High-speed police chases are dangerous affairs, involving substantial risk to the lives of those fleeing, pursuing police officers, and innocent bystanders unlucky enough to be in the area. In a case decided Dec. 7, the N.C. Court of Appeals held that a fleeing driver can be put on trial for second-degree murder if a pursuing officer dies in a crash during a chase. The case is the first time a North Carolina appellate court has considered the propriety of a murder charge in an accident involving a sober driver.
At 1a.m. Sept. 26, 2001, Elizabethtown Police Officer William Howell saw Gerrick Bethea get in his car and drive out of a convenience store parking lot. Howell knew Bethea’s driver’s license had been suspended and so he followed Bethea’s car. After he saw that the car’s registration was also expired, Howell turned on the blue lights of his patrol car. Bethea did not pull over; instead he sped up, and ran a red light and several stop signs in an attempt to evade Howell.
Soon a second police cruiser, driven by Clarkton Police Chief Joey Blackburn with Bladen County Deputy Sheriff Jamie Collins also on board, joined the chase. They were leading the pursuit when Bethea turned into a back road that Blackburn and Collins were unfamiliar with. Suspecting the defendant would soon abandon the car and flee on foot, Collins undid his seatbelt and prepared to exit the car.
Bethea, it seems, was no more familiar with the road than the officers behind him. He braked late for a curve and slide into a ditch. Despite trying to avoid hitting Bethea’s car, Blackburn’s cruiser crashed into it. Collins died as a result of the collision.
Bethea pleaded guilty to felony speeding to elude arrest, speeding, driving left of center, driving with an expired registration, driving while license revoked, reckless driving to endanger persons or property, and violation of a traffic control device. A jury convicted him of second-degree murder, which is an unlawful killing with malice, but without premeditation and deliberation. To obtain the conviction, the state had to prove three elements: “1. defendant killed the victim; 2. defendant acted intentionally and with malice; and 3. defendant’s act was a proximate cause of the victim’s death.”
On appeal, Bethea contended his murder conviction should be overturned, arguing that his actions did not include the malice required for a second-degree murder conviction. He noted that all previous second-degree murder convictions in automobile accidents involved drunk or otherwise impaired drivers.
The Court of Appeals was not persuaded by Bethea’s argument.
“While driving under the influence is certainly evidence sufficient to prove malice,” wrote Judge Ann Marie Calabria for the court, “defendant’s actions in the instant case, motivated by an attempt to elude law enforcement by driving in an extremely dangerous manner, is an equally reckless and wanton act, which evidences ‘a mind utterly without regard for human life and social duty and deliberately bent on mischief.’”
“In the instant case, the evidence, taken in the light most favorable to the State, shows that defendant was driving with a revoked license, fled to elude law enforcement officers, sped through a red light and several stop signs, drove at speeds up to one hundred miles per hour, crossed into the oncoming traffic lane several times, and turned his car lights off on dark rural roads, decreasing his own visibility and making his car extremely difficult to see, while traveling at speeds between ninety and ninety-five miles per hour. Defendant’s clear mind unclouded by intoxicating substances that might have hindered his ability to appreciate the danger of his actions, does not negate the presence of malice, but rather, tends to more clearly show an ‘intent to perform the act of driving in such a reckless manner as reflects knowledge that injury or death would likely result, thus evidencing depravity of mind.’”
The court of appeals also rejected Bethea’s claim that his actions were not the proximate cause of Collins’ death. Though Blackburn’s cruiser collided with Bethea’s car, the court noted that there would have been no chase and ensuing collision had Bethea pulled over originally.
The case is State v. Bethea, (03-1108).
Michael Lowrey is associate editor of Carolina Journal.