Greene County Man Facing Vehicular Homicide Charge
Twenty-one year-old Jeffrey Brian-Edward Wills of Mosheim, Tennessee is facing several charges after authorities say he intentionally ran the SUV of nineteen year-old Jackie Ricker of Rheatown off the road, causing Ms. Ricker to be killed in the wreck. Mr. Wills was reportedly driving at a high rate of speed when he intentionally hit the Ford Explorer driven by Ms. Ricker, causing her car to drive into an embankment. Ms. Ricker was killed in the crash and two of her passengers, 31-year-old Sammy Shanks of Greeneville and 29-year-old Nancy Wills of Rheatown were injured and taken to Johnson City Medical Center. The personal injury ramifications of this situation are discussed here.
Mr. Wills is facing charges of vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, and felony reckless endangerment. Of these, the most serious is the offense of vehicular homicide. Vehicular homicide is basically defined as the killing of another person through the reckless operation of a vehicle as the result of conduct creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to that person. In Mr. Wills’ case that definition is clearly met if the situation is as reported, because he intentionally wrecked another vehicle and caused the death of the driver. Vehicular homicide when the offending driver is not intoxicated is a Class C felony, punishable by up to fifteen years in prison.
The best defense in such a situation would probably be proving that the driver did not act recklessly or that the conduct that he or she engaged in was not the type of conduct that creates a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to other drivers. This may be tough to do where the driver seems to be responsible for the accident and the other driver dies as a result. However, an experienced criminal defense attorney can assist the defendant in persuading a jury that the driver was not driving in a manner that should result in his or her being prosecuted under the statute.
Source: http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=132369&catid=2
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