Shaw v. State

181 S.W.3d 450, 2005 WL 3005604
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 3, 2006
Docket10-03-00299-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 181 S.W.3d 450 (Shaw v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shaw v. State, 181 S.W.3d 450, 2005 WL 3005604 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinions

[452]*452OPINION

JOHN G. HILL, Senior Justice

(Assigned).

Rebecca Ann Shaw appeals her conviction by a jury of the offense of recklessly causing serious bodily injury to a child. The jury assessed her punishment at twenty years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, and a fine of $10,000. She asserts in a single point that the trial court erred in refusing to submit her timely requested defense to prosecution of injury to a child, that the act or omission consisted of emergency medical care administered in good faith and with reasonable care by a person not licensed in the healing arts. We affirm.

As a general rule, an accused has the right to an instruction on any defensive issue raised by the evidence, whether such evidence is strong or weak, unimpeaehed or contradicted, and regardless of what the trial court may or may not think about the credibility of the evidence. Miller v. State, 815 S.W.2d 582, 585 (Tex.Crim.App.1991). An element of the defense is “raised” if, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the defendant, there is evidence that a rational juror could accept as sufficient to prove that element. See Mathews v. United States, 485 U.S. 58, 63, 108 S.Ct. 883, 887, 99 L.Ed.2d 54, 61 (1988); United States v. Maseratti, 1 F.3d 330, 336 (5th Cir.1993); Ferrel v. State, 55 S.W.3d 586, 591 (Tex.Crim.App.2001); Johnson v. State, 157 S.W.3d 48, 50 (Tex.App.-Waco 2004, no pet.); Wilson v. State, 111 S.W.2d 823, 825 (Tex.App.-Austin 1989), aff'd, 853 S.W.2d 547 (Tex.Crim.App.1993). Whether the defense is raised by the evidence is always a question of law. Id.

The dissent questions our reliance on a rational-juror test as a basis for determining whether defensive evidence is sufficient to require an instruction, arguing that the use of such a test wrongly allows the court to weigh the relative credibility of the evidence. We submit that the test assumes the credibility of the evidence supporting the defense, then determines whether it is evidence that a rational juror could accept as sufficient to prove the elements of the defense.

The dissent also suggests that a rational-juror test is in conflict with the concept that an accused has the right to an instruction on any defense issue raised by the evidence, regardless of its strength or credibility. Rather, the rational-juror test is the standard by which we determine whether that evidence has raised a defensive issue. Our opinion is not in conflict with opinions of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals or of this court that hold that a defendant is entitled to an instruction when a defensive issue has been raised by the evidence, regardless of its strength or credibility, but do not explicitly set forth the standard by which the court determines when the defensive issue has been raised. The real alternative standard to that which we have set forth is that a defendant is entitled to an instruction on a defensive issue even if the evidence would not rationally support a finding of the elements of the defense. We respectfully decline to adopt that standard.

It is a defense to prosecution for injury to a child that the act or omission consisted of emergency medical care administered in good faith and with reasonable care by a person not licensed in the healing arts. Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 22.04(k)(l)(B) (Vernon 2003). Shaw was convicted of recklessly causing serious bodily injury to a child by shaking the child and causing his head to strike an unknown object. We will first see if there is evidence from which a rational juror [453]*453could conclude that Shaw’s shaking the child and causing his head to strike an unknown object consisted of emergency medical care administered in good faith and with reasonable care.

Shaw testified that on the day in question she had been caring for her grandchild in her home for almost a month. She said that she called 911 because the child was in his crib having labored breathing. She stated that when she saw the child having breathing problems, she dropped the clothing she had in her hand and ran to his crib, picked him up, and called to him, but he did not respond. She acknowledged that she had performed CPR before this occasion.

She testified that she went over and “went like this” and picked up the child “like this,” called the child’s name, and “his little head went over.” She stated that she ran through the house to get the baby’s heart monitor, while holding the baby “like this.” She indicated that rather than hooking the child up to the heart monitor, she got a wet rag and patted the child with it “like this.” In getting the rag wet, she could not get the faucet on so she switched arms “like this.”

Shaw testified that she took the child to the bedroom, placed him on the bed with the heart monitor, and grabbed the phone. She related that after trying to call her landlord, she called 911. She stated that she was instructed by the 911 dispatcher. She indicated that she was told to do rescue breathing and tip the child’s head back. She said she tipped the child’s head back and blew in his mouth.

Shaw testified that she felt that she was not getting a seal on the child’s nose with her cheek, and she could not open her mouth big enough to get around his mouth and his nose. She stated that when the paramedics were on their way and she realized the door was locked, she grabbed the child underneath “like this,” while running through the house to unlock it. According to Shaw, after unlocking the door, she returned to the phone where she started to do CPR when the paramedics told her to do it. Shaw testified that at first two police officers showed up and performed CPR. She indicated that the paramedics started working on the child after they arrived. The 911 tape reflected the panic and stress of Shaw’s voice as she responded to the crisis.

Dr. Angel Hernandez, a pediatric neurologist, testified that on the evening the child was brought to the hospital, he was called in to help evaluate the child. After conducting several tests, Dr. Hernandez concluded that bleeding in the child’s brain was caused by shaking the baby or by hitting it with something in the head. He insisted that such an injury could have occurred within minutes or no more than four to six hours previously. In a consultation report dated the day of the child’s being taken to the hospital, Dr. Hernandez concluded that certain bleeding in the brain was probably the result of aggressive, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, but that he could not rule out the possibility of non-accidental trauma.

In summary, Shaw testified how she ran through the house with the baby and how she performed CPR on the baby, while one of the attending physicians, at least initially, thought that the injury was the result of aggressive cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. That same physician testified that in his opinion shaking the baby or hitting it in the head caused the injury. The emergency medical care for the baby was CPR. There was no testimony regarding how either the responding police officers or the responding paramedics conducted CPR.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Henley, Gregory Shawn
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Gregory Shawn Henley v. State
454 S.W.3d 106 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2014)
Dale Erwin Arldt v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2014
in Re: Keith Russell Judd
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
Larry Medlin Scroggs v. State
396 S.W.3d 1 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Alana Gariepy v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010
Hawkins v. State
283 S.W.3d 429 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Rebekah A. Hawkins v. State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
Shaw v. State
243 S.W.3d 647 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Shaw, Rebecca Ann
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007
Carl MacK Burford v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006
Dunlap v. Young
187 S.W.3d 828 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
181 S.W.3d 450, 2005 WL 3005604, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shaw-v-state-texapp-2006.