People v. Hall

999 P.2d 207 (2000)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D worked as a ski lift operator on Vail mountain. When he finished his shift, and after the lifts closed, D skied down toward the base of the mountain. The slopes were not crowded. D was skiing very fast and saw people below him, but he was unable to stop or gain control because of the moguls. D then collided with Cobb, who had been traversing the slope below. The collision caused major head and brain injuries to Cobb, killing him. D's blood alcohol level was .009, which is less than the limit for driving while ability impaired. D was charged with manslaughter. At the close of the prosecution's case at the preliminary hearing, P requested that, with respect to the manslaughter count, the court consider the lesser-included charge of criminally negligent homicide. The county court held a preliminary hearing to determine whether there was probable cause to support the felony charges against D. At the preliminary hearing, P presented testimony from an eyewitness, the coroner who conducted the autopsy on Cobb's body, an investigator from the District Attorney's office, and the detective who investigated the accident for the Eagle County Sheriff's department. A witness stated that D was 'sitting back' on his skis, tips in the air, with his arms out to his sides in an effort to maintain his balance. D was skiing straight down the fall line; that is, he was skiing straight down the slope of the mountain without turning from side-to-side or traversing the slope. 'The terrain was controlling D' rather than the other way around. Another witness stated that he saw D skiing straight down the slope at a high speed and out of control. He said that Cobb, who appeared to be an inexperienced skier, traversed the slope below D when D hit some bumps, became airborne, and struck Cobb. Still, another witness said that D was skiing too fast, that he was out of control. It was established that in 11 years only two other collisions between skiers on Vail mountain resulted in the death of a skier. Cobb died from a single and traumatic blow to his head that fractured his skull and caused severe brain injuries. The coroner said that the injury was consistent with the impact from an object, such as a ski, striking Cobb's head on a perpendicular plane. It would take considerable force to cause such an injury, typically seen in automobile accident victims who sustain basal skull fractures after being thrown from moving vehicles. The court found that D's conduct----which the court characterized as skiing 'too fast for the conditions'----did not involve a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death and 'does not rise to the level of dangerousness required under the current case law' to sustain a count of manslaughter. P appealed the county court's decision to the district court. The district court agreed with the county court that the prosecution failed to establish probable cause. The court held that Hall's conduct did not involve a substantial risk of death because any risk created by Hall had a less than fifty percent chance of causing another's death. P appealed.