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THE INTOXICATED DEFENDANT’S DRIVING WHEN HE FLED FROM THE POLICE, WHILE RECKLESS, DID NOT DEMONSTRATE DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE; DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE MURDER CONVICTION NOT SUPPORTED BY THE WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE; CONVICTION REDUCED TO MANSLAUGHTER (THIRD DEPT). ​

The Third Department, reducing defendant’s conviction from depraved indifference murder to manslaughter, over a dissent, determined that the intoxicated defendant’s driving when fleeing from the police did not evince a complete disregard for the safety of others. Therefore the depraved indifference murder conviction was against the weight of the evidence:

… [T]he credible evidence at trial made clear that defendant was extremely intoxicated, but his driving prior to police pursuit demonstrated that he was aware of his surroundings, obeyed multiple traffic signals and responded to the alerts of other drivers. Although he was traveling at an exceptionally high rate of speed during the pursuit, he did so “on a roadway designed to accommodate greater rates of speed than residential roads, at an hour when lighter traffic conditions predominated” … , and there is no evidence that he failed to abide by any traffic signals while he fled or that any vehicles were forced to pull over or move out of his way … . According deference to the jury’s credibility determinations, defendant did partially enter the lane of oncoming traffic for brief periods of time, but such “episodic” conduct stands in stark contrast to cases where the defendant traveled in an oncoming lane “as part of a deadly game” … . Defendant in fact largely chose to evade police not by weaving in and out of the oncoming lane but instead by driving on a wide, paved shoulder, and, even if his “attempted escape [was] carried out in a reckless manner,” he may “simultaneously intend to flee police and avoid striking other cars” … . “No contact occurred between [defendant’s] vehicle and any other vehicle before the accident” … , and the limited evidence of his proximity to other vehicles prior to the collision falls short of establishing the sort of “narrow[] miss[es]” the disregard of which could be some evidence of depraved indifference … . People v Williams, 2022 NY Slip Op 03945, Third Dept 6-16-22

Practice Point: Here the intoxicated defendant acted recklessly in fleeing from the police, but his driving did not evince a depraved indifference to the safety of other drivers. For the most part defendant followed the rules of the road and avoided other vehicles. Therefore the depraved indifference murder conviction was not supported by the weight of the evidence. Conviction reduced to manslaughter.

 

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