State v. Smith
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of criminal vehicular homicide for causing the death of ninety-three-year-old Edith Schouveller in a motor vehicle accident. The accident occurred on March 28, 2010. Schouveller was transported to the hospital with several life-threatening injuries. For the next twenty-two days, Schouveller was either hospitalized or in a nursing home. Schouveller developed lung problems while in the hospital, which led to pneumonia. On April 19, 2010, Schouveller experienced acute respiratory failure. Doctors determined that she needed to be placed on a respirator in order to continue to live, but relying on Schouveller's living will, the doctors declined to place her on respiratory support. Schouveller died that evening. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction, holding (1) the district court properly instructed the jury on causation; (2) the State presented sufficient evidence to demonstrate a causal chain between the injuries Shouveller sustained in the accident and the pneumonia and aspiration that ultimately led to her death; and (3) the evidence was sufficient for the jury to conclude that the do-not-resuscitate order in Souveller's living will was not a superseding cause of her death.
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