McReynolds v. State

901 N.E.2d 1149, 2009 Ind. App. LEXIS 353, 2009 WL 567042
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 4, 2009
Docket82A01-0809-CR-432
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 901 N.E.2d 1149 (McReynolds v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McReynolds v. State, 901 N.E.2d 1149, 2009 Ind. App. LEXIS 353, 2009 WL 567042 (Ind. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

CRONE, Judge.

Jason McReynolds appeals his convietion for class D felony battery of a person less than fourteen years of age, asserting that the evidence is insufficient. We affirm.

McReynolds lived in Yavonne Wasson's home. In exchange for a place to stay, McReynolds agreed to babysit Wasson's two children, ten-year-old A.R. and seven-year-old MR., while she was at work. He also provided the children with transportation to and from school and helped them with homework. McReynolds generally asked Wasson's permission before disciplining the children.

In October of 2006, M.R. was exhibiting some behavioral problems. He was wetting his pants and lying about his homework. Wasson had progressively disciplined MR., starting with withdrawing privileges and progressing to spanking with a belt. On October 11, 2006, M.R. lied to Wasson about his homework, and she "spanked him three times lightly." Tr. at 188. That evening, as Wasson was saying goodnight to M.R., he told her that he had been hearing voices. During the night, MR. began banging his head against the wall or the floor. Wasson went into his room to investigate, and MR. told her that the voices were telling him to bang his head.

On October 12, 2006, Wasson went to work. There, she scheduled an evaluation for M.R. at Deaconess Cross Pointe, a psychiatric hospital, for 3:00 p.m. that day. McReynolds took A.R. to school, but decided not to take M.R. because he had marks on his face from banging his head. Id. at 183. Instead, McReynolds decided to take MR. to work with him. McReynolds told MR. to get ready to leave and asked him if he needed to use the restroom. MR. said no, and then subsequently wet his pants. McReynolds asked him why he lied, and MR. said that "he didn't know, he didn't care." Id. at 226. McReynolds used a belt and a wooden clothes hanger with metal prongs to spank M.R. at least five times. According to MR., McRey-nolds spanked him because he lied. 1 Id. at 49.

Later, at Deaconess Cross Pointe, Was-son saw blood on the back of M.R.'s shirt, and when she pulled it up, she discovered severe bruising and bleeding on M.R.'s buttocks. An ambulance was called, and MR. was transported to Deaconess Gateway Hospital. MR. was treated with an-tibioties and pain medication through intravenous therapy and remained in the hospital for at least two days. A week later, his injuries still required bandages.

On October 17, 2006, the State charged McReynolds with battery resulting in serious bodily injury to a person less than fourteen years of age, a class B felony. On July 1, 2008, a jury found McReynolds guilty of class D felony battery to a person less than fourteen years of age, a lesser included offense. The trial court sen *1152 tenced McReynolds to eighteen months in the Department of Correction.

On appeal, McReynolds argues that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction. To convict McReynolds of class D felony battery, the State was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he knowingly or intentionally touched another person less than fourteen years old in a rude, insolent, or angry manner. See Ind.Code § 35-42-2-1(a)(2)(B). 2 However, "[a] person is justified in engaging in conduct otherwise prohibited if he has legal authority to do so." Ind.Code § 85-41-3-1. "This statute has been interpreted to provide legal authority for a parent to engage in reasonable discipline of her child, even if such conduct would otherwise constitute battery." State v. Fettig, 884 N.E.2d 341, 345 (Ind.Ct.App.2008). Thus, "[a] parent is privileged to apply such reasonable foree or to impose such reasonable confinement upon his [or her} child as he [or she] reasonably believes to be necessary for its proper control, training, or education." Willis v. State, 888 N.E.2d 177, 182 (Ind.2008) (quoting RestatsmEnt or THs Law (BEcomnp) Torts § 147(1) (1965)) (amendments in Willis ).

The defense of parental privilege, like self-defense, is a complete defense to battery of a child. Id. "[Tjo sustain a conviction for battery where a claim of parental privilege has been asserted, the State must prove that either: (1) the force the parent used was unreasonable or (2) the parent's belief that such force was necessary to control her child and prevent misconduct was unreasonable." Id. "The State may refute a claim of the defense of parental privilege by direct rebuttal or by relying upon the sufficiency of the evidence in its case-in-chief." Id.

Specifically, McReynolds argues that the evidence was insufficient to rebut the parental privilege defense. We observe that

[tlhe standard of review for a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to rebut a claim of parental privilege as a defense to battery on a child is the same as the standard for any sufficiency claim: the appellate court neither reweighs the evidence nor judges the credibility of witnesses, and if there is sufficient evidence of probative value to support the conclusion of the trier of fact, the verdict will not be disturbed.

Willis, 888 N.E.2d at 182-83 (citations omitted).

The State asserts that McReynolds is not a parent, and therefore the parental privilege defense is unavailable to him. McReynolds counters that "the common law provides some custodians with the right to use reasonable corporal punishment in disciplining a child[,]" and that he is just such a custodian. Dayton v. State, 501 N.E.2d 482, 485 (Ind.Ct.App.1986). Whether a caregiver such as McReynolds may avail himself of the parental privilege defense is a question of first impression in Indiana. However, both parties rely on Dayton in support of their positions, and we therefore begin our analysis with that case.

In Dayton, the defendant was married to the mother of four-year-old S.W. After the defendant "whipped" SW. "because *1153 she had urinated on the couch[,]" he was charged with and convicted of battery. Id. at 488. On appeal, he argued, inter alia, that the trial court erred in refusing to give the following jury instruction: "The Court now instructs you that a person who is the parent, guardian or custodian of a child may use reasonable corporal punishment when disciplining said children." Id. at 484 (citation and quotation marks omitted). Dayton argued that the instruction was a correct statement of the law under the common law in Indiana.

The Dayton court observed that Dayton was not a parent or guardian and therefore turned to a consideration of whether he could be classified as a custodian. The Dayton court reasoned as follows:

The CHINS statute defines custodian as "a person with whom a child resides." Ind.Code Ann. § 31-6-1-2 (Burns Repl. 1980).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
901 N.E.2d 1149, 2009 Ind. App. LEXIS 353, 2009 WL 567042, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcreynolds-v-state-indctapp-2009.