Case Study: Criminal Law - Texting While Driving and Consequences

This case study examines a criminal law case in Maryland where a defendant was found guilty of texting while driving, resulting in a collision and serious injury. The evidence presented included cell phone records, witness testimonies, and WhatsApp messages, which corroborated the defendant's phone usage at the time of the accident. The legal proceedings considered Maryland's laws against distracted driving, including the application of Jake's Law, and the sentencing involved a fine, a jail sentence, and additional payments to the injured party. The case highlights the dangers of texting while driving, referencing studies on its impact on driver response times and the role of cell phone use in unsafe road conditions, ultimately leading to a unanimous guilty verdict.

Running head: CRIMINAL LAW
Criminal Law
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CRIMINAL LAW
In the given case after considering the evidence produced by the Prosecution and
Defendant. The defendant is found guilty of text messaging while operating a vehicle in a
roadway.
The law in Maryland prevents the use of cell phones and hand-held devices while driving for
writing, seeing or sending text messages or emails. As different activities have different
effects on driving (Yager, Cooper and Chrysler 2012) all need to be covered to make the
provision more effective The only exception is for GPS and sending intimation for
emergency to 911. Crashes that lead to death fall within the purview of criminally negligent
manslaughter by vehicle (Washington Post 2014). The complete ban on texting while driving
has reduced instances where drivers are tempted to check their phones (Rudisill and Zhu
2015; Rocco and Sampaio 2015).
In this case where the defendant was sending a WhatsApp message on a group while
driving caused a life-threatening collision. The law enforcement officers obtained details on
the phone record to corroborate the time line of the event with the time stamp on the story.
Two of the Defendant’s friends on WhatsApp also had screenshots of the chat that they
presented to the Jury and Court. The facts show unequivocally that the Defendant was using
his phone while driving. The evidence that corroborate this are the cell phone records,
witnesses and officer’s statement. This caused a collision with the adjacent car, where the
passenger in the front seat was grievously injured from the sudden impact of the collision.
The lady was hospitalized for two weeks and has to continue with physical therapy for
recovering from the injuries. She has additionally faced a huge trauma and is finding it
difficult to leave her house.
The laws on distracted driving have evolved in the State of Maryland and Jake’s Law
has been developed to expand the scope of punishment in such instances. The application of
the law is strict, in what amounts to texting while driving however, the punishment in some

2CRIMINAL LAW
instances does not do justice to the gravity of the injury. (Yum 2014). In the case of Jake
Owen the driver was accountable only for an accident and had to pay a fine of $1000, when
his acts caused the death of a five year old and grievously injured the three others in the car.
Studies reveal that texting adds over 40 feet to a driver’s breaking response making it worse
than drunk driving that adds 7 feet while driving at 35 MPH (Austin 2009). Another survey
of Maryland reveals that using cellphone is one of the riskiest behaviors that contribute
towards unsafe roads (Bergen Milani and Kufera 2015).
The Jury of 7 unanimously finds in favor of the Prosecution from the evidence provided
as the Defendant was carelessly using his cell phone to text while behind the wheels. An act
that has claimed several life’s in Maryland, and in this instance caused grievous hurt to the
co-passenger in the other car.
The Defendant is thus sentenced to fine of $750 along with a six-month sentence. The
defendant is further encouraged to pay for costs incurred and all other related future costs of
the injured. Such payment should be made on production of valid hospital bills and receipt.
One point is also added to the Defendant’s motor records.

3CRIMINAL LAW
Reference List:
Austin, M. (Jun, 2009). Texting While Driving: How Dangerous is it?. Car and Driver
Bergen G, Milani J, Kufera J 0057 Maryland annual driving survey–understanding the
driving culture Injury Prevention 2015;21:A15.
Chason, R. (2018) In Maryland, lawmakers again debate $500 fine for texting and driving.
Washington Post
Johnson, J. (2014). Jake’s Law’ addresses penalties for distracted driving. Washington Post.
Rocco, L. and Sampaio, B., 2016. Are handheld cell phone and texting bans really effective
in reducing fatalities?. Empirical Economics, 51(2), pp.853-876.
Rudisill, T.M. and Zhu, M., 2015. The association between states' texting regulations and the
prevalence of texting while driving among US high school students. Annals of
epidemiology, 25(12), pp.888-893.
Yager CE, Cooper JM, Chrysler ST (2012) The effects of reading and writing text-based
messages while driving. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Annual Meeting 56 (1): 2196-2200.
Yum, S. (2014) Cell Phones and Driving is the New Drunk Driving. Huffington Post