Opinion ID: 1152888
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Responsibility of Rachel's mother

Text: Defendant argues that the court should have found a non-statutory mitigating factor to be that Angela Gray was largely responsible for Rachel's suffering. Defendant claims that Gray's lack of action by not taking her child to the hospital should be considered an intervening factor, so that defendant should not be solely responsible for Rachel's death. We have previously discussed this argument in our Enmund-Tison discussion. See Sentencing Issues, Pt. II. The trial court did not specifically address Gray's involvement as a non-statutory mitigating circumstance. However, the trial court indicated that it had considered all of the mitigating evidence presented by defendant and found it insufficient to call for leniency. Defendant's attempt to transfer responsibility for Rachel's death to Gray is meritless. Defendant was with Rachel the balance of the evening after he inflicted the assault upon her. He knew better than anyone else the suffering she was experiencing. He told people, in Gray's presence, that he had taken Rachel to see the paramedics and that they had said she was fine. Not only did he not take Rachel to the hospital when he knew how much she was suffering, he also effectively dissuaded others from taking her to the hospital by telling them that he had taken her to the paramedics. Even though Rachel was not his biological child, he had a duty to take her to the hospital after he inflicted the injuries upon her.