Harbaugh v. Com.

• Citation: 167 S.E.2d 329,209 Va. 695
• Parties: Charles H. HARBAUGH, Jr. v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.
• Decision Date: 28 April 1969
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

Page 329

167 S.E.2d 329

209 Va. 695

Charles H. HARBAUGH, Jr. v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

April 28, 1969.

Rehearing Denied June 18, 1969.

John F. Anderson, Winchester, (Largent, Anderson & Larrick, Winchester, on brief), for plaintiff in error.

W. Luke Witt, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Robert Y. Button, Atty. Gen., M. Harris Parker, Asst. Atty. Gen. on brief), for defendant in error.

Before EGGLESTON, C.J., and BUCHANAN, SNEAD, I'ANSON, CARRICO, GORDON, and HARRISON, JJ.

EGGLESTON, Chief Justice.

Charles H. Harbaugh, Jr., charged in a warrant with unlawful assault and battery upon Charles William McDonaldson, III, was convicted in the County Court and appealed, to the Circuit Court where he was tried by a jury. The jury found him guilty as charged in the warrant and fixed his punishment at a sentence of three months in jail and a fine of $250. The trial court entered judgment on the verdict and the defendant has appealed. The principal contentions before us are that the verdict and judgment are contrary to the law and the evidence, and that the trial court erred in admitting in evidence certain statements made by the defendant in his trial in the County Court The evidence shows that in June, 1965, Charles William McDonaldson, III, age 5, and his infant sister were placed by the Welfare Department of the city of Harrisonburg in the home of Harbaugh and his wife for adoption. However, the final order of adoption had not been entered at the time of the circumstances with which we are concerned.

On December 6, 1966 the boy's schoolteacher, Mrs. Audrey O. Combs, noticed that he was walking in an unusual manner and was having difficulty in taking his seat at his desk. She reported his condition to Stanley R. Koontz, the principal of the school. Koontz took the boy to his office where he and the school nurse, Mrs. Betty R. Barr, examined him. They found that his buttocks were badly bruised and showed blood marks with seepage therefrom. There were purple marks and welts on the back of both legs, and the outer layer of skin stuck to his underpants when they were removed. The testimony of Koontz as to the boy's condition was corroborated by that of the registered nurse employed by the school system.

The nurse recommended that the child be taken to Dr. Warren R. Gregory, Chief of Pediatrics of Winchester Memorial Hospital. His testimony as to the boy's condition corroborated that of the teacher, the principal and the nurse. Upon Dr. Gregory's recommendation the boy was placed in the hospital where he remained for twelve days.

Dr. Gregory testified that Harbaugh told him that he had spanked the boy and would not object to 'spending a few days in jail' for having done so if that would aid the boy in growing up to be 'a lawabiding citizen.'

Douglas Tucker, a child welfare worker, testified, over the objection of the defendant, that at the trial in the County Court the defendant Harbaugh stated that he had spanked the boy 'with his open hand' on the morning of December 6, 1966.

The defendant testified that on the morning the alleged assault took place he spanked the boy because he was slow in eating his breakfast and had missed the school bus. He said that he had spanked him 'fairly hard,' striking him ten or twelve times with his open hand, but without taking 'his pants down.' After he had thus spanked the boy he said that the child complained that 'his bottom hurt;' that he then examined him and found that 'serum was oozing' from bruises on his buttocks; that he put some sedatives 'on the actual breaks in the skin' and then made the boy 'put on clean pants; and that thereafter he, the defendant, took him to school.

The defendant denied that the boy's condition had been caused by the spanking which he had given him and suggested that it might have been caused by a whipping which his teacher, Mrs. Combs, had given him. However, Mrs. Combs testified in rebuttal that she had never 'beaten' or spanked the boy.

Mrs. Beatric Lanham, called as a witness for the defendant, testified that the boy was at her house on Sunday, December 4, 1966, and that she saw him fall from the steps. In falling, she said, his back had struck a rock and that the blow was severe enough to cause him to cry. In rebuttal, Dr. Gregory testified that the boy's condition could not have been caused by his striking a rock unless it 'had been heated to 250 degrees.'

The boy was first offered as a witness for the prosecution. Counsel for the defendant raised the question as to his competency to testify and upon an examination of the boy the trial court concurred in that objection. Later the defendant offered to call him as a witness and the court upon further investigation again found that he was incompetent to testify. According to the record, the defendant then withdrew his objection to the ruling that the child lacked competency to testify.

Carpenter v. Commonwealth, 186 Va. 851, 44 S.E.2d 419 (1947), involved the conviction of assault and battery upon a seven-year-old girl by a defendant who had taken her into his home to be reared and cared for. There the evidence showed that the wounds and bruises on the body of the child indicated that she had been cruelly and brutally beaten. The defendant admitted that he had whipped the child with a switch, but contended that her condition did not result from such chastisement.

In sustaining the conviction by a jury, approved by the trial judge, we pointed out that while parents or persons standing in Loco parentis may administer such reasonable and timely punishment as may be necessary to correct faults in a growing child, the right cannot be used as a cloak for the exercise of uncontrolled passion, and that such person may be criminally liable for assault and battery if he inflicts corporal punishment which exceeds the bounds of due moderation. We said that where a question is raised as to whether punishment had been moderate or excessive, the fact is one for the jury to determine from the attending circumstances, considering the age, size and conduct of the child, the nature of the misconduct, and the kind of marks or wounds inflicted on the body of the child. 186 Va. at 860 ff., 44 S.E.2d at 423 ff.

In the case now before us, the undisputed evidence as to the wounds and bruises on the body of this child showed that he had been cruelly and brutally beaten. The evidence on behalf of the Commonwealth, which the jury have accepted, is sufficient to warrant the finding that such wounds and bruises were inflicted by the defendant. The record shows that the jury was instructed according to the principles stated in Carpenter v. Commonwealth, Supra, and their verdict clearly indicates that they have found that the punishment which the defendant inflicted on this child was unreasonable and excessive. The evidence fully supports that finding.

The principal contention urged on this appeal is that the trial court erred in admitting in evidence the testimony of Tucker, the welfare worker, that at the trial in the County Court the defendant stated that he had spanked this child on the morning of December 6, 1966. In the court below this testimony was objected to on the ground that since the trial in the Circuit Court was a trial De novo the prosecution had no right to introduce evidence of statements the defendant had made in the County Court. The same argument is advanced here. We do not agree.

Code § 16.1--132 (Repl.Vol. 1960) grants to any...