Court affirms man operated boat in felony hit and run

There was enough evidence that a man convicted of involuntary manslaughter and felony hit and run was operating a boat that crashed into a bulkhead, resulting in the death of the boat’s passenger, the Court of Appeals of Virginia found in a published decision.

After his conviction in the Lancaster County Circuit Court, the man argued that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he was operating the vessel at the time of the accident and to support the jury’s verdicts.

But Judge Randolph A. Beales said there was plenty of credible evidence in the record to support the jury’s findings and the man’s convictions in the trial court.

Judges Glen A. Huff and Vernida R. Chaney joined Beales’ opinion in Hooper v. Commonwealth (VLW 023-7-358).

Background

The appeal stems from an August 2017 boating accident where the appellant, John Randolph Hooper, was hosting four friends from out of town at his parents’ home.

Per testimony from one of the friends, Hooper took the group out on a boat ride on his father’s 21-foot Boston Whaler, where Hooper drank beer and was the only person to drive the boat.

Later that evening, after dinner and spending time on the dock together, Hooper and one of his friends, Graham McCormick, went on another boat ride on the Boston Whaler. During this ride, according to responses admitted into evidence, Hooper “remembered ‘that the boat hit something hard.’”

Hooper returned to his parents’ home without McCormick, who he “did not see nor hear” following the collision. McCormick was reported missing the next day; his body was found near another home on the water.

A few days later, the homeowner who discovered McCormick’s body noticed damage to the bulkhead separating his property from the creek that wasn’t there before. Police officers returned to the Hoopers’ residence, where one testified that he could see damage on the Boston Whaler, including damage to the fiberglass hull and “wood fibers stuck inside the boat’s propeller.”

At trial, a forensic scientist testified that the paint of the Boston Whaler matched traces left on the damaged bulkhead.

Hooper was charged with felony murder, aggravated involuntary manslaughter and felony hit and run. Following the conclusion of evidence at trial, Hooper argued the commonwealth “failed to show that he was the operator of the Boston Whaler at the time of the collision” in a motion to strike. The trial judge granted his motion to strike for the felony murder charge.

A jury found Hooper guilty on two counts: for involuntary manslaughter, a lesser-included offense of aggravated involuntary manslaughter, under Va. Code § 18.2-36.2(A) and for felony hit and run under Va. Code § 29.1-740.

Hooper appealed both convictions.

Appeal

Hooper claimed there wasn’t enough evidence, as a matter of law, to prove that he was operating the Boston Whaler at the time of the accident, making the evidence insufficient to find his guilt of either charge.

But Beales noted Hooper’s September 2017 interview with local police, where he acknowledged he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision with the bulkhead.

“Despite Hooper’s claim that he did not remember who operated the vessel, the jury implicitly made the finding of fact that Hooper was the driver of the boat at the time that the collision occurred,” Beales said. “The jury could reasonably infer that Hooper drove the boat late that night, given [Hooper’s friend’s] testimony that Hooper was the only person who drove the Boston Whaler earlier during the day.”

The judge said the jury could reasonably find that McCormick — who had flown in from Atlanta — wouldn’t drive his friend’s father’s boat on unfamiliar waters.

“Furthermore, the jury could reasonably infer from the totality of the evidence, including Hooper’s deceptive conduct and lies to the police and to his friends about McCormick’s disappearance, that Hooper was driving the boat at the time of the collision,” Beales wrote.

Hooper’s statements following the collision also “demonstrate Hooper’s consciousness of guilt,” the judge pointed out.

“After the group determined the next morning that McCormick was missing, Hooper gave [a member of the group] a series of excuses as to why the group should not call the police to help search for McCormick,” Beales wrote, adding that Hooper “diverted” police attention away from the Boston Whaler to a smaller boat he claimed the group took that afternoon.

Hooper’s recollection of the collision was also referenced by Beales, who wrote that Hooper remembered many details of the collision but said he couldn’t remember who was driving the boat at the time.

“As Hooper has acknowledged remembering a number of details about what happened that night, the jury could therefore reasonably conclude that Hooper feigned memory loss when he conveniently forgot an essential detail of the incident — i.e., whether he was driving the boat when it hit the bulkhead,” Beales wrote. “Consequently, given Hooper’s familiarity with driving his father’s Boston Whaler and given Hooper’s statements to his friends and to law enforcement, we certainly cannot say that the jury was plainly wrong or without credible evidence in determining that Hooper was the driver of the boat at the time of the collision that resulted in Graham McCormick’s death.”

As such, “we certainly cannot say that no rational factfinder could have found the evidence sufficient to support Hooper’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter under Code § 29.1-740,” the judge concluded. “In short, there is plenty of credible evidence in the record to support the jury’s finding of fact that Hooper was driving the boat.”

He therefore declined to disturb the jury’s findings and Hooper’s convictions.