Court Opinion

ID: 9849734
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:45:14.586021+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:25.491721
License: Public Domain

Judge Greene
dissenting.
I disagree with the majority’s holding that the evidence is sufficient to support submission to the jury of the felonious child abuse charge and the second-degree murder charge. Otherwise, I agree with the majority.
In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the trial court is “to consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the State,” State v. Earnhardt, 307 N.C. 62, 67, 296 S.E.2d 649, 652-53 (1982) (citing State v. McKinney, 288 N.C. 113, 117, 215 S.E.2d 578, 581-82 (1975)), and determine “whether there is substantial evidence (a) of each essential element of the offense charged, or of a lesser offense included therein, and (b) of defendant’s being the perpetrator of the offense,” id. at 65-66, 296 S.E.2d at 651. Substantial evidence is “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Id. at 66, 296 S.E.2d at 652 (quoting State v. Smith, 300 N.C. 71, 78-79, 265 S.E.2d 164, 169 (1980)). If there is substantial evidence, the motion to dismiss should be denied. Id. If the evidence, “however, is sufficient only to raise a suspicion or conjecture as to either the commission of the offense or the identity of the defendant as the perpetrator of it,” even though the suspicion so aroused by the evidence is strong, the motion to dismiss should be allowed. Id. In making its determination, the trial court is not to consider the defendant’s evidence, unless it is favorable to the State. State v. Jones, 280 N.C. 60, 66, 184 S.E.2d 862, 866 (1971). When the defendant’s evidence does not conflict with the State’s evidence, however, it may be used to explain or clarify the evidence offered by the State. Id. The State’s evidence must be taken as true. State v. Mize, 315 N.C. 285, 290, 337 S.E.2d 562, 565 (1985).
I. Felonious Child Abuse
A parent or any other person providing care to or supervision of a child less than 16 years of age who intentionally inflicts any serious physical injury upon or to the child or who intentionally commits an assault upon the child which results in any serious physical injury to the child is guilty of a . . . felony.
N.C.G.S. § 14-318.4 (1993).
*15To sustain a conviction for felonious child abuse, the State must prove (1) that the defendant is a parent or caretaker of a child less than sixteen years old and (2) that the defendant “intentionally inflicted a serious physical injury upon the child or intentionally committed an assault resulting in a serious physical injury to the child.” State v. Elliott, 344 N.C. 242, 278, 475 S.E.2d 202, 218-19 (1996), cert. denied, - U.S. —, 137 L. Ed. 2d 312 (1997).
In this case, there is no evidence that the defendant “intentionally inflicted a serious physical injury” on his child, because there is no evidence that the defendant struck the blow which caused the skull fracture. Our Supreme Court has held that “[w]here an adult has exclusive custody of a child for a period of time and during such time the child suffers injuries which are neither self-inflicted nor accidental, the evidence is sufficient to create an inference that the adult inflicted [the] injury,” even though there may not be direct evidence that the adult struck the child. State v. Perdue, 320 N.C. 51, 63, 357 S.E.2d 345, 353 (1987) (emphasis added); see also State v. Campbell, 316 N.C. 168, 340 S.E.2d 474 (1986) (upholding the defendant’s conviction for felonious child abuse where the child was under the defendant’s care and supervision “at the time [of the child’s] injuries”). The evidence in this case, however, is that the defendant was not the exclusive caretaker of his child. The defendant cared for his child while his wife was at work, from approximately 12:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. three days per week; a baby sitter was with the child during the hours that the defendant’s wife worked two days per week; and both the defendant and his wife were with the child when she was not at work. Because the State’s experts testified that there was no way to put an exact date on the occurrence of the skull fracture, there simply is no way to know by any measure of certainty who administered the blow that fractured the child’s skull. See State v. Byrd, 309 N.C. 132, 305 S.E.2d 724 (1983), overruled on other grounds by State v. Childress, 321 N.C. 226, 362 S.E.2d 263 (1987) (reversing conviction of involuntary manslaughter based on violation of a child abuse statute due to insufficient evidence of the identity of the perpetrator where there was no evidence establishing the date of injury to the child and where the evidence revealed that adults other than the defendant had been caring for the child). The evidence in this case only confirms that there was indeed injury to the defendant’s child. Because there is no evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that the defendant inflicted the blow that caused the skull fracture, any decision by the jury that the defendant caused this injury can be based on nothing but mere speculation. The trial court *16was required to grant the defendant’s motion to dismiss and the failure to do so was error. See State v. Brayboy, 105 N.C. App. 370, 374, 413 S.E.2d 590, 593, disc. review denied, 332 N.C. 149, 419 S.E.2d 578 (1992) (when evidence only raises a conjecture or suspicion that the crime was committed or that the defendant was the perpetrator, the motion to dismiss should be granted).
