Phoenix DUI Law Blog
In a recent case before the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, the defendant asked for a reconsideration of her convictions and sentences for felony endangerment. According to the defendant, the evidence presented at trial did not sufficiently prove that she endangered the two victims in the case, and her verdict should be overturned. The higher court reviewed the trial court’s record, analyzed the case, and eventually affirmed the original ruling.
Felony Endangerment
According to the relevant Arizona statute, felony endangerment involves “recklessly endangering another person with a substantial risk of imminent death.” In order to prove felony endangerment, the prosecution must provide sufficient evidence of every one of these elements – i.e., the defendant must have been reckless, she must have endangered another person, and the person must have faced a substantial risk of imminent death. Without addressing even one of these elements, the prosecution cannot meet its burden of proving felony endangerment.
The Defendant’s Case
Here, the facts of the defendant’s case were the following: the defendant was driving at night with a blood alcohol content of between .073 and .09, well above the legal limit. She drove closely behind another vehicle, repeatedly veering into the vehicle’s lane. At some point, the driver and passenger of the second car stopped and got out of the car to approach the defendant. The defendant hit the driver’s car with her hand, then got back into her vehicle and continued following the car and veering in and out of its lane.