So an accident makes you a criminal?

Yes, it pretty much boiled down to not wanting the publicity (or the messy divorce).

It would be criminal if he were driving drunk or, in this case, extremely tired/exhausted. It's negligence on the part of the driver however you slice it. But I'm betting his lawyers could slice it better than anyone else could.



"De gustibus non disputandum est"
#3

Uh, because Julie died? It is a felony to flee the scene of an accident if the accident resulted in a person’s death in ALL FIFTY STATES. Now, whether he would've been guilty of manslaughter is a whole 'nother story. Had he stayed, naturally the publicity alone would have been a disaster and if his BAC was over the legal limit he would have really been screwed but the bottom line is, he fled the scene.

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Hard for me to believe he would have huge legal liability, too. If he had stayed at the scene and/or went for help for Julie, I don't see how he would have done any time. We literally see him take one sip of a drink, so we have no evidence of high BAC. As for him being too tired, how would police have evidence of this?
Seems to me the point is that because of the stress in his life, and the incredible pressure of feeling responsible for Julie's death at that moment, he made a very poor choice. Has any one been in a major auto accident? I have been, and even though there were no deaths and I was not at fault, the adrenaline rush makes a person do and feel strange things.

The driver is responsible for the accident so of course he was to be blamed. They saw the car and it wasn't crashed with another for example (in that case maybe you should ask who from the driver's is to be blamed).
The fact the he went away makes him more guilty, if he accepted the fault he would be charged with less years, as his lawyer suggested.
About the connections to suppress the investigation I don't know if that is possible,at least the detective in the movie didn't seem someone easily manipulated .

Also, they may have gotten him on manslaughter based on the fact that - as far as anyone can prove - the girl's death may have been preventable. His fleeing caused her death, if they wanted to spin it that way,

Pobre de Dios que no sale en revistas, que no es modelo ni artista, o de familia royal...

He fled because he knew it would blow up the deal to sell his company. If he didn't sell the company immediately, the guy who loaned him the money would have filed a claim for it, and the truth about the financial crimes would come out. Miller would go to jail for that, his company would probably liquidate, and his family would lose everything.

He didn't flee because the ugly French chick was killed in the accident.

Now, if he hadn't fled, and had called to report it, from a legal standpoint he would have probably been ok. He would have more to worry from a civil suit by the girl's family, but it was accidental from a legal standpoint. He didn't appear to be drunk, so as long as that's the case, he could say he swerved to avoid a deer, or even the truth, that he fell asleep for a few seconds and hit the median wall. If there was no evidence of speeding, or some form of reckless driving, then it would just be an accident and left at that.

1) The accident itself may not entail criminal liability.

--but he's out late at night with a woman to whom he supplies a house, walk around money, a studio, supplies etc. And I guessing they had sex that night. She's dead now. So there will be an autopsy and his affair, the accident etc. will be front page news.

--she's dead, he knows it. He gets out of the car, he's not looking to dial 911, he could have done it with his cell phone. He's looking to get out of the mess. The car blows up, which is good news for him, no DNA to place him in the car. He makes a fingerprint-less phone call to a virtual unknown in his circles.

2) leaving the scene of an accident WITHOUT contacting emergency services (911) is a crime, and with a death, possibly a felony

3) Covering up his presence in the car, and involvement with the fatal accident is obstruction of justice and is a felony in most states

4) His conspiring with the kid to hide his presence at the scene of the accident and hide his involvement is witness tampering which is a felony as well

But the underlying motivations for Gere's actions were to avoid exposure and negative attention that might delay or tank the sale of his business which would expose his fraudulent financial statements, debt-asset reports, his illegal unreported loan, and his failure to disclose his foreign investments etc. That would put him in deep, deep do-do, probably even more than leaving the scene of the accident.

Absolutely. You leave the scene of an accident. You are guilty of doing so. You are driving a vehicle and someone dies, there must be an investigation. And, if you are found to be responsible, you will be charged with a crime.