Deaths Caused by Driving Under the Influence
Facing a charge for dwi or driving while intoxicated (DUI-DWI) is a problematic position for any driver. The problems are significantly more serious when the charge is for some kind of vehicular homicide when someone was murdered as the result of an accident where the driver was consuming alcohol, even on a level insufficient to aid a DUI-DWI charge. Understanding the components of homicide charges arising from drunk-driving mishaps and understanding the prosecution of such cases might help in managing the matter.
Definition of Vehicular Homicide
Vehicular homicide is defined as a distinct offense in many jurisdictions, with the essential elements being that:
- A homicide was committed
- By means of a vehicle
- The operator of which was impaired by alcohol at the time of the accident
A number of states necessitate the prosecution to prove that a driver was inebriated under state law at the time of the accident to aid a conviction, whilst others merely must have evidence that alcohol impairment of the driver was a proximate cause of the death. Proximate cause is something which, in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any intervening cause, produces injury, and without which the result would not have occurred.
Not all homicides, or the killing of persons, are crimes. The definitions of homicide-related criminal offenses will vary amongst jurisdictions, but one can find key differences between the different kinds of crimes.
Murder involves malice, and some jurisdictions will include deaths caused by drunk driving within the definition of murder.
Manslaughter involves intent to kill, but not malice, or actions that are reckless, wanton and grossly negligent, which result in a person’s death, without intent to kill. Manslaughter offenses may be categorized by degree, or there may be a distinction between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.
Some jurisdictions will have a lesser offense of criminally negligent homicide, in which a person caused another person’s death by driving a vehicle in a criminally negligent manner, but the circumstances did not amount to a manslaughter or a murder offense.
Proof of Vehicular Homicide and Defending the Case
From the time of the arrival of the law enforcement at an accident scenario,investigation of the accident and the accumulation of facts will be important to each the prosecution and the defense during a vehicular homicide case. Given the nature of the criminal offense, the accused in a drunk driving vehicular homicide case will probably be an unpopular defendant, yet he could possibly be a driver who before the time of the accident had a sparkling driving report and nowmay be facing mandatory sentencing and imprisonment if convicted. The task of a driver’s defense attorney is critical from the initial stages of the case, as is the function of the prosecutor, who will often have to try to get a conviction dependant on circumstantial evidence as there are often zero witnesses in drunk driving cases.
The important element in a case is to prove the driver’s intoxication or that he was influenced by alcohol, and that his condition was the proximate cause of the death. A driver’s defense attorney will likely start off an independent analysis of the crash, and will seek to eliminate the fault of the driver in the accident. Both police and defense investigations will seek to resolve:
- Whether the defendant was the driver of the vehicle in question
- Whether the defendant/driver was intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident
- Whether the defendant’s/driver’s use of alcohol caused the accident (there may also be attempts to assign fault to other parties, such as the driver’s companions/passengers or the party who provided the driver with alcohol)
- Whether the defendant’s/driver’s car was involved in the accident, which may be a question in hit and run cases
The prosecution and the defense will rely upon several sorts of evidence:
- Evidence from the accident scene, including physical evidence, photos of the scene and the vehicle’s interior, measurements, and street markings
- Identification of the driver involved in the accident
- Testimony from a crash investigator/crash reconstructionist
- Expert witness testimony on the vital question of whether a crime or an accident has occurred, based on whether the driver’s use of alcohol was the proximate cause of the crash
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