State v. Beins

456 N.W.2d 759, 235 Neb. 648, 1990 Neb. LEXIS 201
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJune 22, 1990
Docket89-1194
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 456 N.W.2d 759 (State v. Beins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Beins, 456 N.W.2d 759, 235 Neb. 648, 1990 Neb. LEXIS 201 (Neb. 1990).

Opinion

*650 Boslauoh, J.

After trial to a jury, the defendant, Floyd Beins, was convicted of third degree assault, in violation of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-310 (Reissue 1989), a Class I misdemeanor. The defendant was fined $300 and sentenced to 60 days in jail. Upon appeal the judgment was affirmed by the district court.

The defendant has appealed to this court, raising 14 assignments of error, in which he claims the district court erred in affirming the judgment of the county court. Specifically, the defendant alleges that (1) there was insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction, (2) the county court erred in failing to dismiss the complaint, (3) the jury was improperly instructed, and (4) he received an excessive sentence.

The record shows that the victim, Monica Beins, is the daughter of the defendant and his wife, Myrta Beins, and was 15 years old on the date of the offense. Monica has lived with her paternal grandparents, Harvey and Anna Beins, for most of her life. Her parents’ home is located on a lot next to the grandparents’ house near Kearney, Nebraska.

On the evening of April 20,1988, Monica visited her parents’ house to talk to her mother. During this conversation, Monica and her parents decided to visit a third party to inquire into a job possibility for Monica. The defendant and Monica’s infant brother accompanied Monica and her mother. Monica was seated in the back seat of the car, holding her brother. The defendant was in the front passenger seat, and Myrta Beins was driving.

During the trip, Monica and her parents discussed an automobile that Monica and her grandfather had looked at earlier in the day. Upon learning that the grandfather had put a downpayment on the car, the defendant became agitated and an argument followed between Monica and the defendant. Apparently, the defendant was upset that he had not been consulted about the car and began making abusive remarks about the grandfather.

The defendant then ordered his wife to drive home and, according to Monica, began verbally abusing her and threatened to slap her. Monica replied that if he did, she would call her attorney. At this point, the car came to a stop sign. The *651 defendant exited the car and attempted to get in the back seat with Monica. He then got back in the car, turned around in the front seat, and hit Monica in the face several times.

When they arrived home, the defendant jerked Monica out of the car and hit her two or three more times. During the struggle, both Monica and the defendant fell to the ground. He then rolled on top of her, placed his hands on her neck, and began choking her. Monica testified that when she was being choked, she could not breathe and felt that her “eyes were just going to pop out of [her] head.” Monica further testified, “I thought that was it. I thought it was the end and I just closed my eyes and all I remember is just thinking to myself that I’m never going to see my grandma or my grandpa or my mom or my little brother again.” The defendant eventually released Monica and ordered her into the house. A short time later, Monica fled through the front door of the house while the defendant was arguing with his father at the back door of the house.

Myrta Beins called the police. The defendant waived his Miranda rights and gave a statement to a Buffalo County deputy sheriff in which he admitted hitting Monica while in the car and demonstrated to the deputy the hold he had on Monica’s throat. The investigating officers testified that Monica sustained cuts on the forehead and above her right eye. She also had a swollen bump in the middle of her forehead, as well as a 1/2-inch-wide continuous red bruise around her neck.

In connection with his first and second assignments of error, the defendant contends that he was merely exercising his common-law right to discipline his child and cannot be held criminally liable for committing third degree assault on his daughter. The defendant’s argument is based on this court’s holdings in Fisher v. State, 154 Neb. 166, 47 N.W.2d 349 (1951), and Cornhusker Christian Ch. Home v. Dept. of Soc. Servs., 227 Neb. 94, 416 N.W.2d 551 (1987). Nothing in these cases, however, supports the defendant’s claim that parents are shielded from prosecution for unlawfully assaulting their children.

In Fisher v. State, supra, the defendant mother was convicted of manslaughter in connection with the death of her 4-year-old son. Apparently, the child died as the result of *652 malnutrition and numerous disciplinary beatings. In considering Fisher’s contention that the evidence was insufficient to sustain her conviction, this court said:

An unintentional killing of a person, without malice, resulting from an unlawful assault and battery that in itself is not of a character or intended to cause death may result in the assailant being guilty of manslaughter. [Citations omitted.]
The same may be true if death, without malice, is unintentionally caused by immoderate and excessive punishment, under the circumstances existing, although not such as is manifestly dangerous to life, in the correction of a child by a parent. Clasen v. Pruhs, 69 Neb. 278, 95 N.W. 640 [1903], states the doctrine that: “A parent, or one standing in the relation of parent, is not liable either civilly or criminally for moderately and reasonably correcting a child, but it is otherwise if the correction is immoderate and unreasonable. * * * It is a question of fact to be determined by the jury whether or not the punishment inflicted was, under all the circumstances and surroundings, reasonable or excessive.”

Fisher, supra at 175-76, 47 N.W.2d at 355.

In Cornhusker Christian Ch. Home v. Dept. of Soc. Servs., supra at 106, 416 N.W.2d at 560, we stated that “the rule found in Ciasen v. Pruhs, [69 Neb. 278, 95 N.W. 640 (1903)], is a restatement of the common-law rule that was later codified in the criminal defense provision of § 28-1413 of the Nebraska Revised Statutes.”

Section 28-310(l)(a) provides that a person commits the offense of assault in the third degree if he intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another person. The statute makes no distinctions as to who may be liable for committing the offense or who the victim may be.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-1413 (Reissue 1989) provides, in part:

The use of force upon or toward the person of another is justifiable if:
(1) The actor is the parent or guardian or other person similarly responsible for the general care and supervision *653

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
456 N.W.2d 759, 235 Neb. 648, 1990 Neb. LEXIS 201, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-beins-neb-1990.