State v. Hineman

• Decision Date: 23 November 1999
• Citation: 14 S.W.3d 924
• Parties: (Mo.banc 1999) . State of Missouri, Respondent, v. Charles Hineman, Appellant. Case Number: SC81882 Supreme Court of Missouri Handdown Date:
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

14 S.W.3d 924 (Mo.banc 1999)

This slip opinion is subject to revision and may not reflect the final opinion adopted by the Court.

State of Missouri, Respondent, v. Charles Hineman, Appellant.

Case Number: SC81882

Supreme Court of Missouri

Handdown Date: 11/23/99

Appeal From: Circuit Court of Jackson County, Hon. Justine Elisa Del Muro

Counsel for Appellant: Rosemary E. Percival

Counsel for Respondent: Krista D. Boston

Opinion Summary:

Charles Hineman fractured his son's leg.Evidence at trial produced various explanations as to how this happened, including that Hineman pulled on the boy's leg because it was caught in a blanket, or because Hineman was angry, or that Hineman did not pull on the leg hard and did not try to hurt the boy, or that the injury could be accidental.Hineman appeals his convictions for first degree assault and child abuse.

AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART; REMANDED.

Court en banc holds:

The trial court should have instructed the jury on assault in the second degree.Mental state is the distinguishing factor between assault in the first degree, requiring a person to act "knowingly," or second degree, requiring a person to act "recklessly," in causing serious physical injury.If there is any doubt concerning the evidence, the trial court should instruct on the lower degree of the crime, leaving it to the jury to decide.The jury could have inferred either degree from the evidence, so the court erred in failing to submit second degree assault to the jury.The first degree assault conviction and sentence is reversed and remanded.In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed.

Opinion Author: PER CURIAM¹

Opinion Vote: AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART; REMANDED.All concur.

Opinion:

Charles Hineman appeals his convictions for one count of assault in the first degree, section 565.050,² and one count of child abuse, section 568.060.He was sentenced to consecutive sentences of ten and three years imprisonment, respectively.On appeal, Hineman's sole contention is that the trial court erred in failing to submit a proposed instruction for the lesser-included offense of assault in the second degree.The judgment as to assault in the first degree is reversed, and the case is remanded.In all other respects the judgment is affirmed.

The following evidence was adduced at trial.

On February 23, 1997, Hineman and his fiancee, Ara Lansdown, were in their home with their 10-week-old son, Dakota.Hineman, Ara, and Dakota had spent the afternoon at Ara's parents' house.They returned to their home at approximately 3:00 in the afternoon.At that time, Dakota had no noticeable injuries.Hineman, Ara, and Dakota spent the rest of the day at their home.Dakota appeared to be normal.At approximately 10:30 p.m., Hineman took Dakota upstairs to put him to bed for the night.

The evidence indicated that Hineman, after putting Dakota in his crib, pulled on Dakota's leg.Subsequently, Hineman noticed that Dakota's leg was in a strange position and that it seemed "more flexible" than usual.At that point, Hineman called Ara upstairs to show her Dakota's leg.They examined the baby, and Hineman lifted the leg slightly.Dakota did not cry; therefore, Hineman and Ara assumed that nothing was wrong with Dakota.

At approximately 3:00 a.m., Ara woke to check on Dakota and discovered that Dakota's right leg was extremely swollen and sensitive.She alerted Hineman.That morning they took the baby to a hospital emergency room.Dakota was examined, and x-rays revealed that he had a fracture to the right femur approximately zero to three days old.Because the bone was completely severed at the break, the injury was described as a very displaced fracture.Experts testified at trial that such a fracture could be caused only by an extreme amount of force that could not be generated by a 10-week-old baby.The x-rays also revealed multiple older fractures.Dakota had at least one upper tibia fracture approximately seven to fourteen days old and five rib fractures approximately ten to twenty-one days old.

Hineman and Ara told hospital staff that they did not know how Dakota had been injured.They did not offer any history of trauma to the baby, but eventually related stories of several "accidents" that had occurred.Hineman informed the social worker and other hospital personnel that he had pulled on Dakota's right leg after putting him in his crib the night before.He also told the social worker that he had accidentally dropped the baby about a month before while bathing him and that there had been two incidents where the couple's large dog had jumped on Dakota when he was in his car seat or on the couch.

On February 25, 1997, the division of family services contacted Detective Dave Ross of the Kansas City police department regarding Dakota's condition.Detective Ross requested that Hineman and Ara accompany him to the police station for an interview concerning Dakota's injuries, and they complied.Upon arriving at the station, Detective Ross took Hineman into an interrogation room.He first took down Hineman's basic biographic information and then read Hineman his Miranda rights.

Hineman initially insisted that he did not know how Dakota could have been injured.He later told Detective Ross about the two incidents with the dog and the occasion of his having dropped Dakota when bathing him, but he maintained that he did not know at the time that Dakota had been injured.At some point, Detective Ross informed Hineman that he did not believe him.Hineman eventually admitted that he might have caused the leg injury the night before by pulling on Dakota's leg.In his statement to the police, Hineman stated that he was aggravated with Ara's stepmother, and when he placed Dakota in his crib, he grabbed Dakota's leg and pulled it hard.Detective Ross testified that Hineman then proceeded to show him with his hands how he had used both hands to pull Dakota's leg out to the side.At trial, however, Hineman testified that he did not know how Dakota was injured, and he denied ever showing Detective Ross that he put both hands on Dakota's leg.

During trial, the state presented two experts who testified that the injuries Dakota manifested when presented at Children's Mercy Hospital were the result of multiple blows at different times and that such injuries are typically nonaccidental and associated with child abuse.Dr. Nigel Price, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Children's Mercy Hospital, described Dakota's femur fracture as a very displaced fracture that would require an extreme amount of force.He testified that he had never seen a more displaced fracture in the baby's age group and that such an injury could only have been created by great force administered by an adult or a catastrophic event.

Dr. Jeffrey Foster, a pediatric radiologist, also testified regarding Dakota's injuries stating that such injuries usually indicate child abuse.In his testimony, Dr. Foster explained that children's bones are more flexible than adult bones and that a child under six months could not generate enough force to cause such a fracture on his own.He noted the frequency with which he had seen femur injuries and that such injuries could be inflicted or accidental.He also noted that the medical literature concluded that such an injury is usually due to child abuse.

Hineman's...