Rich v. Commonwealth, 292 Va. 791

At ~2:20 a.m., John Costello, operating a motorized wheelchair without lights, attempted to cross Virginia Beach Boulevard; the area was poorly lit.
Daja Young (westbound) saw and avoided Costello; shortly after an eastbound vehicle driven by Riana Michelle Rich struck Costello, causing permanent impairment.
Rich admitted looking down/leaning to have a passenger light a cigarette; field sobriety signs and a .13 BAC (breath test ~90 minutes after crash) indicated intoxication; she also reported only ~2 hours sleep.
Crash reconstruction showed Rich’s front driver’s side hit the right side of the wheelchair; the wheelchair was perpendicular to the vehicle and Costello was facing toward the trailer park.
Costello had a .22 BAC and testified/was shown to have been operating his wheelchair erratically; prosecution argued his actions did not break causation.
Trial court convicted Rich of DUI maiming (Code § 18.2-51.4); the Court of Appeals affirmed; Virginia Supreme Court considered sufficiency on causation and criminal negligence.

Issue	Rich's Argument	Commonwealth's Argument	Held
Whether evidence proved proximate causation between Rich’s driving and Costello’s injuries	Evidence is speculative; Costello’s erratic, intoxicated wheelchair operation caused the collision, not her driving	Rich’s inattention, intoxication, and fatigue formed a continuous sequence producing the collision; Costello’s conduct was not an independent superseding cause	Court held evidence sufficient; Costello’s actions did not break proximate causation
Whether Rich’s conduct satisfied the criminal-negligence/gross-negligence standard under Code § 18.2-51.4	Her brief inattention ("one second") was not criminally negligent	Voluntary intoxication, sleep deprivation, taking eyes off road to lean for a cigarette, poor field sobriety performance and failure to brake showed reckless or indifferent disregard	Court held evidence sufficient to prove criminal negligence (gross negligence)

Riley v. Commonwealth, 277 Va. 467 (defines standard for reviewing sufficiency and applies criminal-negligence standard under § 18.2-51.4)
Britt v. Commonwealth, 276 Va. 569 (standard for viewing evidence in light most favorable to the Commonwealth)
Lawlor v. Commonwealth, 285 Va. 187 (statutory interpretation treating identical causation language consistently)
Brown v. Commonwealth, 278 Va. 523 (definition of proximate cause and multiple proximate causes in criminal liability)
Williams v. Joynes, 278 Va. 57 (definition of proximate cause reference)
Hoffner v. Kreh, 227 Va. 48 (distinguished: absence of evidence in Hoffner vs. sufficient in this case)
Viney v. Commonwealth, 269 Va. 296 (factfinder may draw reasonable inferences from proven facts)
Commonwealth v. Hudson, 265 Va. 505 (same; inferences from evidence)
Hubbard v. Commonwealth, 243 Va. 1 (deceased’s conduct must be an independent intervening act to exonerate accused)
Cable v. Commonwealth, 243 Va. 236 (definition of gross/criminal negligence)
Wright v. Commonwealth, 39 Va. App. 698 (standards under Code § 18.2-51.4)
Vasquez v. Commonwealth, 291 Va. 232 (factfinder may disbelieve defendant’s self-serving testimony)