II. Second-Degree Murder
Malice is an essential element of second-degree murder. State v. Lang, 309 N.C. 512, 524, 308 S.E.2d 317, 323 (1983) (“While an intent to kill is not a necessary element of murder in the second-degree, that crime does not exist in the absence of some intentional act sufficient to show malice . . . .” (emphasis added)). The issue, therefore, in this case, is whether the evidence considered in the light most favorable to the State would support, in the mind of a reasonable juror, the conclusion that the defendant killed his child with malice.
[A]ny act evidencing “wickedness of disposition, hardness of heart, cruelty, recklessness of consequences, and a mind regardless of social duty and deliberately bent on mischief, though there may be no intention to injure a particular person” is sufficient to supply the malice necessary for second degree murder.
... An act that indicates a total disregard for human life is sufficient to supply the malice necessary to support the crime of second degree murder.
State v. Wilkerson, 295 N.C. 559, 581, 247 S.E.2d 905, 917-18 (1978) (citation omitted). Our Supreme Court has held that malice may be inferred from the “willful blow by an adult on the head of an infant.” Perdue, 320 N.C. at 58, 357 S.E.2d at 350 (emphasis added). “Willful” means “more than intentional.” State v. Fowler, 22 N.C. App. 144, 147, 205 S.E.2d 749, 751 (1974). It has been defined as “an act being done ‘purposely and designedly in violation of the law.’ ” State v. Connell, 127 N.C. App. 685 , -, 493 S.E.2d 292, 294, cert. denied, 347 N.C. 404, 496 S.E.2d 393 (1997), and disc. review denied, 347 N.C. 579, - S.E.2d - (1998) (quoting State v. Whittle, 118 N.C. App. 130, 135, 454 S.E.2d 688, 691 (1995)). Willful means without justification, cause, or excuse. State v. McCoy, 304 N.C. 363, 370, 283 S.E.2d 788, 792 (1981); State v. Davis, 86 N.C. App. 25, 30, 356 S.E.2d 607, 610 (1987) (“The words ‘willful’ and ‘wanton’ have substantially the same meaning when used in reference to the requisite state of mind for a violation of a criminal statute.”).
*17In this case, the State offered evidence showing that the child’s death was caused by “subdural hemorrhage secondary to blunt trauma of the head” and that the defendant had been in sole custody of his child for several hours prior to the child’s removal to the hospital. The State’s evidence also shows that the defendant, just before feeding his child, aspirated mucus from his child’s nose and that after the feeding, the child started gagging with food coming from his nose and mouth. The defendant at that time called his wife (who was at work), and when she arrived (some twenty minutes later), he called the 911 operator and requested emergency assistance. Before the arrival of the ambulance, the defendant, with the assistance of a neighbor (a deputy sheriff), attempted to resuscitate his child by administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The defendant told a social worker (who testified in court) that he may have accidentally tripped over and kicked his child when he was calling 911, and that he may have shaken his child while trying to “arouse” him. The defendant testified that if he did kick his baby it was accidental, and the defendant told the police that, “I just couldn’t face the fact that maybe I was the one that hit him.”
Substantial evidence in this case reveals that the defendant’s child died from injuries to his head caused by a blow to the head and/or by a shaking of the child. This evidence, however, does not allow for a reasonable conclusion that the defendant caused the injuries with malice because the evidence does not reveal wickedness of disposition, hardness of heart, cruelty, recklessness of consequences, and a mind deliberately bent on mischief, or with a total disregard for human life. In addition, there is no evidence that the defendant willfully injured his child from which a reasonable jury could infer malice.2 Instead, the evidence reveals a father genuinely concerned with the health and well-being of his child. The uncontra-dicted evidence reveals a father who, when concerned for the life of his young child, took several steps to save the life of his child: he aspirated mucus from the nose of his child; called his wife to come home when he discovered his child was not breathing; shook his child in an attempt to arouse him; called 911 for an ambulance; and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation to his child with the help of a neighbor. Thus, the case should not have been submitted to the jury on second-degree murder.
*18Accordingly, I would: (1) reverse the conviction for felonious child abuse; and (2) reverse the conviction for second-degree murder and remand that matter to the trial court for a new trial. See N.C.G.S. § 15A-1447(c) (1997).

. I acknowledge that malice can be inferred when a “strong or mature person” attacks a child by “hands or feet,” as such an attack “is reasonably likely to result in death or serious bodily injury.” Elliott, 344 N.C. at 269, 476 S.E.2d at 213. In this case, however, there is simply no substantial evidence that the defendant attacked his child.