Delawder v. Commonwealth

The defendant, Lloyd Wayne Delawder, was convicted by a jury of involuntary manslaughter in the highway traffic death of a pedestrian, Earl Everett Mason. The trial court approved the verdict and sentenced the defendant to serve six months in jail and to pay a fine of $1000, as fixed by the jury. We granted the defendant a writ of error which poses two questions, namely:

1. Did the evidence present a jury question whether the gross negligence of the defendant was a proximate cause of the death of Mason?

2. Was the defendant entitled to an instruction which would have permitted the jury to find…