Opinion ID: 1122933
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Whether the evidence adduced at trial was sufficient to sustain defendant's conviction

Text: Smith argues that because the jury was given a general verdict form, it was not possible to determine whether the jury convicted her on Count I, Count II, or on both. Smith argues that her conviction should be reversed if the jury convicted her only on Count I because such a conviction is against the manifest weight of the evidence. [3] Where there is substantial evidence to support the jury's verdict, it will not be disturbed on appeal. Kazalyn v. State, 108 Nev. 67, 71, 825 P.2d 578, 581 (1992). The standard of review for sufficiency of evidence upon appeal is whether the jury, acting reasonably, could have been convinced of the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. Smith argues that in order to be convicted under Count I, the prosecution was required to prove that she knew Harrell was abusing Andy, that she took no action to prevent such abuse, and that Andy died as a result of such abuse. Smith testified at trial that in August 1992, Harrell spanked Andy on his buttocks for wetting his pants and that the spanking bruised Andy's buttocks. Smith further testified that she told Harrell never to spank Andy again and that Harrell abided by Smith's request. Smith argues to this court that no other evidence was adduced at trial to prove that Smith knew that Harrell ever abused Andy and therefore any conviction pursuant to Count I must fail. We conclude that there was sufficient evidence to convict Smith on Count I because a jury, acting reasonably, could have been convinced of Smith's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Initially, we note that the fact that Harrell had spanked Andy in August 1992 was almost certainly not sufficient to put Smith on notice that Harrell was abusing Andy. However, the State proved that Harrell told Smith that he had hit Andy on January 16, and the evidence showed that after Harrell told this information to Smith, Smith went back to sleep and let Harrell take care of Andy for the entire night. Additionally, Smith let Harrell take care of Andy on January 17 after she saw the bruises on Andy's body. These were situations in which Smith knew that Harrell had abused Andy, and by letting Harrell continue to provide unsupervised care for Andy, Smith placed Andy in a situation where he suffered or may have suffered physical pain and mental suffering as the result of abuse or neglect in violation of NRS 200.508(1)(a).