United States v. Doreen Smith

BARRETT, Circuit Judge.

Doreen Smith appeals her conviction following trial to a jury of involuntary manslaughter arising from a vehicular accident on the Navajo Indian Reservation near Gallup, New Mexico, on March 5, 1983. The accident occurred about 8:30 p.m.; it was a head-on collision between a Pontiac Trans-Am, driven by Smith, and a Honda 350 motorcycle. The motorcyclist, James Radloff, was killed. Smith and Francis Benally, another occupant of the car, were taken to a hospital in Shiprock, New Mexico. A third occupant of the car, Herman Tanner, apparently walked away from the accident…