Opinion ID: 1824793
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: did the trial judge err in failing to grant porter's motion for a directed verdict?

Text: The evidence is uncontroverted that Porter put the child in a garbage bag and placed it outside on a cool November night. She admitted that she intended to put the child in the garbage bag and intended to carry the bag outside, but claimed she thought the baby was dead. Porter also admitted that she was aware that leaving a live child outside overnight in cold weather could be fatal to the child. When an infant is placed inside it, a plastic garbage bag is a deadly weapon or other means likely to produce death or serious bodily harm. The evidence is also uncontroverted that the baby suffered serious bodily injury as a result of Porter's actions. Porter argues the State failed to prove the requisite intent to sustain an aggravated assault conviction because she believed the child was dead. The prosecution counters that Porter's intent at the time she committed the act is a jury issue. Torrence v. State, 283 So.2d 595, 598 (Miss. 1973). The crux of Porter's argument is that her mistaken belief that the child was dead affords her a legal excuse to the crime charged. The testimony of Bennie Billups and Lisa Richardson (that they heard a baby crying from next door) belies Porter's claim that the child made no sound. Accepting as true all evidence presented by the State and all reasonable inferences therefrom, Porter knowingly caused bodily injury to her baby daughter with a deadly weapon or other means likely to produce death or serious bodily harm. That is all the statute requires. Nobles v. State, 464 So.2d 1151, 1155 (Miss. 1985). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, as we must, there was sufficient evidence to support a guilty verdict. There is no merit to this assignment of error.