Missouri Lawyers Media Missouri legal news and public notices
(1)Where a defendant was charged with second-degree felony murder, first-degree child endangerment and armed criminal action after a drunk driving accident in which her infant granddaughter was killed, the trial court did not err in overruling the defendant’s motion to suppress the results of her blood alcohol test since the record showed that the defendant clearly expressed consent to the testing of her blood even though the officer’s request was made after the blood was already drawn for medical purposes and the defendant had since received a blood transfusion, so a new sample could not be taken, and the evidence established that proper medical procedures were followed to obtain the sample.
(2)Where a defendant challenged her conviction for first-degree child endangerment after her granddaughter was killed when the defendant had a drunk-driving accident, sufficient evidence showed that the defendant knowingly engaged in conduct that created a substantial risk to the child, and it was irrelevant that the defendant could not remember the accident.
(3)Where a defendant challenged her conviction for armed criminal action after her granddaughter was killed when the defendant had a drunk-driving accident, the conviction is affirmed based on evidence that the defendant knowingly drove drunk after being asked to return the child to her mother was sufficient to find that she knowingly employed her car as a dangerous instrument.
Judgment is affirmed.
State v. Fortner (MLW No. 67021/Case No. ED100156 – 19 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Hess, J.) Appealed from circuit court, St. Louis City, Grady, J. (James C. Ochs and Patrick T. Ochs for appellant) (Gregory L. Barnes for respondent).
Read the full text of this opinion. (PDF)
