Judgment Day

Newsday has this story about the New York Court of Appeals throwing out a homicide conviction of a teenager who spent almost two years in state prison.

Brett Cabrera was driving four friends to a lake for a swim after school when he crashed the sport utility vehicle. Three died and the fourth teenager was seriously injured. Cabrera, the only one who wore a seat belt, survived the June 2004 wreck, but faced charges of assault and three homicide counts.

Although no drinking or drugs were involved, he was convicted and spent the next two years in state prison, including serving time in a maximum security facility. The Court of Appeals, divided 4-3, dismissed the assault and homicide convictions.

The majority:

There needed to be another “morally blameworthy component” besides speeding to sustain criminal negligence. The Court found Cabrera, as an inexperienced driver, simply misjudged the risk and his skill on the curve where the SUV went off the road.

In the decision by Judge Susan Read, the court majority said Mendoza's trial testimony didn't support the prosecutor's inference that Cabrera was showing off. Mendoza said the others were talking among themselves and listening to rap music while Cabrera drove. Cabrera tested free of alcohol or drugs.

"For a 17-year-old to badly misgauge his ability to handle road conditions is not the kind of seriously condemnatory behavior that the Legislature envisioned when it defined 'criminal negligence,' even though the consequences here were fatal," Read concluded. "This crash resulted from noncriminal failure to perceive risk; it was not the result of criminal risk creation." Chief Judge Judith Kaye and judges Eugene Pigott and Theodore Jones agreed.

The Dissent:

In a dissent, Judge Victoria Graffeo said there was enough evidence for the jury to conclude Cabrera was attempting "a racing-car type stunt" on the dipping curve. "We have repeatedly determined that excessive speed, when coupled with some other culpable conduct—such as drag racing, driving the wrong way or running a red light—constitutes legally sufficient evidence" to show criminal negligence, she wrote. Judges Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick and Robert Smith agreed.

Police said the tire marks showed they were "side slipping" as the SUV went out of control, crossed the double yellow line and went rear-first down an embankment. The evidence showed Cabrera didn't brake and had first crossed the double-yellow line ahead of the curve in an attempt to "flatten out" the turn, Graffeo wrote.

The full decision is available here.