State v. Arnold

• Decision Date: 14 February 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-250,95-250
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Paul Charles ARNOLD, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 600

543 N.W.2d 600

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Paul Charles ARNOLD, Appellant.

No. 95-250.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Feb. 14, 1996.

Linda Del Gallo, State Appellate Defender, and Sarah E. Hennesy, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Sheryl A. Soich, Assistant Attorney General, Lee W. Beine, County Attorney, and Sterling L. Benz, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and HARRIS, LAVORATO, NEUMAN, and ANDREASEN, JJ.

HARRIS, Justice.

Although defendant insists otherwise, we find ample evidence to support his conviction of child endangerment. We affirm.

At the time in question defendant Paul Arnold was home from work, in bed with back pain. He overheard his wife, Tammy Arnold, attempt to discipline her nine-year-old stepdaughter (defendant's daughter) by using what was described as "the bouncing method" (requiring R.A. to bounce up and down, just high enough to get her feet off the floor, for a period of ten minutes). Because R.A. would not "bounce" properly and "talked back," Tammy swatted her with a small cutting board.

R.A. struggled against the punishment by pulling at her hair and eyebrows and biting her tongue. She called out for her father in the hope of escaping discipline. When defendant emerged from the bedroom, R.A. yelled and shook her fist at him. This commotion caused defendant to lose his temper, and he forced R.A. to bend over the arm of the living room couch and spanked her a number of times with a leather belt. The belt had no buckle or latch attached to it.

Three days later R.A. told a family therapist about the spanking and displayed her bruised buttocks. The therapist reported her observations to the department of human services. An investigation for child abuse ensued, and at trial a child abuse investigator provided a grim description of R.A.'s injuries:

On [R.A.'s] left buttock, she had approximately a four-inch-long bruise that was about an inch-and-a-half wide. It was reddish blue in color, and appeared to me to be one to five days old. Below that, she had a bruise that was linear and approximately two-and-one-half inches long and about a half-an-inch wide. It was also the same color, and appeared to be the same age.

On her right buttock, she had a three-inch-long linear bruise that was about a half-inch wide. Below that, she had a two-inch-long bruise that was about a half-an-inch wide, and then below that, with about an inch-and-a-half spacing, there was another two-inch-long bruise that was about a half-an-inch wide. Those were all the same color and appeared to be the same age and appeared to have been caused in the same manner.

On her upper right thigh she had a bruise that was about an inch-and-a-half wide and it was irregular in shape, mostly linear. It also was the same color, appeared to be the same age, and appeared to have been caused in the same manner.

Photographic exhibits clearly support the accuracy of these observations.

The State charged defendant with child endangerment in violation of Iowa Code sections 726.6(1) and 726.6(3) (1993). The trial court's jury instruction required the State to prove the following:

1. On or about the 24th day of April, 1994, the defendant was the parent, guardian, or person having custody or control of [R.A.].

2. [R.A.] was under the age of fourteen years.

3. The defendant

a. knowingly acted in a manner creating a substantial risk to [R.A.'s] physical, mental or emotional health or safety, or

b. Intentionally used unreasonable force, torture or cruelty that resulted in physical injury to [R.A.].

After defendant's motion for a judgment of acquittal was denied the case was sent to the jury, which returned a guilty verdict.

Defense counsel thereafter moved for a new trial. The trial court denied the motion, entered judgment, and sentenced Arnold to 180 days in jail at hard labor, with all but two days suspended. Arnold appeals from this judgment.

I. Defendant raises three issues on appeal. In the first he contends the district court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal because the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to support a criminal conviction. In framing the claim, defendant asserts the State failed to meet its burden of proof by demonstrating he "intentionally used unreasonable force, torture or cruelty" in spanking R.A. or that he "knowingly acted in a manner creating a substantial risk to [R.A.'s] physical, mental or emotional health or safety." ¹ Our review is for correction of errors at law. Iowa R.App.P. 4.

