STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
GEORGE WAYNE SHEPPARD, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1981-08-05
No. 80-1414
ORFINGER and COWART, JJ., concur.
401 So. 2d 944 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1981) Caution
Cited by 12 cases

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Holding

A trial court errs in granting a motion to dismiss a vehicular homicide charge when the state's traverse alleges facts that, if believed, establish recklessness and proximate causation.


Headnotes

[1] A motion to dismiss under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.190(c)(4) must be granted only if, based on the facts alleged, the defendant could not be guilty of the off…

[2] A traverse filed by the state in response to a motion to dismiss creates factual issues that preclude dismissal when the traverse denies material allegations of the motio…

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Facts & Procedural History

George Wayne Sheppard was charged with vehicular homicide after a fatal car-motorcycle accident. Sheppard moved to dismiss, admitting he was weaving b…

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Opinion of the Court
COBB, Judge.

COBB, Judge.

The appellee, George Wayne Sheppard, was charged with vehicular homicide in connection with an automobile-motorcycle accident. He moved to have the information against him dismissed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.190(c)(4). The trial court granted the motion, and the state appeals. We reverse.

At the time of the accident, both Sheppard and the decedent-motorcyclist were traveling eastbound on a four-lane (two lanes eastbound, two lanes westbound) highway. In his (c)(4) motion, Sheppard acknowledged that he was weaving within the left-hand lane of the eastbound side; he did not, however, admit he was weaving from the left lane into the right lane and back. Sheppard then alleged in paragraph 3(d) that:

The Decedent riding an eastbound motorcycle passed the Defendant on the right [in the right-hand lane] and cut in front of the Defendant to [sic] quickly causing the right front of the automobile to strike the rear of the Decedent’s motorcycle.

The state traversed the motion, admitting all of Sheppard’s allegations with the exception of paragraph 3(d), which it specifically denied. The state then alleged the following additional facts:

(1) While travelling the mile that preceded the accident point, Sheppard weaved constantly from the right lane to the left and returning;

(2) The weaving was continuous;

(3) The decedent in the right lane had just passed Sheppard when Sheppard sped up rapidly and cut over to the right lane, causing the accident;

(4) Sheppard continued for about 900 feet with the motorcycle under his car before he stopped;

(5) Sheppard had been drinking and appeared to witnesses to be under the influence of alcohol.

At the hearing on the motion, the discussion centered around (1) whether Sheppard’s conduct was the proximate cause of the accident; and (2) whether Sheppard’s conduct amounted to “recklessness” under the vehicular homicide statute. The state attorney doubted any of his witnesses could testify to the exact location of contact. The trial judge took the position that Sheppard could not be responsible for the death if the point of contact was the left-hand lane. Apparently finding the state could produce no evidence of location and, therefore, proximate causation, and, further, that Sheppard’s conduct did not amount to recklessness, the trial court granted the motion to dismiss.

On appeal, the state argues several grounds for reversal. Having considered all of them, we reverse because the state’s traverse creates factual issues as to both proximate cause and recklessness. Because material factual issues exist, the trial court erred by granting Sheppard’s (c)(4) motion.

The first factual issue concerns the point of contact between Sheppard’s automobile and the decedent’s motorcycle. At the hearing on the motion to dismiss, Sheppard’s attorney argued the state was unable to prove that Sheppard weaved into the decedent’s lane at the point of contact and that, therefore, the state could not prove the proximate cause of death. Evidence or its lack, however, is not properly considered on a (c)(4) motion, and the court must look only to the prima facie sufficiency of the alleged facts. Jones v. State, 392 So. 2d 18 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); State v. Bryant, 373 So. 2d 708 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979); State v. J. T. S., 373 So. 2d 418 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979); State v. West, 262 So. 2d 457 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972). The state’s traverse alleges Sheppard weaved over to the right lane, the decedent’s lane, sped up and hit the decedent. These allegations create a jury issue as to where on the road the contact occurred. Such issue is not properly resolved on a motion to dismiss.1 Similarly, a factual issue exists with respect to whether Sheppard was “reckless” as proscribed by the vehicular homicide statute.2 Upon the additional facts alleged in the state’s traverse, it cannot be said that, as a matter of law, Sheppard was not reckless. Again, resolution of such an issue is within the province of the trier of fact. Under the circumstances, the trial court erred by granting Sheppard’s motion. State v. Green, 400 So. 2d 1322 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981); Ellis v. State, 346 So. 2d 1044 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied, 352 So. 2d 175 (Fla.1977); State v. DeJerinett, 283 So. 2d 126 (Fla. 2d DCA), cert. denied, 287 So. 2d 689 (Fla.1973).

Because the state in its traverse alleged facts which, if believed, would support the conclusion that Sheppard was reckless and that his recklessness was the proximate cause of the motorcyclist’s death, the order granting Sheppard’s (c)(4) motion is reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

ORFINGER and COWART, JJ., concur. . Section 782.071, Florida Statutes (1979), provides:

“Vehicular homicide” is the killing of a human being by the operation of a motor vehicle by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another.

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Citator

Cited By

  • State v. Dalpathbhai N. Patel, 453 So. 2d 218 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984)
    …d as to the lesser included offense of vehicular homicide. § 782.071, Fla.Stat. (1981). Vehicular homicide only requires proof of reckless conduct in the operation of a motor vehicle. McCreary v. State, 371 So. 2d 1024 (Fla.1979); State v. Sheppard, 401 So. 2d 944 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). That, at the most, was all the record established in my view. . Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.190(c)(4). . See Smith v. State, 65 So. 2d 303 (Fla.1953); Graives v. State, 127 Fla. 182, 172 So. 716 (1936); Scarborough v. State, 188 So. 2d 87…
  • State v. Milton, 488 So. 2d 878 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)
    …ath of the victim. The trial court erred in dismissing the indictment. Under Rule 3.190(c)(4), the trial judge must look only to the prima facie sufficiency of the alleged facts; the trial judge may not evaluate the evidence. See State v. Sheppard, 401 So. 2d 944, 945 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). Additionally, in State v. Hricik, 445 So. 2d 1119, 1120 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984), the court held: A defendant’s intent is not an issue to be decided by the trial court on a Rule 3.190(c)(4) motion to dismiss. See, e.g., State v.…
  • State v. Fordham, 465 So. 2d 580 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985)
    …3.190(c)(4). Equally clear is that the trial court should not decide or reconcile disputed issues of fact raised by the state’s traverse or inherent in the defendant’s motion. State v. Fuller, 463 So. 2d 1252 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985); State v. Sheppard, 401 So. 2d 944 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981); State v. Pettis, 397 So. 2d 1150 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981); State v. Upton; State v. Featherolf, 388 So. 2d 38 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980); State v. Fort, 380 So. 2d 534 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980). All questions and inferences from the facts are res…

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