People v. Gutiérrez Solís
People v. Gutiérrez Solís
Opinion of the Court
delivered, the opinion of the Court.
Appellant was convicted' and sentenced to serve from two to five years in the penitentiary for a violation of § 328 of the Penal Code. An automobile collision occurred at the intersection of Avenida 65 de Infantería and Highway No. 26, which ends on said avenue and leads to the International Airport. The evidence for the prosecution established that appellant was driving a 1957 Chevrolet vehicle along Avenida 65 de Infantería from Río Piedras to Carolina and when he reached that intersection he turned towards the left having the green signal, to enter onto Highway No. 26. Prom Carolina towards Río Piedras the same person who died was
The evidence for the prosecution establishes, also, that the victim had, when the pathological analysis was made, 11% of alcohol in the blood. He had been since early in the evening at a social- club, Berwind Country Club of Rio Grande.
So that there might be a conviction for violation of § 328 of the Penal Code, defendant must have incurred gross negligence or recklessness, which shows disregard of the life and safety of others. People v. Rodríguez, 70 P.R.R. 21 (1949); People v. Román, 66 P.R.R. 860 (1947); People v. Morales, 43 P.R.R. 973 (1932). The common negligence which, as a question of law, may support a conviction of involuntary manslaughter for the death of a person who was run over by a vehicle does not suffice. Cf. People v. López, 77 P.R.R. 573 (1954).
The evidence having been considered in the light of the aforementioned provisions of law the evidence for the prosecution as believed by the jury does not establish, as a question of law, the kind of gross negligence which § 328 of the Penal Code requires. Whether a defendant has incurred this type of gross negligence in the last analysis is a mixed question of fact and of law, it is not exclusively a question of fact. In order that there might be a conviction, the proximate cause of death should be the result of that gross and reckless negligence.
After considering all the circumstances which surround this accident, the gross and reckless negligence of § 328 was not established with the sufficiency at law, nor beyond a reasonable doubt, that such negligence was also, as a question of law, the proximate cause of that accident. People v. Rodríguez, 70 P.R.R. 21 (1949); People v. Agosto, 50 P.R.R. 444 (1936).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.