Opinion ID: 1752743
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Sentences on each count of involuntary manslaughter.

Text: Trial court's imposition of a separate sentence of no more than five years confinement and a $500 fine on each of the two counts of involuntary manslaughter charged by the trial information is also challenged by defendant. The sentences were to run concurrently. Defendant argues that only one sentence is permissible because both deaths arise out of a single act of recklessness. In support of this argument, defendant relies on State v. Wheelock, 216 Iowa 1428, 250 N.W. 617 (1933), where three indictments of involuntary manslaughter were returned against the defendant predicated upon a single accident in which three persons in an automobile struck by defendant's vehicle died. The defendant was tried on one of the charges and acquitted, and then pleaded former jeopardy when the State sought to try him on another of the charges. In recognizing the validity of the former jeopardy plea under those circumstances, Wheelock adopted the rule that an act of negligence on the part of a tort-feasor, which results in the involuntary killing of two or more human beings, is ordinarily a single offense and is subject to one prosecution. Id. at 1448, 250 N.W. at 625 (emphasis in original). The Wheelock court explained its rationale and underscored the narrowness of the holding in this passage: Except as to cases of involuntary manslaughter, it is not the purpose, or the purport, of this opinion, to establish any new precedent or to extend or restrict what has already been said in our own cases. Our opinion herein shall go no farther than to determine whether an involuntary manslaughter of two or more persons attributable to the single negligence of the defendant, without any intent on his part to cause any injury, is a single or a multiple offense. If the respective courts differ in their conclusions in cases involving other offenses, such difference arises nevertheless on the question of fact as to whether the intent of the perpetrator was single or plural. In the case before us there is no basis for the claim of multiple intent either as a question of fact or of law. Id. (emphasis in original). The procedural posture in Wheelock can be distinguished from that presented here: Wheelock involved the issue of successive trials where a single act produced multiple victims; this case presents multiple charges in a single prosecution arising from a single act. Nevertheless, Wheelock does lend support for defendant's argument that only a single sentence may be imposed because both charges, even though contained in a single prosecution, arise out of a single act. The Wheelock holding, we believe, must be re-examined in light of developments since it was decided. When announcing the rule that multiple-victim involuntary manslaughter resulting from a single act is but a single offense, the Wheelock court stated that in so holding it was [i]n line with all the other courts, which have passed upon the specific question.... Id. This expression in that opinion followed an extensive survey of authorities from across the country. It is clear, however, that today the overwhelming weight of authority recognizes that there are as many separate and distinct offenses as there are deaths resulting from a single incident of vehicular manslaughter. See, e.g., State v. Miranda, 3 Ariz.App. 550, 557-58, 416 P.2d 444, 451-52 (1966); McHugh v. State, 160 Fla. 823, 824, 36 So.2d 786, 787 (1948), cert. denied, 336 U.S. 918, 69 S.Ct. 640, 93 L.Ed. 1081 (1949); State v. Lowe, 130 So.2d. 288 (Fla.Dist.Ct. App.1961); People v. Allen, 368 Ill. 368, 379, 14 N.E.2d 397, 405 (1937), appeal dismissed, 308 U.S. 511, 60 S.Ct. 132, 84 L.Ed. 436 (1939); Fleming v. Commonwealth, 284 Ky. 209, 210-11, 144 S.W.2d 220, 221 (1940); Burton v. State, 226 Miss. 31, 45, 79 So.2d 242, 249-50 (1955); State v. Whitley, 382 S.W.2d 665, 667 (Mo.1964); Jeppesen v. State, 154 Neb. 765, 768-69, 49 N.W.2d 611, 613-14 (1951); State v. Martin, 154 Ohio St. 539, 541-42, 96 N.E.2d 776, 778 (1951); Fay v. State, 62 Okl.Crim.App. 350, 357, 71 P.2d 768, 771 (1937); State v. Irvin, 603 S.W.2d 121 (Tenn.1980); State v. Rabe, 96 Wis.2d 48, 72-76, 291 N.W.2d 809, 821-22 (1980); see also 7A Am.Jur.2d, Automobiles and Highway Traffic § 391 (1980). For several reasons, we are persuaded that we should adopt the majority view. First, we believe Wheelock's focus upon the lack of intent to inflict multiple deaths is faulty. The role of intent pertains only to the commission of the act which causes the death of others, not to the number of deaths which result from the act. By the very nature of the offense, involuntary manslaughter deaths are unintentional, the fortuitous result of an act found to be reckless. Next, we recognize that a single reckless act can foreseeably victimize several persons. This case serves as an example. See State v. Rabe, 291 N.W.2d at 822. Finally, the Wheelock rule, once [i]n line with all the other courts, now finds scant acceptance. See State v. Irvin, 603 S.W.2d at 121, 124 n.2. We now hold that a separate and distinct offense arises from each death caused by a single act of vehicular involuntary manslaughter. Wheelock and other decisions holding to the contrary are overruled to the extent that they conflict herewith. Insofar as Wheelock addressed the issue of successive trials following an initial acquittal in the situation where a single criminal act produces multiple victims, the decision has continuing vitality. See Ashe v. Swensen, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970) (simultaneous robbery of six poker players: defendant tried and acquitted on one charge; trials on second and subsequent charges barred).