United States v. Fleming

739 F.2d 945 (1984)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D's car was observed at about 3:00 p.m. on June 15, 1983, traveling southbound on the George Washington Memorial Parkway in northern Virginia at speeds variously estimated by witnesses as between 70 and 100 miles per hour. The speed limit is45 miles per hour. Several times D directed his southbound car into the northbound lanes of the Parkway in order to avoid traffic congestion in the southbound lanes. Northbound traffic had to move out of his way in order to avoid a head-on collision. A pursuing police officer observed D steer his car into the northbound lanes, which were separated from the southbound lanes at that point and for a distance of three-tenths of a mile by a raised concrete median, and drive in the northbound lanes, still at a high rate of speed, for the entire length of the median. At two other points, D traveled in northbound lanes that were separated from the southbound lanes by medians. D lost control of it on a sharp curve. The car slid across the northbound lanes, striking the curb on the opposite side of the highway. After striking the curb, D's car straightened out and at that moment struck the car driven by Mrs. Haley that was coming in the opposite direction. D's car was traveling 70 to 80 miles per hour; the speed limit at that point on the Parkway was 30 miles per hour. Mrs. Haley received multiple severe injuries and died before she could be extricated from her car. D's blood alcohol level was there tested at.315 percent. D was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of second-degree murder. He was tried before a jury on the murder charge and convicted.