Court Opinion

ID: 9750761
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:30:36.272883+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:21.494049
License: Public Domain

*354
Eldridge, J,

concurring in part and dissenting in part

I concur in that portion of the Court’s opinion relating to the crime of misprision of a felony. I also agree with the majority that Pope was not guilty of child abuse as a principal in the second degree. However, I cannot agree with the majority’s restrictive interpretation of the child abuse statute, which interpretation furnishes the basis for the majority’s conclusion that Pope was not guilty of child abuse as a principal in the first degree.
The child abuse statute, Maryland Code (1957, 1976 Repl. Vol.), Art. 27, § 35A (a), reaches “[a]ny parent, adoptive parent or other person who has the permanent or temporary care or custody or responsibility for the supervision of a minor child____” The Court today takes the position that the statutory phrase “has responsibility for the supervision of” is ambiguous, thereby allowing the Court to “give effect to the real intention of the Legislature.” The majority then states that, with regard to persons other than parents, legal custodians or individuals “in loco parentis,” only those persons who have assumed responsibility for a child with the consent of the parent or guardian are covered by the statute. The majority finds it “self-evident” that “a third person may not assume such responsibility unless the parent grants it.”
Thus, we are told by the majority opinion that a “person taking a lost child into his home” while an attempt is made to locate his or her parents is beyond the reach of the child abuse statute. In other words, in the Court’s view, such a person may voluntarily assume full responsibility for the care of a small child, for a lengthy period of time while an effort is being made to find the parents, and during that time may batter the child unmercifully, but he would not be guilty of child abuse under Art. 27, § 35A. In my view this is a totally unwarranted narrowing of an important piece of legislation.
In addition to parents, the child abuse statute applies to “[a]ny ... other person who has ... responsibility for the supervision of a minor child____” The language is clear. Everyone who has responsibility is covered, regardless of how he obtained such responsibility.
*355It is well-established in the law that one may, by his own actions, voluntarily assume a particular responsibility. That the Legislature intended to cover such a person is shown by the language any other person who has responsibility. There is no ambiguity here. Consequently, there is no need to go further in attempting to ascertain the legislative intent. The majority opinion today flatly violates settled principles of statutory construction, recently summarized by Judge Orth for the Court as follows (Wheeler v. State, 281 Md. 593, 596, 380 A. 2d 1052, 1054-1055 (1977), cert. denied, 435 U. S. 997, 98 S. Ct. 1650, 56 L.Ed.2d 86 (1978)):
“The cardinal rule of statutory construction is to ascertain and carry out the real legislative intention. Balto. Gas & Elect. Co. v. Board, 278 Md. 26, 31, 358 A. 2d 241 (1976). A statute should be construed according to the ordinary and natural import of the language used without resorting to subtle or forced interpretations for the purpose of limiting or extending its operation. Burch v. State, 278 Md. 426, 429, 365 A. 2d 577 (1976); Cearfoss v. State, 42 Md. 403, 407 (1875). That is, we must confine ourselves to the statute as written, and may not attempt, under the guise of construction, to supply omissions or remedy possible defects in the statute. In Re Appeals Nos. 1022 & 1081, 278 Md. 174, 178, 359 A. 2d 556 (1976). Thus, if there is no ambiguity or obscurity in the language of a statute, there is usually no need to look elsewhere to ascertain the intent of the Legislature. Maryland Auto Ins. Fund v. Stith, 277 Md. 595, 597, 356 A. 2d 272 (1976). As we said in Purifoy v. Merc.-Safe Dep. & Trust, 273 Md. 58, 66, 327 A. 2d 483 (1974), ‘where statutory language is plain and free from ambiguity and expresses a definite and sensible meaning, courts are not at liberty to disregard the natural import of words with a view toward making the statute express an intention which is different from its plain meaning.’ ”
*356Furthermore, even if there existed some ambiguity in the statute, I am at a loss to know why the majority finds it “self-evident” that only those persons who have been granted responsibility by a parent or guardian should be covered. Nothing in the statutory language indicates, such a legislative purpose. I kno\v of no public policy justifying this differentiation between a person who assumes responsibility for a child with parental consent and one who assumes just as complete a responsibility without the parent’s consent. If either abuses the child, he should be held accountable under § 35A.
The majority appears to be concerned about the “good Samaritans” who watch a lost child, or allow neighbors’ children to play in their yards and exercise supervision, or perform “functions of a maternal nature from concern for the welfare, comfort or health of a child.” However, such “good Samaritans” have nothing to fear from the child abuse statute. But, if one of these same individuals assumes responsibility for the child and batters it, sexually molests it, locks it for a long period of time in a dark closet, etc., that person should be held just as accountable under the child abuse statute as someone else having responsibility for the child.
My concern in this case is not so much with the decision that the evidence was insufficient to convict Pope of child abuse. The evidence may not have been sufficient. Instead, what is troublesome in this case is the damage which the majority has done to the child abuse statute.