Opinion ID: 217717
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence of serious bodily injury

Text: The jury also had to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Ghahate suffered serious bodily injury as a result of the assault. Regarding that element of the offense, the district court instructed jurors, without objection, “that the term ‘serious bodily injury,’ as used in these instructions, means bodily injury which involves (a) extreme physical pain, 3 (b) protracted and obvious disfigurement, or (c) protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty.” (R. v. 1 at 11-12.) See also United States v. Tindall, 519 F.3d 1057, 1060-61 (10th Cir. 2008); United States v. Alexander, 447 F.3d 1290, 1299 (10th Cir. 2006). Mutte concedes that a broken ankle is a “serious bodily injury.” Under the facts of this case, we agree. Ghahate’s ankle was broken in three places, requiring surgery and three months’ rehabilitation to repair. Cf. United States v. Brown, 50 F. App’x 970, 972-73, 976-78 (10th Cir. 2002) (unpublished) (holding there was sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could find defendants assaulted the victim, resulting in “serious bodily injury,” where victim testified that defendants pushed him to the ground, resulting in an open ankle fracture). Mutte essentially argues that there was insufficient evidence that his assault caused the broken ankle. However, Ghahate testified that her ankle broke when Mutte kicked at her and she simultaneously kicked back in self-defense. This is sufficient to support a finding that Mutte’s assault resulted in Ghahate’s broken ankle. Although Mutte’s mother testified that Mutte admitted to hitting Ghahate but not kicking her, the jury was not required to credit this version of events. Cf. United States v. Long Feather, 299 F.3d 915, 917 (8th Cir. 2002) (stating that the jury was entitled to disbelieve the defendant’s self-serving testimony that he kicked the victim in the shoulder but not in the head, and, therefore, could not have delivered the blow that killed the victim). There was, then, sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Mutte assaulted Ghahate and that the assault 4 resulted in serious bodily injury.