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Criminal Law Keyed to Gershowitz
Langford v. State
Citation:
354 So.2d 313.Facts
The petitioner was involved in an automobile collision that resulted in the death of a sixteen-year-old, Randall Holt. The petitioner’s car struck a mileage marker on the right side of a highway, swerved, crossed the median, and collided with Holt’s car.
Several witnesses stated that alcohol could be smelled on the petitioner’s breath, and it was shown that his blood-alcohol level was 0.25%. Furthermore, witnesses testified that they had seen petitioner’s car traveling over 90 miles per hour immediately preceding the collision. The petitioner stated that he had consumed only “two beers” and was not intoxicated. He claimed that mechanical steering problems had caused his loss of control of the vehicle.
The jury convicted the defendant of murder in the first degree resulting from universal malice. He appealed, arguing that an individual cannot be convicted of murder in the first degree where the facts show only that he determined to, and did, drive an automobile which was involved in a collision which caused the death of an individual, even though the driver had knowledge of his own intoxication.
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