Opinion ID: 2174363
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Second-Degree Assault Charge

Text: Appellants contend that the Commonwealth failed to introduce sufficient evidence to support the second-degree assault charge and thus, the trial court erred in refusing to grant a directed verdict. Appellants concede that although they moved for a directed verdict at both the close of the Commonwealth's case-in-chief as well as the close of all evidence, they did not object to the language of the assault instruction. KRS 508.020 provides, in pertinent part: (1) A person is guilty of assault in the second degree when: (a) He intentionally causes serious physical injury to another person; or (b) He intentionally causes physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument; or (c) He wantonly causes serious physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument. During a conference on instructions, the trial court specifically found that Milby did not suffer a serious physical injury as a result of being cut with the scissors. Moreover, the trial court ruled that although Appellants were armed with knives, such were never used, and under the facts presented, the scissors were not a deadly weapon. Nonetheless, the relevant portion of jury instruction stated: That in this county on or about August 15, 1995, and before the finding of the indictment herein, he and or others, acting in complicity with the others intentionally or wantonly caused a physical injury to Thallie Milby by cutting her[.] Clearly, the trial court erred in including a wanton element in the instruction since it had previously ruled that Milby did not suffer a serious physical injury. See KRS 508.020(1)(c). However, the issue on appeal is not whether the instruction was correct, but whether the evidence was sufficient to avoid a directed verdict of acquittal. We are of the opinion that the Commonwealth presented sufficient evidence for the jury to reasonably find Appellants guilty of second-degree assault. The Commonwealth introduced evidence that Milby suffered at least two cuts on her arms from the scissors, as well as several other scrapes and contusions. Appellant Sprowls admitted in his statement that Appellant Weathers had cut locks of Milby's hair while she was bound with the duct tape. Moreover, there was testimony that at the time Appellants left Milby's house, they believed she might die as a result of the severe bleeding from the cut on her arm. If, as Appellant Weathers claims, the cut to Milby's arm was accidental, then it was inconsistent for Appellants to leave the house instead of calling for help or attempting to stop the bleeding. The cutting may have been an accidental or unintended act; however, Appellant's subsequent actions in abandoning a bleeding victim are certainly subject to a reasonable inference that they intended an intentional death by exsanguination from the accidental laceration. Unquestionably, the cuts that Milby sustained satisfy the element of physical injury. Furthermore, this Court has previously held that scissors may constitute a dangerous instrument. Commonwealth v. Potts, Ky., 884 S.W.2d 654 (1994). As such, viewing the evidence as a whole, it was reasonable for the jury to conclude that Appellants intentionally caused physical injury to Milby with a dangerous instrument. The Commonwealth produced sufficient evidence to withstand a directed verdict on the second-degree assault charge, and thus no error occurred. Commonwealth v. Benham, Ky., 816 S.W.2d 186 (1991).