive. Then, he "heard the Porsche's engine get really loud. So I had figured she downshifted, and I saw her basically just zoom past me." Hampton estimated the Porsche was going "[a]round 80, 85 miles an hour." It went through the red light at Willard, and Hampton "didn't see any brake lights go on." Hampton saw a dark-colored sedan drive from Willard onto Oneida. The Porsche swerved left, but struck the sedan.

¶ 4. Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Sadowsky was a passenger in Hampton's car. She also recalled encountering the Porsche at the Cormier Road intersection. In the middle of the next block, Sadowsky saw

her coming out of the corner of my eye and just like flying past us really fast like I have never really seen a car go that fast on that road or any road in general past me, and ... I was like holy cow, and then Tyler noticed [176]*176that the light in front of us was red, and he was like, "Liz, that's a red light," and I was like she's not stopping at all....

Sadowsky could see the driver as the Porsche passed by. "[S]he was very like set back in her car, and her hair was just like flying all over because... the top was down . . . ." Sadowsky thought the Porsche was going at least eighty miles per hour. She could not remember whether the driver braked, but she did see the swerve.

¶ 5. Geske's blood alcohol content was .072 about two hours after the crash. Additionally, she had consumed prescription medication carrying recommendations against also consuming alcohol. Geske testified that as she reached for her small dog, which had become loose in the vehicle, she took her attention from the road and inadvertently accelerated and ran the red light.

¶ 6. Police officer Thomas Kraus explained that the Porsche "was protruded so far into [the Buick], that it caused the back tires to come up .... It was — in my 20 years' experience ... the most damage done to a vehicle that I've ever seen." Lieutenant Scott Schermitzler testified, "The wreckage ... was devastating" and "significantly more severe than normal." Other public safety professionals similarly testified that the wreckage was the worst they had seen in their decades of experience.

¶ 7. The State presented two experts who analyzed the crash scene and reconstructed the crash. Deputy Kevin Pawlak explained that after colliding, the joined cars traveled 127 feet. He opined that distance was inconsistent with a fifty or sixty mile per hour crash. Rather, he concluded the Porsche was traveling between seventy-nine and ninety-six miles per hour at the time of impact, with the most probable speed being around eighty-seven miles per hour. State patrol sergeant Duane Meyers estimated that Geske was traveling eighty to [177]*177eighty-six miles per hour at the time of impact. He believed the "extensive damage" was inconsistent with the Porsche traveling at fifty or sixty miles per hour.

¶ 8. Geske presented one expert, engineer John DeRosia. DeRosia prepared an accident reconstruction and concluded Geske was going between fifty-two and fifty-seven miles per hour. DeRosia also explained why he felt the State's experts were mistaken. He stressed that the rusty condition of the Buick significantly compromised its structural integrity and that the extensive damage was therefore consistent with a lower speed crash. He also disagreed with Pawlak's drag factor or "friction rates" for the vehicles as they moved after the collision.

¶ 9. The jury was instructed on the lesser included offenses of second-degree reckless homicide and negligent homicide. It found Geske guilty of two counts of first-degree reckless homicide and of recklessly endangering safety.1 Following the denial of her postconviction motion, Geske appeals.

DISCUSSION

Sufficiency of the evidence

¶ 10. Geske argues the State failed to prove the first-degree reckless homicide element that she acted with utter disregard for human life. When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we may not substitute our [178]*178judgment for that of the jury unless the evidence, viewed most favorably to the conviction, is so lacking in probative value and force that no trier of fact, acting reasonably, could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Poellinger, 153 Wis. 2d 493, 501, 451 N.W.2d 752 (1990). However, the determination of whether the evidence satisfies the legal elements of the charge constitutes a question of law that we review independently. State v. Wulff, 207 Wis. 2d 143, 151-54, 557 N.W.2d 813 (1997).

¶ 11. Relevant factors to consider in determining whether conduct showed utter disregard for human life include: what the defendant was doing; why the defendant was engaged in that conduct; how dangerous the conduct was; how obvious the danger was; and whether the conduct showed any regard for life. State v. Jensen, 2000 WI 84, ¶ 24, 236 Wis. 2d 521, 613 N.W.2d 170; Wis JI — Criminal 1020 (Apr. 2002). Ultimately, we " consider the totality of the circumstances when determining whether the defendant showed some regard for life." State v. Burris, 2011 WI 32, ¶¶ 36, 41, 333 Wis. 2d 87, 797 N.W.2d 430 (quoting State v. Miller, 2009 WI App 111, ¶ 35 n.12, 320 Wis. 2d 724, 772 N.W.2d 188). The utter disregard standard has been explained as follows:

Utter disregard requires more than a high degree of negligence or recklessness. To evince utter disregard, the mind must not only disregard the safety of another but be devoid of regard for the life of another. A depraved mind lacks a moral sense, an appreciation of life, is unreasonable and lacks judgment. A person acting with utter disregard must possess a state of mind which has no regard for the moral or social duties of a human being.

Miller, 320 Wis. 2d 724, ¶ 33 (punctuation omitted)

[179]*179(citing Wagner v. State, 76 Wis.

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Bluebook (online)
2012 WI App 15, 810 N.W.2d 226, 339 Wis. 2d 170, 2012 Wisc. App. LEXIS 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-geske-wis-2012.