State v. Leckington
| Decision Date | 28 April 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-1368.,04-1368. |
| Citation | 713 N.W.2d 208 |
| Parties | STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Sandra Joy Stella LECKINGTON, Appellant. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Penelope R. Souhrada, Davenport, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kristin Guddall, Assistant Attorney General, William E. Davis, County Attorney, and Julie A. Walton, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.
When children fail in their own judgment, responsible adults must step up. A mother made some horrible decisions concerning her son's drunken friend, almost costing him his life. A jury convicted the defendant, Sandra Leckington, of neglect of a dependent child, child endangerment resulting in serious injury, and providing alcohol to a minor. On appeal, Leckington contends there was insufficient evidence to prove key elements of the neglect and child endangerment charges. In addition, she contends the trial court abused its discretion by making her sentences for the neglect and child endangerment charges consecutive. She also argues her trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion to suppress and for making misstatements during his motion for judgment of acquittal. Because we find there was sufficient evidence to support the verdict, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing, and her trial counsel's misstatements during his motion for judgment of acquittal did not amount to ineffective assistance, we affirm. However, the question of whether her trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion to suppress is preserved for postconviction proceedings.
On December 17, 2003, Sandra Leckington purchased a half-gallon of vodka to help her eighteen-year-old son, Curtis Jenkins, "celebrate" his impending stint of probation. Jenkins and a group of friends procured more vodka and alcohol so that they could make "jungle juice"1 for a party at Dominic Major's apartment.
Eleven days later, Sandra allowed her younger son, Shawn Yuille, to have his friend, Travis Talbot, spend the night at their home. The next day, the two thirteen-year-old boys left the Leckington home and went a few houses down the block to Travis's home so that Travis could check in with his mother. The two boys then joined Sandra for lunch at a restaurant. After lunch, the boys told Sandra they were going to ride their bicycles around the neighborhood. The boys went down the block to the apartment of Dominic Major. Travis and Shawn proceeded to play video games and drink the leftover vodka. Travis consumed three to four glasses of vodka and started to become a problem for Major.
At 2:07 p.m., Major called Sandra and told her to pick up the two boys because Travis was "pretty trashed." On the way to Major's apartment, Sandra picked up her husband, Mark Leckington, from the local convenience store. By the time Sandra arrived at the apartment, Travis was so intoxicated he was having difficulty standing and walking. At one point, he fell and hit his head on one of the pillars of the apartment building. Major carried Travis from the apartment building to the car. Once Travis was placed in the back seat of the car, he immediately slumped over. One witness thought Travis was unconscious when he was placed in the car. Mark asked whether Travis had been drinking, but Sandra, even though she had been told Travis was "pretty trashed," told Mark that Travis had not been drinking. Mark then asked Shawn what was wrong with Travis. Shawn told him that they had been wrestling around and Travis hit his head. Sandra drove around the block to the Leckington home. According to Sandra, Mark, and Shawn, Travis walked, unaided, out of the car and into the home. After the boys entered the home, Sandra and Mark left to run errands.
Once inside the Leckington home, Travis collapsed on the kitchen floor. Shawn tried to revive Travis by pouring milk down his throat. When this did not work, he went back outside and found some friends to help carry Travis upstairs to the bathtub. The boys then ran cold water on Travis in hopes of reviving him. Travis did not wake up, and he began to foam at the mouth.
Approximately an hour after they left the boys at their home, Sandra and Mark returned home. Mark went to a room in the back of the home. One of the children in the house told Sandra that Travis was "dead" and lying in the bathtub. Sandra "freaked out." She told the boys they had to get Travis out of the bathtub and out of the house. While moving Travis out of the tub, Sandra proclaimed "You know how much trouble I'm going to get into, this little f* * *er had to drink alcohol, I'm not going to jail for this motherf* * *ing bastard." She helped drag Travis down the stairs, but the boys refused to help her put Travis outside in the cold December air. Sandra went to Mark and told him about Travis. Mark told her to call Travis's mom. Travis's mother told Sandra to call 911.
