People v. Taylor

SCHOTTKY, J. O. B. Taylor was found guilty by a jury of two counts of manslaughter committed in the driving of a vehicle with gross negligence (Pen. Code, § 192, subd. 3(a)) and one count of driving a vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor and causing bodily injury. (Veh. Code, § 23101, formerly § 501.) He has appealed from the judgment entered and from the order of the court denying his motion for a new trial.

Appellant’s principal contention is that he did not receive a fair and impartial trial. While appellant states that the verdict was contrary to the evidence, he does not seriously argue this contention, merely stating that “there was certainly a sufficient conflict in the testimony . . ., to warrant and to require the Jury to find that there was reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant, . . . .” However, before discussing appellant’s contention that he did not receive a fair trial, we shall briefly summarize the evidence as shown by the record.

Sometime between 2:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. of the morning of January 31, 1959, appellant left Los Angeles in his 1949 Ford and headed north toward the San Francisco Bay Area. Between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. appellant stopped for gasoline. He twice asked the attendant the way to San Francisco. He wras twice given the answer. Appellant then entered his car, drove about 100 feet, stopped his car, got out, walked back to the station and again asked the way to San Francisco. The attendant testified that he could smell liquor on the appellant’s breath.

About 9:48 a.m. Officer Bobert N. Houston of the California Highway Patrol was informed that there had been an accident on State Highway 152. It was a foggy morning, according to the officer, with visibility of about 150 feet. At the scene of the accident the officer found that two ears were involved, a 1956 Chevrolet and a 1949 Ford, and that the two cars were resting almost bumper to bumper in the eastbound lane. One person was dead and the two other persons involved in the accident had major injuries (one died later). State Highway 152, at the point of the accident, was a two-lane road running east and west. The officer found that the point of impact was some 6 feet south of the center line of the highway. The officer testified that from the physical evidence at the scene of the accident he ascertained that the Ford was traveling in a westerly direction in the eastbound lane, and that the Chevrolet was eastbound in the proper lane.

[706]