Horton v. State

919 So. 2d 44, 2005 WL 1498334
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 23, 2005
Docket2003-KA-02669-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 919 So. 2d 44 (Horton v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Horton v. State, 919 So. 2d 44, 2005 WL 1498334 (Mich. 2005).

Opinion

919 So.2d 44 (2005)

Tissus HORTON
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 2003-KA-02669-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 23, 2005.

*45 William C. Bristow, Tupelo, attorney for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Deirdre McCrory, attorney for appellee.

Before COBB, P.J., CARLSON and GRAVES, JJ.

CARLSON, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. Tissus Horton was convicted in the Circuit Court of Lee County of felony child abuse and was sentenced to a term of twenty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with eight years suspended, and five years of post-release supervision. Following the denial of her motion for JNOV or, in the alternative, a new trial, Horton timely appealed to this Court. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the judgment of the Circuit Court of Lee County.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN THE TRIAL COURT

¶ 2. On April 28, 2001, after spending the evening in the care of his father's new wife, Tissus Horton, six-year-old Samuel[1] was rushed to the emergency room with blisters on his feet and legs. Unaware of the cause of the blisters and burns, doctors treated Samuel for staph infection and released him after approximately eight days. Six months later, Samuel confided in a neighbor and then his mother that Tissus *46 Horton had forced him to take a bath in scalding hot water. When he refused and had attempted to get out of the tub, she beat him with a curtain rod.

¶ 3. Tissus Horton was indicted by a Lee County Grand Jury on January 31, 2002, on one count of felonious child abuse. Trial commenced on November 24, 2003, Hon. Paul S. Funderburk presiding. Because of the nature of this case, we feel compelled to detail the testimony at trial.

¶ 4. The State called several witnesses. Samuel's mother testified that her six-year-old son was visiting his father the weekend the incident occurred. She received a call from her ex-husband informing her that something was wrong with their son and that she was to meet them at the hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital, she observed blisters on her son's feet and legs. Samuel was in the hospital for approximately eight days. After the incident, Samuel was allowed to visit his father, but Tissus Horton was not present during these visits.

¶ 5. Samuel's mother testified that approximately five months after the incident Samuel first informed a neighbor, Gena Aleva,[2] and then informed her that Tissus had caused the burns on his legs. When questioned about what her son had told her concerning the incident, Samuel's mother testified that he said:

Tissus put him in a bathtub with hot water in it, and he told her that the water was too hot. And instead of her putting cold water in there, she didn't. She put more hot water in it.... And she told him to reach down and get the stopper out of the tub. And when he didn't, she hit him with a rod off the mini-blind and then told him to reach in there and get the stopper out again.

Samuel's mother stated that her son waited five months to tell her what had occurred because he was afraid Horton "would whoop him." Samuel's mother then informed Nurse Link and later Tammy Soden, a social worker with the Mississippi Department of Human Services, of what her son had told her.

¶ 6. Samuel was six years old at the time of the incident and eight years old at the time of the trial. Samuel testified that on a Saturday night, Tissus ran the water in the tub for his bath, and that when he got in the tub, he told Tissus that the water was too hot. Samuel thought that Tissus then added cold water to the tub, but she again cut on the hot water. When Samuel got back into the tub, the water was hot and burning him. He told Tissus he had to go to the bathroom, so he could get out of the tub, but then he had to get back into the tub. According to Samuel, once he bathed, Tissus told him to pull the plug out of the drain, and when he had trouble pulling the plug, Tissus hit Samuel on the back twice with the curtain rod. When Samuel got out of the tub, he noticed that he had blisters on his feet, and upon telling Tissus, she said she did not know how that could have occurred, and she did nothing to treat the blisters. Samuel also testified that Tissus told him that if he told his father about what had happened, she would "whoop me." Samuel further testified that the treatment he received at the hospital was very painful. He also admitted that he told the doctors at the hospital *47 that at first he believed the blisters possibly occurred while playing outside in the weeds.

¶ 7. The State next called Tammy Soden, a social worker for the Mississippi Department of Human Services ("DHS"), who testified she received a report on September 26, 2001, that Samuel had been "burned in bath water." Soden testified that she interviewed Samuel alone the next day at his home. Soden further testified that Samuel told her that "his Daddy's girlfriend,[3] Tissus, put him in hot water." Soden questioned Samuel about the water, and he informed her that it was hot and that Tissus knew it was hot. Soden testified that Samuel also stated he bathed alone and that there were no other children present. Soden saw the marks left on Samuel's feet and legs. Soden also testified that:

I asked him why he had not told what happened, and he said—he just sat there. He wouldn't say anything at first, and I asked him was he afraid or scared, and he said—he nodded yes, and said, Scared. And I asked him if anyone had told him not to tell as well, and he said that Tissus told him don't tell or she'll whip me.

Soden testified that after speaking with Samuel, she contacted Detective Lanette Washington, a detective with the Tupelo Police Department, to file a statement regarding her interview with Samuel.

¶ 8. Detective Washington, who works mostly in child abuse sex crimes and elderly abuse, testified that she received a call from DHS concerning Samuel. She interviewed Samuel on October 30, 2001. Washington testified that Samuel told her Horton had forced him into a tub of hot water causing him to suffer burns on his feet and legs. At the time of the interview, Washington took pictures of Samuel's scars which she stated "[started] on his buttock area, all the way to his feet."

¶ 9. Dr. Charles Robertson, a pediatrician for North Mississippi Pediatrics, testified that he admitted Samuel to North Mississippi Medical Center on April 29, 2001, after he came to the emergency room the night of April 28. Dr. Robertson testified that he noticed Samuel had:

an unusual pattern on his—backs of his legs, basically, where he had some rather large blisters almost confluently around at least one, or maybe both, ankles, and there was redness going up the back and some blisters higher on the leg, on the posterior thigh, and some areas of redness without blistering.... It went up almost to his waist. There was diffuse redness at the back of his legs, over the buttocks, to about the waist area, and there did not seem to be any on the front .... my initial concern was that he had a staph or a strep infection that was rapidly progressing. The emergency room physician had told me that he had seen the blisters evolve, so infection, which needed to be treated with antibiotics, was my first concern.

Samuel was admitted to the hospital and placed on IV antibiotics. A plastic surgeon, Dr. Robert C. Buckley, was also consulted to help manage the blisters and burns. On May 6, 2001, Samuel was discharged with a diagnosis of probable Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome.

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Related

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
919 So. 2d 44, 2005 WL 1498334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/horton-v-state-miss-2005.