COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Baker, Benton and Overton 

Argued at Norfolk, Virginia 

STEPHEN JAMES MORRISON 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION*

v. Record No. 0035-96-1 BY JUDGE JOSEPH E. BAKER 

 DECEMBER 10, 1996 

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA 

 FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH 

Dennis F. McMurran, Judge 

 Dianne G. Ringer, Senior Assistant Public 

Defender, for appellant. 

 John K. Byrum, Jr., Assistant Attorney 

General (James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney 

General, on brief), for appellee. 

 Stephen James Morrison (appellant) contends that the 

evidence does not support his conviction by the Circuit Court of 

the City of Portsmouth (trial court) for violation of Code 

§ 40.1-103, willfully or negligently endangering a child. We 

disagree and affirm his conviction. 

 As the parties are familiar with the facts contained in the 

record, we state only those necessary to an understanding of the 

result we reach. We view those facts in the light most favorable 

to the Commonwealth, granting to it all reasonable inferences 

fairly deducible therefrom. Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216 

Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 (1975). 

 Appellant argues that because this Court, in Carter v.

 

 *Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not 

designated for publication. 
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Commonwealth, 21 Va. App. 150, 462 S.E.2d 582 (1995), declared a 

portion of Code § 40.1-103 to be unconstitutionally vague, the 

evidence does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant 

violated the remaining section which provides: "It shall be 

unlawful for any person employing or having the custody of any 

child willfully or negligently to cause or permit the life of 

such child to be endangered or the health of such child to be 

injured, . . . ." 

 Copeland was the mother of appellant's six-week-old child. 

Appellant lived apart from Copeland and the child. The child was 

ill on April 10, 1995 when appellant came to the child's home, 

kicked Copeland in her thigh, and removed the child from her 

home. When the child was taken out into the late afternoon, the 

temperature was forty-eight degrees and the child was clothed 

only in a "sleeper" that was not snapped and did not cover the 

child's bare feet. 

 The police responded to a call, found appellant standing 

outside a nearby store, and informed him that he was under arrest 

for domestic assault. The police requested appellant to give 

them the child so that it could be returned to Copeland. The 

police were aware that the child was "suffering from a severe 

cold" and was lightly dressed. 

 While holding the child tightly to his chest, appellant 

responded to the request by telling the police that they would 

have to kill him if they expected to get the child away from him. 
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 The police repeated the request "a dozen times or more" but 

appellant continued to refuse and cursed at the officers. The 

child was crying and screaming but no physical injury was 

evident. After arresting and taking appellant into custody by 

placing him in a police vehicle, the police were able to remove 

the child from appellant's clutch. 

 We hold that the evidence is sufficient to support 

appellant's conviction for negligently causing or permitting the 

life of the child to be endangered or the health of the child to 

be injured. 

 Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. 

 Affirmed.