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31. The defendant's motion should be:
Two years and 11 months after the pedestrian's death, on March 1, a grand jury indicted the defendant on a charge of manslaughter of the pedestrian. On May 15, trial had not begun and the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on the ground of double jeopardy in that her conviction of reckless driving arose out of the same incident, and that the statute of limitations for manslaughter had run.
On May 1, a car driven by the defendant struck a pedestrian. On July 1, with regard to this incident, the defendant pleaded guilty to reckless driving (a misdemeanor) and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and a fine of $1,000. She served the sentence and paid the fine. The following year, on April 1, the pedestrian died as a result of the injuries she suffered in the accident. There is a three-year statute of limitations for manslaughter in this jurisdiction.
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If a death is caused by criminal negligence (or by «recklessness» under the Model Penal Code), the killing is involuntary manslaughter.
D is correct. The defendant's motion should be denied on both the double jeopardy and statute of limitations grounds. There is no double jeopardy violation because the two charges do not amount to the «same offense» as required by the Double Jeopardy Clause. Each charge contains an element that the other does not. Reckless driving does not involve causing the death of another, and manslaughter does not require that a moving violation be involved. There is also no statute of limitations problem because the defendant was indicted two years and 11 months after the pedestrian's death, and the state had three years from the death to charge her with manslaughter.
A is incorrect. The motion should be denied on both grounds, including the double jeopardy basis. The defendant's s earlier guilty plea to reckless driving did not place her in jeopardy for the subsequent death of the pedestrian, which gave rise to the manslaughter charge. As previously explained, these are not considered the «same offense» for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause.
B is incorrect. The motion should be denied not just on the double jeopardy ground, but also on the statute of limitations ground. As explained above, the pedestrian died and less than three years later, the defendant was charged with manslaughter. Thus, the manslaughter charge was brought properly within the three-year statute of limitations.
C is incorrect. For the reasons stated above, the defendant's motion to dismiss the manslaughter charge should be denied on both grounds.