People v. Sheldon

• Court: Colorado Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: HODGES
• Citation: People v. Sheldon, 602 P.2d 869, 198 Colo. 519 (Colo. 1979)
• Decision Date: 19 November 1979
• Docket Number: No. 79SA137,79SA137
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Lance Julius SHELDON, Defendant-Appellant.

Page 869

602 P.2d 869

198 Colo. 519

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Lance Julius SHELDON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 79SA137.

Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc.

Nov. 19, 1979.

J. D. MacFarlane, Atty. Gen., Richard F. Hennessey, Deputy Atty. Gen., Edward G. Donovan, Sol. Gen., David Schwartz, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for plaintiff-appellee.

J. Gregory Walta, Colo. State Public Defender, Craig L. Truman, Chief Deputy State Public Defender, Ilene P. Buchalter, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, for defendant-appellant.

HODGES, Chief Justice.

The defendant appeals his conviction for felony child abuse. Sections 18-6-401(1)(c) and (7), C.R.S. 1973 (1978 Repl. Vol. 8). The issues on appeal involve the propriety of jury instructions and the sufficiency of the evidence. We reverse the conviction.

The defendant was charged following an incident in which he had placed his infant child into a bathtub containing hot water. This was done because the child had soiled her pants and the father had been attempting to toilet train her. The child received medical treatment for the resulting minor burns and blistering, and these burn marks were practically gone by the time of trial.

The crucial issue before us involves the trial court's instruction to the jury regarding "serious bodily injury": the element which elevates the child abuse from a misdemeanor to a felony. In section 18-1-901(3)(p), C.R.S. 1973 (now in 1978 Repl. Vol. 8), serious bodily injury is defined as:

"bodily injury which involves a substantial risk of death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any part or organ of the body."

The trial court instructed the jury by reading this definition but then added:

"In determining whether the alleged victim suffered serious bodily injury you are instructed that the quantum of risk involved is to be determined as of the time of the act, not at some point later in time. You must look to the moment of the alleged act or acts to determine the amount of risk the alleged victim was subjected to."

This instruction preceded the prosecutor's closing argument wherein he told the jury:

"Serious bodily injury involves a substantial risk of one, death, or serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss. A risk of. Read that in conjunction with (the above-quoted instruction) in determining the quantum of risk involved. . . . Essentially this means that if someone receives an injury that has a risk of death, not just risk of death, excuse me, a risk, a substantial risk of death or substantial risk of serious " ¹

The instruction, when taken in conjunction with the above statement, would indicate to the jury that substantial risk applies not only to death but also to permanent disfigurement and protracted loss or impairment. This is an erroneous interpretation of the statute.

Whenever a court construes a statute, there are certain rules which must be followed. In cases involving criminal statutes, as here, we must strictly construe the statute in the light most favorable to the accused. People v. Cornelison, 192 Colo. 337, 559 P.2d 1102 (1977). In applying this rule we find that the term "substantial risk" applies only to death and not to the succeeding terms.

Such an interpretation is supported by the rules of grammatical construction....