Maddox v. State

931 S.W.2d 438 (1996)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

An information was filed charging D with criminal mischief in the first degree, a Class C felony. She was accused of intentionally throwing a Mountain Dew bottle from a moving vehicle and striking the victim's automobile, causing damage in excess of $500. D was 17 years old at the time of the alleged incident, and turned 18 on February 4, 1996, moved to have the charge transferred to juvenile court. D's mother testified that D was not currently in high school, but that she was working on her G.E.D. and planned to attend college in the Fall. She stated that she had a good relationship with D. D had no prior criminal history. Sherry, the victim, was called as a witness by P. She testified that on April 20, 1995, she was driving her grandparents from Huntsville to the VA Hospital in Fayetteville when she noticed a red pick-up truck following very closely behind her. P made numerous efforts to allow the pickup to pass her even slowing to 2 mph. The driver of the truck would not pass her. The driver instead pulled alongside her car several times, and that the driver and two passengers would simply look at her, then drop back behind her car, where they made obscene gestures. She accelerated, and the truck pulled alongside her car. D hung out of the window on the passenger's side of the truck, held by her belt loops. She was holding a full glass bottle of Mountain Dew, and she and the other occupants of the truck were yelling obscenities at Sherry. D then threw the glass bottle at her car. It dented the front of the hood and cracked the windshield. Sherry said that after she regained her composure, she pursued the truck and got its license plate number. No one was injured, but she estimated that the damage to her car was about $800. The court denied the motion to transfer as the act was a violent one. D appealed.