State of West Virginia v. Jessica Souther, 15-1241

In August 2013 petitioner Jessica Souther drove a vehicle that crossed the median, rolled, and ejected all occupants; her infant later died of injuries.
At Charleston Area Medical Center, blood drawn from Souther tested positive for metabolites of morphine and cocaine and a prescription depressant; toxicologists could not say when ingestion occurred or definitively whether she was impaired at the crash time.
A jury acquitted Souther of DUI causing death but convicted her of child neglect resulting in death; she was sentenced to 3–15 years’ imprisonment.
Souther moved post-trial for judgment of acquittal and for a new trial, arguing the acquittal on DUI was inconsistent with the child-neglect conviction and that evidence was insufficient; the circuit court denied both motions.
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed, declining to revisit precedent that generally disallows appellate relief for inconsistent jury verdicts.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether an acquittal on DUI causing death required vacatur of a conviction for child neglect resulting in death as an inconsistent verdict	Souther: acquittal on DUI (predicate conduct) precludes guilty verdict on overlapping child-neglect count; verdicts are plainly inconsistent and evidence insufficient	State: jury verdicts may be inconsistent without appellate relief; evidence supports conviction for neglect	Court: Denied relief; followed binding precedent refusing to overturn convictions for inconsistent jury verdicts and found no abuse of discretion
Whether the denial of post-trial motions (Rule 29 and Rule 33) was erroneous given the record	Souther: insufficiency of evidence supports judgment of acquittal or new trial	State: evidence (toxicology, crash facts, injuries, causation) supported jury verdict; standard favors verdict	Court: Applied de novo review for acquittal and abuse-of-discretion for new trial and concluded no reversible error; affirmed

State v. Blevins, 231 W.Va. 135, 744 S.E.2d 245 (W.Va. 2013) (standards governing review of new-trial rulings)
State v. LaRock, 196 W.Va. 294, 470 S.E.2d 613 (W.Va. 1996) (standard for reviewing motions for judgment of acquittal)
State v. Bartlett, 177 W.Va. 663, 355 S.E.2d 913 (W.Va. 1987) (appellate relief for inconsistent jury verdicts generally not available)
United States v. Powell, 469 U.S. 57 (U.S. 1984) (Supreme Court rationale refusing to overturn convictions based on inconsistent jury verdicts)
Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184 (U.S. 1957) (Double Jeopardy bar to government challenge of jury acquittals)
Dunn v. United States, 284 U.S. 390 (U.S. 1932) (discusses jury lenity and inconsistent verdict implications)