State v. TaylorState v. Taylor
Vehicular homicide is defined as the killing of a human being caused by a person‘s operation of an automobile when the operator‘s blood alcohol concentration is 0.10 percent or more1.
Defendant, Walter J. Taylor, was charged with the commission of vehicular homicide,
We do not view the statute as creating any presumptions. Giving the provisions of
The evident purpose of the vehicular homicide statute is to curb traffic fatalities caused by the consumption of alcohol. It is not aimed at persons involved in vehicular fatalities whose alcohol consumption does not cause but merely coincides with such an accident. A vehicle operator with unlawful blood alcohol concentration could be involved in many conceivable types of fatal accidents not caused in any way by his blood alcohol concentration. The punishment of persons who without fault and by coincidence fall in this latter class with the severe penalties intended for offenders whose alcohol consumption actually causes highway deaths is unnecessary to the legitimate purpose of the legislation and would constitute unwarranted statutory overkill.
The criminal code expressly states that a crime is conduct defined as criminal,
Accordingly, under the statutory scheme of the criminal code the vehicular homicide statute complements the purposes served by negligent homicide and drunk driving laws. The DWI law makes it a crime to operate a vehicle when the operator‘s blood alcohol concentration is 0.10 percent, punishable on first conviction by a fine of no more than $500 and imprisonment of up to six months.
Each statute serves to promote vehicular safety in a somewhat different way. Under the DWI statute, an offender is punished for creating a risk of accident, property damage, personal injury or death due
Further support for our interpretation is found in the principles of the common law, in which the origins of Louisiana‘s criminal law in general and homicide law in particular are found. La.Act 1805, May 4, § 33; see State v. Moore, 196 La. 617, 199 So. 661 (1940). It is axiomatic that a crime is punishable in Louisiana only if made so by statute, State v. Vacarro, 200 La. 475, 8 So.2d 299 (1942), but the historical basis of Louisiana‘s criminal law in the common law makes appropriate resort to common law principles for aid in interpreting legislative intent. See State v. Gyles, 313 So.2d 799 (La.1975). At the common law, criminal liability for a killing attached in the following situations: (1) a killing caused by an act committed with the intent to kill or cause bodily harm, which is not excused or justified by other principles of law; (2) a killing caused by criminal negligence, regardless of the actor‘s intent; (3) an accidental or unintended killing caused by an unlawful act. 3 J. Stephen, a History of the Criminal Law of England, 20; 4 Blackstone, Commentaries, 176. There could be no conviction for homicide without proof of a causal link between the killing and actor‘s culpable conduct. W. LaFave and A. Scott, Criminal Law, 534, 596. Vehicular homicide fits neatly within the third category above if the driver‘s intoxication impaired driving (the unlawful act) must cause the death; if not, the crime would be an aberration from common law principles.
Consequently, as we construe the statute, it does not contain the unconstitutional features upon which the district court based its decision. For the reasons assigned the judgment of the district court declaring the statute unconstitutional and quashing the bill of information is reversed and the case is remanded for further proceedings.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
CALOGERO, Justice, concurring.
While I agree that the trial judge‘s declaring the statute unconstitutional was incorrect, I hesitate to subscribe fully to this opinion. If the majority is stating that the crime of vehicular homicide is proved simply upon showing that .10 or better alcohol content combined with simple operation of a motor vehicle have caused the death of a human being, I suggest that such interpretation is either ambiguous or wrong. In my view a required additional element must surely be a showing that the .10 or better blood alcohol content has caused, or been accompanied by, at least negligent or substandard operation of the vehicle. Otherwise I cannot quite understand how the .10 or better blood alcohol content in defendant can cause the death of a victim.
Notes
A. Vehicular homicide is the killing of a human being caused proximately or caused directly by an offender engaged in the operation of, or in actual physical control of, any motor vehicle, aircraft, vessel, or other means of conveyance, whether or not the offender had the intent to cause death or great bodily harm, when:
(1) The offender is under the influence of alcoholic beverages, as determined by chemical tests administered under the provisions of
(2) When the offender‘s blood alcohol concentration is 0.10 percent or more by weight based upon grams of alcohol per one hundred cubic centimeters of blood.
B. Whoever commits the crime of vehicular homicide shall be fined not less than two thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars and shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not less than two years nor more than five years.