People of Michigan v. Rachel Fluegge

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 19, 2016
Docket323942
StatusUnpublished

This text of People of Michigan v. Rachel Fluegge (People of Michigan v. Rachel Fluegge) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People of Michigan v. Rachel Fluegge, (Mich. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED July 19, 2016 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v No. 323942 St. Clair Circuit Court RACHEL FLUEGGE, LC No. 14-000022-FH

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: RIORDAN, P.J., and SAAD and M. J. KELLY, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant, Rachel Fluegge, appeals by right her jury conviction of third-degree child abuse. MCL 750.136b(5). The trial court sentenced her as a second-offense habitual offender, MCL 769.10, to serve 16 to 36 months in prison for her conviction. Because Fluegge has not established that there were any errors in her trial that warrant relief, we affirm.

Testimony and evidence established that Fluegge attended a supervised visit at an office of the Department of Health and Human Services on the day before the fifth birthday of her son, NC.1 Several witnesses testified that Fluegge became angry with NC during the visit because he was misbehaving. She eventually reacted by throwing or pushing the child into a wall, causing him to strike his head on the wall. The prosecution additionally presented evidence that Fluegge had engaged in prior acts of abuse under MCL 768.27b. After hearing the evidence, the jury found Fluegge guilty of third-degree child abuse.

I. OTHER ACTS EVIDENCE

Fluegge first argues that the trial court erred when it allowed the prosecutor to present evidence of her prior abusive acts against NC and her other children. This Court reviews a trial court’s decision to admit evidence for an abuse of discretion, but reviews de novo any preliminary questions of law. People v Dobek, 274 Mich App 58, 84-85; 732 NW2d 546 (2007).

1 The family court later terminated Fluegge’s parental rights to NC and two other children. See In re Carter, unpublished opinion per curiam of the Court of Appeals, issued February 12, 2015 (Docket No. 321896).

-1- Fluegge does not dispute that the other acts evidence may be admitted under MCL 768.27b, which provides that in a prosecution for an offense involving domestic violence, “evidence of the defendant’s commission of other acts of domestic violence is admissible for any purpose for which it is relevant,” subject to exclusion under MRE 403. She argues that the other acts should have been excluded under MRE 403. Otherwise relevant evidence may be excluded under MRE 403, “if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.” As this Court recognized in People v Smith, 282 Mich App 191, 198; 772 NW2d 428 (2009), “all evidence elicited by the prosecution is presumably prejudicial to a defendant to some degree.” MRE 403 seeks to prevent “unfair prejudice.” Id. “Evidence is unfairly prejudicial when there exists a danger that marginally probative evidence will be given undue or preemptive weight by the jury.” People v Crawford, 458 Mich 376, 398; 582 NW2d 785 (1998).

In this case, the trial court allowed the prosecutor to introduce evidence that in 2012 Fluegge became frustrated with NC when he would not listen to her and struck him in the face. The evidence was relevant to show that Fluegge did not accidentally push or throw NC, which was a principal issue at trial. Fluegge’s lawyer repeatedly asked witnesses whether Fluegge’s act was accidental. The evidence was also relevant to establish Fluegge’s intent. Moreover, unlike MRE 404(b)(1), which precludes evidence of other acts to establish character or propensity, see People v Mardlin, 487 Mich 609, 615-616; 790 NW2d 607 (2010), MCL 768.27b specifically permits the admission of evidence of other domestic assaults to prove any issue. People v Cameron, 291 Mich App 599, 609-610; 806 NW2d 371 (2011). Thus it was admissible to establish that Fluegge had a propensity to use unreasonable force whenever she became frustrated with NC while attempting to control him, or was unsuccessful with conventional discipline. Because the prejudicial impact of the other acts evidence involved its relevance to disputed issues at trial, and not some tangential matter, it was not “unfairly” prejudicial. Smith, 282 Mich App at 198.

The prosecutor also introduced evidence that Fluegge routinely engaged in rough treatment and name calling of NC and his sister during her attempts to discipline them. While not directly relevant to whether defendant threw or pushed NC, this evidence was similarly relevant to show that Fluegge consistently exhibited poor parenting skills and could not contain her temper in the face of her children’s disobedience. This in turn undermined Fluegge’s claim that the charged offense was accidental and that her actions constituted reasonable parental discipline.

The trial court did not abuse its discretion when it allowed the challenged evidence.

II. SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

Fluegge next argues that the evidence was insufficient to support her conviction. This Court reviews a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence by reviewing “the record evidence de novo in the light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether a rational trier of fact could have fond that the essential elements of the crime were proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” People v Roper, 286 Mich App 77, 83; 777 NW2d 483 (2009). Circumstantial evidence and reasonable inferences drawn therefrom are sufficient to prove the elements of a crime. People v Nowack, 462 Mich 392, 400; 614 NW2d 78 (2000). In evaluating this claim, we reject Fluegge’s reliance on evidence presented at her first criminal trial and at the earlier termination

-2- of parental rights proceedings. The sufficiency of the evidence must be decided by viewing the record evidence presented at the trial at issue. Roper, 286 Mich App at 83.

Under MCL 750.136b(5), “[a] person is guilty of child abuse in the third degree if” the person “knowingly or intentionally causes physical harm to a child” or the person “knowingly or intentionally commits an act that under the circumstances poses an unreasonable risk of harm or injury to a child, and the act results in physical harm to a child.” “Physical harm” means “any injury to a child’s physical condition.” MCL 750.136b(1)(e).

On appeal, Fluegge argues that the prosecutor failed to present evidence that she intentionally harmed NC. Because of the difficulty in proving a defendant’s state of mind on issues such as knowledge and intent, “minimal circumstantial evidence” is adequate to establish the defendant’s state of mind, “which can be inferred from all of the evidence presented.” People v Kanaan, 278 Mich App 594, 622; 751 NW2d 57 (2008). “Intent may be inferred from a defendant’s use of physical violence.” People v Dillard, 303 Mich App 372, 377; 845 NW2d 518 (2013). Although it is unclear whether third-degree child abuse is a specific intent or general intent crime, see People v Sherman-Huffman, 466 Mich 39; 642 NW2d 339 (2002), in discussing the similar mens rea necessary for a conviction of first-degree child abuse, see MCL 750.136b(2), our Supreme Court has held that the need to distinguish between “specific” and “general” intent is not required as long as the jury is instructed, as it was in this case, that it must find that the defendant either knowingly or intentionally caused the harm. People v Maynor, 470 Mich 289, 295-297; 683 NW2d 565 (2004).

In this case, several witnesses testified that, in response to NC’s outbursts and refusal to obey, Fluegge attempted to restrain NC, first by placing him in the corner, and then between her and the couch in the visitation room. After a caseworker chastised her for the latter response, Fluegge became angry and frustrated. When NC still would not behave, Fluegge pushed or flung him into the wall, causing him to strike his head against the wall. All of the witnesses who viewed the incident agreed that she acted intentionally.

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People of Michigan v. Rachel Fluegge, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-of-michigan-v-rachel-fluegge-michctapp-2016.