Court Opinion

ID: 9732286
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:14:04.075238+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:23:35.540249
License: Public Domain

LARSEN, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent.
*543Evidence regarding the intoxication of a victim should never be relevant when a defendant is charged with homicide by vehicle. 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3732. It is the behavior of a victim which is of relevance to the element of causation, and the behavior of the victim in this case was fully presented to the jury. What motivates such behavior, however, is entirely irrelevant. I do not believe that a driver who kills a pedestrian, who may be intoxicated, while that driver operates his or her vehicle in a manner which violates the Motor Vehicle Code, is any less culpable than a driver who kills a pedestrian suddenly stricken by an epileptic seizure.
Accordingly, I would affirm the order of Superior Court, affirming the judgment of sentence.