The scope of our review on a defendant's appeal from a criminal conviction is narrow. State v. Clarke, 475 N.W.2d 193, 197 (Iowa 1991). In reviewing the finding of guilt, we view the evidence in a light most favorable to the State. Id. We are bound by the jury's verdict of guilty unless there is no substantial evidence in the record to support it or such a finding is clearly against the weight of the evidence. Id. Substantial evidence means evidence which could convince a rational trier of fact that the defendant is guilty of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. We examine the entire record and accept all legitimate inferences permitted by the evidence to support the verdict. Id.

Defendant can be convicted under either prong of the two-pronged indictment. We first examine whether sufficient evidence existed to support a finding that defendant "intentionally used unreasonable force, torture or cruelty" when spanking R.A.

II. Whatever changes may have occurred in social views on corporal punishment, Iowa law has remained consistent. The government can intrude only so far into family judgments on such matters. The law regarding a parent's right to discipline his or her child may be succinctly summarized in the following manner:

A parent, being charged with the training and education of his [or her] child, has the right to adopt such disciplinary measures for the child as will enable him [or her] to discharge his [or her] parental duty. Accordingly, [the parent] has the right to correct the child by reasonable and timely punishment, including corporal punishment.... The control and proper discipline of a child by the parent may justify acts which would otherwise constitute assault and battery, but the right of parental discipline clearly has its limits. And if the limits are exceeded, the parent may be criminally liable for assault or other offenses, [or] violation of penal statutes....

59 Am.Jur.2d Parent and Child § 22 (1987). Iowa is in accord. It recognizes parents have a right to inflict corporal punishment on their child, but that right is restricted by moderation and reasonableness. State v. Bell, 223 N.W.2d 181, 184 (Iowa 1974). When the parent goes beyond the line of reasonable correction, his or her conduct becomes criminal. State v. Bitman, 13 Iowa 485, 486 (1862). "Corrective" means it must be for the purpose of behavior modification rather than to satisfy the passions of the enraged parent. State v. Fischer, 245 Iowa 170, 178, 60 N.W.2d 105, 110 (1953). The proper test is whether, under the particular circumstances, the amount of force used or the means employed by the parent rendered such punishment abusive rather than corrective in character. See Fischer, 245 Iowa at 177, 60 N.W.2d at 109. No precise rule defining what is permissible can be laid down because the amount of force which would be reasonable or excessive necessarily varies with the age, physical condition, and other characteristics of a child as well as with the gravity of the child's misconduct. 59 Am.Jur.2d Parent and Child § 22 (1987).

III. The record here contains ample evidence to support the jury's verdict of guilty. Arnold admits to losing his temper and striking R.A. with a belt, although he maintains he gave her no more than three swats. When he told this to the child abuse investigator, she replied, "[T]here is no way that three swats could have left [those] injuries." In cases similar to R.A.'s, the investigator testified injured children have generally been struck more times than their bruises would indicate because of the difficulty of bruising the fatty tissue in the buttocks area. The investigator also indicated the severity of R.A.'s injuries by stating: "[In] the majority of the physical abuse cases that we investigate, children have red marks after being struck, but those red marks disappear anywhere from shortly after the incident to within twenty-four hours." Here however R.A.'s bruises were clearly visible three days after the incident. The investigator concluded "rarely do you see bruising to the magnitude that R.A. had on her buttocks."

Other witnesses also testified concerning the severity of R.A.'s injuries. A family therapist stated she would classify the incident as "abuse," and noted she would not use the word "spanking" but possibly the word "beating" instead to describe the cause of R.A.'s injuries. A social worker also thought the bruises were "the result of excessive force," and use of the force required to inflict these types of injuries would be "unreasonable."

Defendant responds with two arguments. He first contends spanking a child does not constitute child endangerment, and it is not the type of conduct for which the State may intercede. We however think the jury could find the line where discipline becomes abuse clearly has been crossed under the facts here. Bitman, 13 Iowa at 486; see also People v. Curtiss, 116 Cal.App.Supp. 771, 300 P. 801 (1931) (holding evidence defendant, a teacher and principal of a school, punished a seven-year-old boy for engaging in an altercation with another pupil by whipping him with a wooden paddle approximately thirty times, resulting in bruises and welts on his buttocks and upper leg, was sufficient to warrant a conviction); State v. Palozie, 165 Conn. 288, 334 A.2d 468, 472 (1973) (strapping to a degree that bruises and some scabbing...