Opinion ID: 1819366
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: motor vehicle homicide and drunk driving

Text: In finding Hoffman guilty of motor vehicle homicide (count II), the district court found Hoffman guilty of drunk driving in violation of § 39-669.07, and also found Hoffman guilty of the separate charge of drunk driving alleged in count III. There is no question that the drunk driving, as a violation of a Nebraska statute necessary for the crime of motor vehicle homicide charged in count II, was the identical prohibited act and the exact offense charged in count III. Consequently, count II and count III involved the same actdrunk driving. If the predicate offense is drunk driving in violation of § 39-669.07, a charge and conviction of motor vehicle homicide, analytically compared with the offense of drunk driving, requires the additional element of homicide caused by such drunk driving. Thus, when the predicate offense for motor vehicle homicide is drunk driving in violation of § 39-669.07, drunk driving is a lesser-included offense in motor vehicle homicide. See, State v. Best, 42 Ohio St.2d 530, 330 N.E.2d 421 (1975); People v. Dickens, 144 Mich.App. 49, 373 N.W.2d 241 (1985). Consequently, commission of motor vehicle homicide, as a result of a violation of § 39-669.07, necessarily includes the offense of drunk driving. The constitutional protection against double jeopardy, therefore, applies to Hoffman's convictions on counts II and III. In Hoffman's case, the district court imposed consecutive sentences for all the convictions. The consecutive sentences imposed on Hoffman for motor vehicle homicide and drunk driving are cumulative sentences for the same offense and constitute separate and multiple punishments for the same offense, a denial of the protection against double jeopardy afforded by the Constitutions, both state and federal. See Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977). We must, therefore, reverse the district court's judgment for Hoffman's conviction and sentence for drunk driving in violation of § 39-669.07 (count III) and remand this matter to the district court for dismissal of count III contained in the information against Hoffman.