State v. Belgard

Defendant appeals from a jury conviction on charges of automobile homicide and raises several issues on appeal. However, we are concerned only with the issue of the trial judge’s instruction as to the degree of negligence which the jury must find in order to convict the defendant. The instruction correctly stated the court’s understanding of that element of the crime at the time of defendant’s trial, to wit: The jury need only made a finding of simple negligence in order to find the defendant culpable. 1

Subsequent to defendant’s conviction, this Court, in State v. Chavez, 2 overturned its…