Jones

On May 23, 1982, Carol Ambler and Mike Thoenes invited appellant to an impromptu barbeque at Sandy Wool Lake Park. Appellant arrived at the park about 2 p.m. and left some time before 7 p.m. During his stay at the park, appellant drank beer and liquor, consumed some food, and smoked marijuana with Ambler, Thoenes and three or four other friends. According to witnesses’ testimony, approximately one and one-half bottles of whiskey and two 6-packs of beer were consumed by various members of the group.

Appellant left the party before 7 p.m., explaining that he had some things to take care of, but would return to take everyone swimming at his parents’ home. He arrived at his home around 7:20 p.m. and stayed about five minutes. Appellant’s mother noticed he had been drinking and expressed concern about his driving back to the park to pick up his friends.

After leaving home around 7:35 p.m., appellant was driving his car in an easterly direction on Cropley Road at a speed estimated with wide variance at somewhere between 50 and 95 miles per hour. He ran a stop sign at the intersection of Piedmont and Cropley, narrowly missed colliding with a vehicle approaching the…