Legislature(2003 - 2004)
02/18/2003 01:43 PM Senate TRA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 53-REVOKE DRIVER'S LIC. FOR FATAL ACCIDENT
SENATOR SCOTT OGAN, sponsor of SB 53, explained he introduced
similar legislation about four years ago. Former Governor
Knowles introduced the same legislation two years ago, which
died in the last moments of the legislature last year so he is
reintroducing the measure. He explained:
What motivated me to do this was literally having to
take my knife and dig the dirt out from underneath my
fingernails from burying a couple of my friends' kids.
And two kids were killed in the same car wreck. They
were killed by a young man who was basically charged
with a traffic violation of speeding. The young man
received a very light sentence, just a few points off
his drivers license and a few hundred dollar fine and
some community service. And it was the maximum that
the judge could give and the judge actually apologized
to the parents for not being able to do more. Since
then he was involved in another vehicle accident that,
I'm not sure of the exact tickets of that accident,
but I've been told that individual was involved in an
accident that killed two more kids and had he lost a
license maybe that might not have happened.
When we first introduced the bill, six years ago I
think it was, we had one woman that testified that a
person ran a red light in Anchorage, a woman ran a red
light and killed her daughter, she got a $50 fine.
And I think the families of these victims of accidents
feel that justice is not being served. There's
certainly civil recourse that they could take to, the
one family that lost the two boys, both families
decided not to litigate in civil court. They just
felt it wasn't something they wanted to do but they
would have liked to have had the young man held
accountable. There was another accident recently,
earlier this winter, where two people died, and a
young gal was driving, another young person....
Situations where there is alcohol involved or
something like that they can be charged with
manslaughter or face some criminal charges. Right now
the way our law is written, you get a traffic ticket
you get a slap on the wrist and your on to, back to
your bad driving habits. So anyway, this bill
attempts to clarify that.
There are a lot of technical issues here, legal
technical issues, I think Annie Carpeneti is here to
answer questions if anybody has some on those. But
basically this is a policy change that the Alaska
Legislature is saying: if you're not paying attention,
you're talking on your cell phone, you run a red
light, you run a stop sign, you speed, you kill
somebody, you know it's going to be a little bit more
than just a traffic ticket. I think the value of
human life is worth more than a traffic ticket in
those cases.
MS. NANCY CAMPBELL informed the committee her son was killed in
the accident Senator Ogan spoke about. A number of lawyers were
involved because six teenagers were in the car. Her lawyer
tried to pursue a misdemeanor conviction but Alaska laws are
written with no ramifications for this type of accident because
the driver was not on drugs or alcohol. The case went to
traffic court and the judge apologized and said his hands were
tied. Witnesses to the accident said the young man was
speeding, but because it was viewed through a rearview mirror
the testimony could not be considered. This man also almost ran
into a couple and they came to traffic court but were not
allowed to testify because of the way the laws are written. The
young man was given 300 hours of community service. Two months
later, that young man was involved in another accident in which
two more teenagers were killed. She said to her knowledge this
young man is still driving.
MS. CAMPBELL and her husband support SB 53 and feel the
legislation is appropriate. They have lobbied to change the law
in Alaska since 1994. The local newspaper in Eureka, California
reported a non-fatal accident involving two teenagers. One
young man pulled up next to another and shot him in the face
with a squirt gun. The accident that followed involved injury
but was not fatal, however the driver's license was immediately
revoked and a fine was imposed by the State of California. This
shows that the problem is the way Alaska laws are written.
CHAIR COWDERY how Ms. Campbell would place the responsibility if
a person was driving down the road in a residential area at 25
miles per hour and hit and killed a child who darted out from a
driveway on a tricycle.
MS. CAMPBELL said that is a different situation because the
child ran out into the road and the driver didn't see the child
coming.
TAPE 03-03, SIDE A
3:18 p.m.
SENATOR OGAN explained if the person in Chair Cowdery's scenario
didn't violate any traffic laws he or she would not be charged.
That type of case is a terrible thing but it is an accident and
nobody is really at fault.
