People v. Ho
Annotate this CaseHo rear-ended a vehicle, got into another car, and, an hour later, struck people standing beside the road, killing one and severely injuring another. Ho was convicted of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and reckless driving with great bodily injury, and sentenced to 80 months in prison. Ho argued the court erred in admitting evidence that she had consumed drugs and alcohol the night before the accident and that she was taking prescription medications for her former heroin addiction; erred in admitting photographs of a victim after the accident; and made instructional errors. She claimed that her attorney rendered ineffective assistance by failing to object to hearsay testimony that friends tried to convince her not to drive the morning of the accident and that the prosecutor committed misconduct by appealing to the passion and prejudice of the jury. The court of appeal affirmed. The court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that the probative value of evidence concerning Ho’s drug use outweighed its potential prejudice. There is no reasonable likelihood that the jury based its finding that defendant drove with wanton disregard for safety based solely on evidence that she was driving 65-75 mph. Given the considerable other evidence of defendant’s reckless conduct, the absence of the limiting instruction regarding the hearsay testimony cannot reasonably be thought to have affected the outcome.
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