California v. Cady
Annotate this CaseWilliam Cady drove his vehicle at an excessive and unsafe speed while intoxicated, resulting in an accident that killed three of his passengers and injured two others. A jury found Cady guilty of: (1) three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated (with the further finding that he personally inflicted great bodily injury); (2) one count of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury; (3) one count of driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent or more causing injury; and (4) one count of driving under the combined influence of alcohol and a drug causing injury. The trial court sentenced Cady to 18 years in prison. Cady raised two issues on appeal: (1) that the crime of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury was a lesser included offense of the crime of driving under the combined influence of alcohol and a drug causing injury, so that he should not have been convicted on the former count; (2) with regard to the charge of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, the trial court prejudicially erred in not sua sponte giving the jury the option of convicting him of the lesser included offense of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for those counts. After review, the Court of Appeals concluded that the conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury was indeed a lesser included offense of the driving under the combined influence of alcohol and a drug causing injury, for which Cady was convicted in another count. However, there was no merit to Cady's contention that the trial court erred by failing to instruct on vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated as a lesser included offense of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. The Court reversed the conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, and affirmed in all other respects.
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