When the paramedics arrived, Travis had a very weak pulse, his mouth was clenched shut, he was extremely cold, his skin had a blue coloring, and his clothing was wet. Travis was rushed to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City via helicopter and placed in pediatric intensive care. Travis regained consciousness fourteen hours later. A doctor testified that his blood alcohol content was approximately .3 when he reached the hospital, and that he was at risk of death from the high level of alcohol in his blood.
The State filed a multi-count trial information charging Sandra Leckington with the offenses of child endangerment resulting in serious injury in violation of Iowa Code section 726.6(4) (2003), neglect of a dependent person in violation of section 726.3, and providing alcohol to a minor resulting in serious injury in violation of section 123.47(5).
Sandra Leckington was convicted of child endangerment resulting in serious injury, neglect of a dependent person, and the lesser offense of providing alcohol to a minor. The court sentenced her to consecutive terms of ten years for the child endangerment and neglect charges and a one-year, concurrent term for providing alcohol to a minor.
Sandra challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting various elements of her convictions for child endangerment resulting in serious injury and neglect of a dependent person. In regards to the child-endangerment-resulting-in-serious-injury conviction, she claims there was insufficient evidence to prove: (1) she had "control" or "custody" of Travis; (2) she knowingly acted in a manner which created risk to Travis; (3) she willfully deprived Travis of health care or supervision; or (4) her actions resulted in serious injury to Travis. In regards to the neglect-of-a-dependent conviction, she claims there was insufficient evidence to prove she had custody of Travis or that she knowingly or recklessly exposed Travis to a hazard or danger from which he could not reasonably be expected to protect himself. We will discuss each argument in turn.
The standard of review for insufficient-evidence claims is for correction of errors of law. State v. Petithory, 702 N.W.2d 854, 856 (Iowa 2005). The jury's findings of guilt are binding on appeal if the findings are supported by substantial evidence. State v. Hopkins, 576 N.W.2d 374, 377 (Iowa 1998). Substantial evidence is evidence that could convince a rational trier of fact that a defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. When reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, including legitimate inferences and presumptions which may fairly and reasonably be deduced from the evidence in the record. State v. Casady, 597 N.W.2d 801, 804 (Iowa 1999).
In order to convict Sandra of child endangerment resulting in serious injury, the jury had to find: (1) Sandra was the parent, guardian, or person having custody or control over Travis; (2) Travis was under the age of fourteen; (3) Sandra knowingly acted in a manner creating a substantial risk to Travis's physical, mental, or emotional health or safety, or Sandra willfully deprived Travis of necessary health care or supervision appropriate to Travis's age when she was reasonably able to make the necessary provisions and which deprivation substantially harmed Travis's physical, mental, or emotional health; and (4) Sandra's act resulted in serious injury to Travis. See Iowa Code § 726.6.
Jury instruction no. 35 defined "a person having control over a child" as either of the following:
a. A person who has accepted, undertaken, or assumed supervision of a child from the parent or guardian of the child.
b. A person who has undertaken or assumed temporary supervision of a child without explicit consent from the parent or guardian of the child.
These two definitions, which are repeated nearly verbatim from the statute setting forth the crime of child endangerment, are appropriate definitions of the term "control." See id.
Sandra contends she did not have "control" of Travis because she did not have control of the instrumentality creating the risk to Travis (the vodka). She points out that she was not present when Travis consumed the vodka and that the State did not prove she purchased the specific vodka Travis actually consumed.
Even if we agree that Sandra did not have control over the instrumentality creating the risk to Travis, this fact would not change our analysis of whether there was sufficient evidence to find Sandra had control over Travis.
Sandra's exercise of control over Travis begins with her decision to go to Major's apartment to pick him up after Major told her that Travis was "pretty trashed." When she then chose to move Travis, in his vulnerable condition, to a different location she undertook the supervision of Travis and...
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