Court Opinion

ID: 9491998
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:29:50.220186+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:03.523807
License: Public Domain

CYNTHIA HOLCOMB HALL, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting.
I agree with the majority that the district court erred by admitting into evidence the PBT results. However, because I believe that the admission of the PBT results had only a slight influence on the jury’s verdict, I believe that the district court’s error was harmless. Therefore, I dissent.
“This circuit has established that conviction of involuntary manslaughter requires proof that a defendant acted grossly negligent in that he acted with a wanton or reckless disregard for human life, knowing that his conduct was a threat to the lives of others or having knowledge of such circumstances as could enable him to foresee the peril to which his act might subject others.” United States v. F.D.L., 836 F.2d 1113, 1118 (8th Cir.1988). The evidence presented at trial showed that Iron Cloud was under the influence of alcohol and marijuana while speeding at night through a residential neighborhood on the wrong side of the road and that, immediately after seeing Able Iron Rope walking along the side of the road, Iron Cloud took his eyes off the road to carry on a conversation with his passenger and ran over Iron Rope.
Independent of the PBT results, the government introduced the results of an intoxilyzer test,10 administered less than one hour after the accident, indicating that Iron Cloud’s blood-alcohol content was 0.11. In addition, the government introduced the results of a gas chromatography test11 that, when taken together with the *594'results of the intoxilyzer test, indicated that Iron Cloud’s blood alcohol content at the time of the accident was 0.13. Even Iron Cloud introduced evidence showing that his blood alcohol content at the time of the accident was between 0.07 and 0.09. The government’s expert testified that Iron Cloud’s ability to drive safely would have been significantly impaired at a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08. In addition to the evidence of Iron Cloud’s blood alcohol concentration, the government introduced evidence showing that Iron Cloud had been smoking marijuana shortly before the accident. The government’s expert testified that the marijuana would have aggravated any impairment from which Iron Cloud was suffering due to the alcohol. Therefore, the jury could have inferred that, even at a blood alcohol content as low as 0.07, Iron Cloud’s ability to drive safely was more significantly impaired as a result of the marijuana.
In addition to the empirical evidence of Iron Cloud’s impaired ability to drive, the government showed that, instead of staying to help Iron Rope, Iron Cloud fled the scene of the accident and returned home. Although Iron Cloud claims to have told his wife to call 911, he testified that he did not know whether she ever made that call. When the police arrived at Iron Cloud’s house, his wife met them at the door and told them Iron Cloud was asleep. However, when Iron Cloud came out of his bedroom, the police noticed that he did not look like he had been sleeping, but instead appeared nervous and intoxicated.12
Under these circumstances, I believe that the evidence shows overwhelmingly that Iron Cloud knew that his actions were a threat to Iron Rope’s life, and that despite this knowledge Iron Cloud acted in wanton disregard of Iron Rope’s life. Based on the overwhelming evidence demonstrating that Iron Cloud was grossly negligent in running over Iron Rope, I believe that the PBT result had “only a very slight influence on the verdict,” and that its admission was therefore harmless error. See United States v. Wilcox, 50 F.3d 600, 603 (8th Cir.1995) (citation omitted).
The majority suggests that Iron Cloud should be absolved of guilt because Iron Rope may have jumped in front of Iron Cloud’s truck. I cannot agree because if Iron Cloud had not been drinking and smoking marijuana before driving, and had not been speeding and ignoring the road while he was driving, he could have avoided Iron Rope, even if Iron Rope did jump in front of Iron Cloud’s truck.13 Therefore, I believe that Iron Cloud’s operation of his truck in this manner was grossly negligent, despite the possibility that Iron Rope jumped in front of Iron Cloud’s truck.
Based on the foregoing, I believe that the judgment against Iron Cloud should be affirmed.

. The Supreme Court has determined that the intoxilyzer test is an accurate and reliable method of measuring blood-alcohol concentration. See California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 489, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984).

. The Supreme Court stated that the gas chromatography test is highly accurate in identifying the presence of alcohol and drugs in a subject’s blood. Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives’ Ass’n, 489 U.S. 602, 610 n. 3, 109 S.Ct. 1402, 103 L.Ed.2d 639 (1989).

. The majority suggests that the admission of the PBT results caused the jury to question Iron Cloud's credibility with respect to his testimony that he drank only six beers instead of the 11 or 12 to which the government's witness testified. However, I believe that Iron Cloud’s evasive behavior following the accident gave the jury adequate reason to question Iron Cloud’s testimony.

. The two drivers who testified about their encounters with Iron Rope were both able to avoid hitting him. In addition, I note that, because Iron Cloud was looking at his passenger instead of the road, and because his passenger was seated to his right, Iron Cloud was looking in the direction from which Iron Rope allegedly jumped. However, Iron Cloud never even saw Iron Rope until after he had driven completely over him. I believe that Iron Cloud's wanton inattention to the road, knowing that he was in a residential neighborhood and knowing that a pedestrian was walking on the side of the road, coupled with the darkness of night, the excessive speed at which he was driving, and the drug-induced impairment of his ability to drive constitutes gross negligence.