SENATOR LINCOLN said she thought SB 53 was a fine bill. She
asked if the bill covers 4-wheelers, 3-wheelers and snow
machines. She asked how a vehicle is defined.
SENATOR OGAN said he would like Annie Carpeneti to back him up
on the question but a traffic law must be violated. Operating a
4-wheeler on a highway would be a violation of a traffic law.
SENATOR LINCOLN said she was thinking of a situation where
somebody in a village, driving erratically with a 4-wheeler and
not paying attention, caused a fatal accident. She asked if
this bill addresses that type of situation.
MS. ANNE CARPENETI, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal
Division, Department of Law, testified the department had worked
with Senator Ogan on SB 53. She said in answer to Senator
Lincoln's question it would depend on the circumstances but it
could very well apply. The bill is limited; it requires a
citation for a traffic violation and a conviction on the
citation. Then it requires the judge to find by clear and
convincing evidence that the traffic violation was a significant
cause of the accident that killed a person. The scenario raised
by Chair Cowdery would not apply at all.
SENATOR LINCOLN presented an example that had occurred a year
earlier. A young man was working on a new snow machine and
could not get it going. He put a tool on the accelerator and
the snow machine took off and ran over and killed an individual.
She asked if the legislation would apply in that case.
MS. CARPENETI asked if he was cited for a traffic violation.
She said sometimes people get killed in accidents and it is
really nobody's fault. She said SB 53 addresses incidences
where a person hasn't acted in a criminally negligent manner but
has violated a traffic law. Senator Lincoln's example would
depend on the circumstances in the situation: where the snow
machine was, whether it was on a vehicular way, or whether the
young man was cited for some sort of traffic violation. She
said she would need more information.
SENATOR THERRIAULT said Ms. Carpeneti worked with the Senate
Judiciary Committee last year on changes to this legislation.
He had reviewed the minutes from last year and had a copy of
that bill. He noted Senator Ogan had said his starting point
was the last version of the bill and it appears to be except for
the omission of an additional section in last year's bill that
dealt with the definition of traffic laws.
MS. CARPENETI pointed out the definition on page 3, line 7 was
in the prior iterations of the bill.
SENATOR THERRIAULT said she was correct. The form of the bill
is just a little bit different.
SENATOR THERRIAULT referred to scenarios given by Chair Cowdery
that Ms. Carpeneti had said did not apply. The Judiciary
Committee discussed another scenario last year.
A mother picks up her two children, driving down the
road hits an icy spot, hits a telephone pole, kills
one of the children. There was some testimony last
year that the trooper responding to the accident scene
is going to cite a cause for the accident, driving too
fast for the conditions. Now is that mother then
going to be subject to losing her license where she's
already lost her child?
MS. CARPENETI answered it would depend. If the mother was cited
for driving too fast for the conditions and the judge concluded
that her behavior was a significant contributing factor to the
death, then losing her license is a possibility.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if such a situation would provide for a
lot of prosecutorial discretion.
MS. CARPENETI said yes. The person has to be convicted of the
citation beyond a reasonable doubt. A person has a right to
court appointed counsel and a jury trial for the citation itself
and then the judge would have to be convinced by clear and
convincing evidence that the bad driving was a significant
contributing factor to the death. There are several steps along
the way that have to be met before the license would be revoked
and it would be for the judge to determine. She thought that
was why the Senate Judiciary Committee added the clear and
convincing evidence standard and that it would be a significant
factor in causing the death.
MS. CARPENETI explained beyond a reasonable doubt is a higher
standard. Clear and convincing is between preponderance of the
evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt but it is a high
standard.
SENATOR OLSON said last year's bill included the reasonable
doubt standard; the standard in this bill has been changed to
clear and convincing evidence. He asked her why that change was
made.
MS. CARPENETI said she believes the citation has to be proven
beyond a reasonable doubt but said she could be mistaken and
would check. The citation must be proven beyond a reasonable
doubt and, after the person is convicted of the traffic
violation, the court must find by clear and convincing evidence
that the bad driving was the significant factor in causing the
death.
