Court Opinion

ID: 9568293
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:02:17.639105+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:24:33.893014
License: Public Domain

FINNEY, Chief Justice:
I respectfully dissent from that part of the majority’s opinion which finds “sufficient independent evidence to support the trustworthiness of Respondent’s statements to police.” The independent evidence showed only:
(1) Respondent’s car was involved in an accident;
(2) Respondent registered .14% on a breathalyzer test administered more than three hours after the car ran off the road; and
(3) Respondent retracted his original claim that the car had been stolen.
The absence of any corroborating evidence that the car was being operated at the time of the accident by a person with impaired faculties means the State failed to prove the corpus delicti of driving under the influence. In my opinion, the mere fact that a car is involved in an accident is simply insufficient to show that the operator was impaired. Cf. In the Matter of Stacy Ray A., 303 S.C. 291, 400 S.E.2d 141 (1991) overruled in part on other grounds State v. Rowell, 326 S.C. 313, 487 S.E.2d 185 (1997) (fact that fatal collision occurred insufficient to show reckless homicide).
I would affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.