Opinion ID: 1057558
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Development of the Law Applicable to Child Abuse and Neglect

Text: Prior to the Criminal Sentencing Reform Act of 1989, the statute governing cases of child abuse and child neglect provided as follows: Any person who maliciously, purposely, or knowingly, other than by accidental means, treats a child under eighteen (18) years of age in such manner as to inflict injury or neglects such a child so as to adversely affect its health and welfare is guilty of a misdemeanor.... Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-4-401(a) (1982) (repealed by Act of May 24, 1989, ch. 591, § 1, 1989 Tenn. Pub. Acts 1169). Our courts treated abuse and neglect as two separate offenses. See State v. Smith, C.C.A. No. 1153, 1990 WL 134934, at  (Tenn.Crim.App. Sept. 20, 1990), no Tenn. R.App. P. 11 app. filed. [9] In 1988, our first degree murder statute included death as a result of child abuse, providing, in part, as follows: It shall also be murder in the first degree to kill a child less than thirteen (13) years of age if the child's death results from one (1) or more incidents of a protracted pattern or multiple incidents of child abuse committed by the defendant against such child, or if such death results from the cumulative effects of such pattern or incidents. Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-2-202(2) (Supp.1988) (repealed by Act of May 24, 1989, ch. 591, § 1, 1989 Tenn. Pub. Acts 1169). [10] In 1992, however, this Court ruled that this statute was unconstitutional. State v. Hale, 840 S.W.2d 307, 313 (Tenn.1992). [11] In response, the General Assembly amended the first degree murder statute to provide, in part, as follows: First degree murder is: ... (4) A reckless killing of a child less than thirteen (13) years of age, if the child's death results from aggravated child abuse, as defined by section 39-15-402, committed by the defendant against the child. Act of May 6, 1993, ch. 338, § 1, 1993 Tenn. Pub. Acts 537 (codified at Tenn.Code. Ann. § 39-13-202(a) (Supp. 1993)). Effective in 1995, however, the legislature again amended the first degree murder statute to provide in part as follows: First degree murder is: ... (2) A killing of another committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate any first degree murder, arson, rape, robbery, burglary, theft, kidnapping, aggravated child abuse or aircraft piracy[.] Act of May 24, 1995, ch. 460, § 1, 1995 Tenn. Pub. Acts 801 (codified at Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-202(a) (Supp.1995)) (emphasis added). In Hodges, the Court of Criminal Appeals interpreted the 1995 statute. In that case, a two-year-old died of intentional blunt force trauma to the head and torso inflicted by either the mother or the stepfatherthe sole custodians of the victim. Hodges, 7 S.W.3d at 614. Much like the case before us, the State was unable to prove which of the two administered the fatal blows, but, as in this case, there [could] be no mistake that an act of abuse caused the victim's death. Id. at 620. While affirming convictions for felony murder and aggravated child abuse, the Court of Criminal Appeals interpreted Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-15-202(a) (Supp.1995) and addressed child abuse as defined in § 39-15-401 when serious bodily injury results, as described in section 39-15-402(a)(1). The holding in Hodges stood for the proposition that a prosecution for a killing that occurred during the commission of aggravated child abuse encompassed a death caused by either abuse through the infliction of injury or abuse through neglect of a child `so as to adversely affect the child's health and welfare,' resulting in serious bodily injury. 7 S.W.3d at 622-23. [12] Obviously, the majority of the Court of Criminal Appeals in the case before us relied on the Hodges ruling. Effective July 1, 1998, however, our General Assembly amended the felony murder statute by adding aggravated child neglect to the list of felonies upon which a felony murder charge could be based: First degree murder is: ... (2) A killing of another in the perpetration of or attempt to perpetrate any first degree murder, arson, rape, robbery, burglary, theft, kidnapping, aggravated child abuse, aggravated child neglect or aircraft piracy[.] Act of Apr. 29, 1998, ch. 1040, § 3, 1998 Tenn. Pub. Acts 911 (codified at Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-202(a) (Supp.1998)) (emphasis added). [13] This statute was in effect at all times pertinent to the prosecution of the defendant and Patlan. Importantly: When a penal statute or penal legislative act of the state is repealed or amended by a subsequent legislative act, the offense, as defined by the statute or act being repealed or amended, committed while the statute or act was in full force and effect shall be prosecuted under the act or statute in effect at the time of the commission of the offense. Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-11-112 (2010). Thus, even though the law changed between the commission of the charged offenses and the trial of the defendant, the law applicable at the time of the events leading to the victim's death governs. In his dissent to the Court of Criminal Appeals' opinion in this case, Judge Tipton observed that the 1998 amendment by the General Assembly was significant in the context of separating aggravated child abuse from aggravated child neglect when considering what constitutes a particular felony murder.... [U]nder that provision, murder in the perpetration of aggravated child abuse is a separate offense from murder in the perpetration of aggravated child neglect, no different than murder during the perpetration of air piracy, for example.... I believe that under the statute, charging murder in the perpetration of aggravated child abuse did not charge murder in the perpetration of aggravated child neglect. Dorantes, 2009 WL 4250431, at  (Tipton, P.J., dissenting). We agree with his assessment. Plainly, our General Assembly chose to provide two separate and distinct courses of conduct, aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect, upon which a felony murder may be predicated.