SENATOR OLSON stated:
As you look at this transgressing driver that was out
there causing all this mayhem and certainly the
fatalities we certainly empathize with the families
that were affected. And I think, with all due respect
Senator Ogan, your words as I remember them on the
floor were that 'You cannot legislate common sense.'
He asked if the driver that caused the two accidents had a
driver's license.
SENATOR OGAN said he did not recall making that statement and
added, "But you probably can't legislate common sense, but you
can punish bad judgment. And, you know we legislate morality
all the time. That's the most common thing we do." He stated
as an example that when someone three years older has sexual
relations with a child who is 15 years and 364 days old, that is
child molestation but, the next day, when the child turns 16, it
is not. That is a moral judgment call. He applauded the
Campbells for not taking the driver to civil court, but they
felt justice was not served. This legislation would provide a
sense of justice. The Campbell's son and their friend's son
died and, because there was nothing on the books the judge could
use, a subsequent accident occurred and two other children died.
This young man did not learn his lesson the first time so there
has to be some consequences for bad judgment.
SENATOR OLSON said his heart goes out to the people that
suffered through the tragedy.
SENATOR OLSON referred to case 1 from the Actual Cases
Supporting SB 53 in which a man driving along Glenn Highway into
Anchorage one summer afternoon fell asleep at the wheel and
violated a traffic regulation by driving onto the bike path.
His car struck and killed a woman riding her bicycle. Senator
Olson said a fair number of the people even within this room
have at sometime fallen asleep in undue circumstances. He said
to put them in the same category as the driver talked about
earlier is somewhat unfair.
SENATOR OGAN responded:
With all due respect, through the chair, Senator
Olson, I guess you would say that it wouldn't be fair
for those people to sue that person. They would be
held liable in civil court as well.... You know life
isn't fair. We make judgment calls all the time and
yea, I've fallen asleep, or you know caught myself
falling asleep at the wheel before and I've been in a
car with somebody that falls asleep with their eyes
open.
He said he did not think it was unreasonable to have some
ramifications. He said he told his kids a car is a 4 thousand
pound missile and do not mess around, driving is life and death
stuff. Unfortunate things happen to good people, some good
people make some bad judgments that kill people, and those
people cannot be brought back. He asked if people should get
off with a $50 fine for running a red light. He did not think
so.
MS. CARPENETI said, in further response to Senator Therriault,
that in last year's bill, the Senate Judiciary Committee gave
the court discretion to suspend the license for up to three
years under these limited circumstances. Up to that point,
suspension was mandatory for one year.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if the current bill gives the court
that discretion.
MS. CARPENETI answered it does.
SENATOR THERRIAULT said he remembered the discussion last year.
That discretion was added to recognize the person who is "hot-
rodding" and acting egregiously.
SENATOR THERRIAULT recounted a discussion last year on the issue
of license revocation. He noted that the police blotter in any
paper contains DWIs (driving while intoxicated) that involve
people driving with revoked licenses. He said he did not know
if the laws really impact people's behavior because people drive
with suspended licenses anyway. A lot of people drive to and
from work without a license. People have to drive in this state
with the extreme temperatures and distances and no mass transit.
He asked if Senator Ogan had given thought to what the penalty
is when people are caught driving with a revoked driver's
license. He asked what the impact would be on the Department of
Law and the public defenders.
SENATOR OGAN said the bill gives the judge discretion. He hoped,
in the case Senator Olson mentioned where the woman hit a patch
of ice and killed a child, the judge would take that into
consideration. The bill allows for a limited amount of
discretion so that an offender can go to work or take care of
someone with a medical condition or those kinds of things. He
said a man in his neighborhood got in an accident without
insurance and lost his license. He gives this neighbor a ride to
town, as the closest store is 12 miles away.
SENATOR THERRIAULT said he wanted to bring the committee's
attention to the fact that the bill has picked up very modest
and indeterminate fiscal notes.
SENATOR THERRIAULT moved SB 53 from committee with individual
recommendations and the four attached fiscal notes. Without
objection, the motion carried.
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