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DEFENDANT WAS DRIVING AT MORE THAN TWICE THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT IN A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD WHEN HE COLLIDED WITH ANOTHER CAR, KILLING THE DRIVER; USUALLY EXCESSIVE SPEED ALONE WILL NOT SUPPORT A CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE CHARGE; HERE, HOWEVER, THE EXCESSIVE SPEED IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER FACTORS, INCLUDING THE CHARACTER OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD, WAS SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT THE CHARGE (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court’s dismissal of the indictment, over a dissent, determined the evidence presented to the grand jury was legally sufficient for criminally negligent homicide. The defendant was driving at twice the speed limit in a residential neighborhood when he collided with another vehicle at an intersection, killing the driver. Generally driving in excess of the speed limit, alone, will not support a criminally negligent homicide charge. However, here, the excessive speed, in combination with other factors, was deemed sufficient:

[T]he culpable risk-creating conduct necessary to support a finding of recklessness or criminal negligence generally requires ‘some additional affirmative act’ aside from ‘driving faster than the posted speed limit'” … , which transforms speeding into dangerous speeding, by engaging in some other “risk-creating” behavior such as disregarding traffic signals … . However, there is no per se rule that speeding alone is insufficient … . There are circumstances where excessive speed “absent proof of any other contributing factors” is sufficient … . The extent of the violation of the posted speed limit and the surrounding circumstances must be considered … .

“[I]n order to sustain a conviction for criminally negligent homicide in a case in which the principal item of evidence consists of proof of the defendant’s use of excessive speed, [the law does not require that] the prosecution must always prove some other traffic law violation unrelated to the defendant’s rate of speed. While it may be accurate to say that an infraction of the posted speed limit does not ipso facto establish criminal negligence, it would not be accurate to say that a trier of fact may never conclude that in light of the time, the place, the weather conditions, and in light of any number of other factors which might be established at the trial, the defendant’s use of excessive speed was criminally negligent” … .

Here, … [t]he evidence, if accepted as true, demonstrated that the defendant disregarded road conditions, i.e., the fact that he was traveling in a residential neighborhood with a playground on the corner of the intersection, when he decided to drive his vehicle through the intersection at well above twice the posted speed limit … . The evidence further indicated that he was showing off to his friend how the vehicle “drives,” which, considering the fact that he accelerated the vehicle’s speed while allegedly doing so, indicated that he was showing off how the vehicle operated at a high speed. The evidence further indicated that he ignored a traffic control sign directing motorists to exercise additional caution … . People v Lee, 2026 NY Slip Op 05038, Second Dept 8-19-26

Practice Point: Here in the fatal-vehicle-accident case, defendant’s excessive speed, in combination with the nature of the neighborhood and other factors, supported the criminally negligent homicide charge.

 

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