Court Opinion

ID: 9855455
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:25:16.601867+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:35:46.945268
License: Public Domain

Judge Hedrick
dissenting.
For the reasons set forth below, I respectfully dissent from the majority decision awarding a new trial to defendant:
On 22 August 1983 the defendant filed a motion for appropriate relief in which he alleged that “the Court erred by failing to dismiss the charge against the defendant on the grounds that it is in violation of the constitution of the United States in that the prosecution of the involuntary manslaughter charge results in former jeopardy.” Although the record contains no ruling by the trial judge on defendant’s motion for appropriate relief, the motion is deemed denied, under N.C. Gen. Stat. Sec. 15A-1448 (a)(4), because of the court’s failure to rule on the motion within ten days. Defendant assigns error to the court’s failure to dismiss the charge against him on the grounds of former jeopardy. I agree.
The record discloses that on 31 March 1983 defendant was found guilty of driving under the influence in violation of N.C. Gen. Stat. Sec. 20-138 (repealed 1983). Judgment was entered on the verdict sentencing defendant to serve six months in jail. On 10 August 1983 defendant was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter arising out of the same transaction as that giving rise to the earlier conviction of driving under the influence. The record affirmatively discloses that defendant’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter was based on the underlying offense of driving under the influence in violation of G.S. 20-138.
The law applicable to the facts of the instant case is clear. In State v. McKenzie, 292 N.C. 170, 232 S.E. 2d 424 (1977), our Supreme Court held that prosecution of a defendant for involuntary manslaughter based on driving under the influence would be barred by the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment, where the defendant had earlier been acquitted of driving under the influence. Three years after our Supreme Court’s ruling in McKenzie, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Illinois v. Vitale, 447 U.S. 410, 65 L.Ed. 2d 228, 100 S.Ct. 2260 (1980). Vitale involved a defendant who had been con*586victed of failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident; the State later attempted to prosecute the defendant for involuntary manslaughter. Said the Supreme Court: “[I]f in the pending manslaughter prosecution Illinois relies on and proves a failure to slow to avoid an accident as the reckless act necessary to prove manslaughter, Vitale would have a substantial claim of double jeopardy under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.” Id. at 421, 65 L.Ed. 2d at 238, 100 S.Ct. at 2267. This Court cited and followed Vitale in State v. Griffin, 51 N.C. App. 564, 277 S.E. 2d 77 (1981), wherein we held that a defendant previously convicted of failure to yield the right-of-way could not subsequently be prosecuted for the offense of death by vehicle based on the underlying violation of failure to yield the right-of-way.
I think it clear from an examination of the record and the above-cited authorities that defendant in the instant case has twice been put in jeopardy for the offense of driving under the influence. Accordingly, I vote to arrest judgment in the case wherein defendant was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.