State v. Fabritz

348 A.2d 275, 276 Md. 416, 1975 Md. LEXIS 736

• Court: Court of Appeals of Maryland
• Decided: December 3, 1975
• Docket: [No. 29, September Term, 1975.]
• Status: Published

Opinions

Murphy, C. J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court. O’Donnell, J., dissents and filed a dissenting opinion at page 426 infra.

Maryland Code (1971 Repl. Vol., 1975 Cum. Supp.), Art. 27, § 35A (a) provides that any parent or other person having custody of a child under eighteen years of age “who causes abuse to such minor child” shall be guilty of a felony. The statute defines the term “abuse” in subsection (b)7 to mean:

“any physical injury or injuries sustained by a child as a result of cruel or inhumane treatment or as a result of malicious act or acts .. ..”

Virginia Lynnette Fabritz (Virginia) was charged with violating this statute by abusing her three-and-one-half-year-old daughter Windy. Evidence adduced at the trial before a jury in the Circuit Court for Calvert County showed that Windy was brought to the Calvert County Hospital at 10:35 p.m. on October 3, 1973 in a badly beaten condition with approximately seventy bruises or contusions covering her body, ranging in size from one inch to five inches. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital, her death being attributed to peritonitis resulting from a perforated or ruptured duodenum. The evidence showed that Windy’s injuries were the result of “blunt trauma” caused by an instrument, or a fist, or some kind of blow inflicted within eighteen to twenty-four hours prior to her death.

Virginia had left Windy in the custody of Thomas Crockett and his wife Ann, with whom she resided, on October 1. Virginia did not see Windy again until 1 p.m. on October 3, at which time she noticed that Windy was very listless. Crockett told her that Windy had driven with him on his motorcycle and had gotten sick as a result of a bumpy ride. At 2:30 p.m. Windy complained of cramps and was running a slight fever; Virginia attributed this to the flu. She then bathed Windy and, after observing her badly beaten body, put her to bed and spent the remainder of the afternoon watching Crockett work on his motorcycle. At 5 p.m. Virginia observed that Windy appeared to be in a semiconscious state, but she did not take her to the hospital because she “was too ashamed of the bruises on her daughter’s body.” There was evidence that Windy thereafter sat up and appeared normal for a brief period, but at 6 p.m. she vomited and again complained that she did not feel well. At 7 p.m. Virginia put Windy back to bed and called a friend, Connie Schaeffer, and asked that she look at Windy. Miss Schaeffer arrived at 9 p.m. Windy was lying on the floor of the den, covered by a wet diaper. She was limp and appeared unconscious. When Miss Schaeffer questioned Virginia about the bruises on Windy’s body, Virginia responded, “Tommy [Crockett] hits hard.” Windy’s condition worsened and at 9:45 p.m. Ann Crockett contacted the hospital. She was advised to bring Windy to the hospital immediately. After Mrs. Crockett left for the hospital with Windy, Virginia told Miss Schaeffer, “It is my fault. I killed her.” Shortly thereafter, Virginia went to the hospital and learned that Windy was dead.

Expert medical evidence was adduced to show that a child with peritonitis would vigorously complain once she sustained the injury and would continue to complain until the onset of a coma; that at the time the injuries were sustained, there would have been immediate pain and the child would have begun to feel poorly; that the pain would have gradually increased, followed by fever, vomiting, and lack of appetite; that within six hours prior to death, the child would have become stuporous and comatose; that Windy would have lived had an operation been performed within at least twelve hours prior to death; and that she would have had a chance to survive if surgery had been performed up to an hour before death. A pathologist testified that it was his medical opinion, based upon the degree of injury, the multiplicity of wounds and his examination of Windy’s body, that the injuries did not happen accidentally. There was no evidence indicating that Virginia struck the blows which caused the initial injuries to her child, nor was there any evidence to show that Virginia had knowledge that the person in whose custody she left Windy would abuse her.

The trial court instructed the jury that a parent is under an affirmative duty to provide reasonable medical necessities to his child and would be guilty of child abuse under the statute if the treatment afforded to the child was “cruel or inhumane and it results in physical injury”; that the “physical injury may be death itself”; and that “the unattended worsening of obvious serious medical condition if cruel or inhumane and if more serious consequences result, is in itself... a physical injury within the meaning of the terms as they are used in the Statute.” The jury found Virginia guilty of the offense and she was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

The Court of Special Appeals reversed the judgment of conviction, holding that “to be guilty under the statute, the accused must be shown to have caused the injury, not simply aggravated it by failure to seek assistance.” Fabritz v. State, 24 Md. App. 708 at 714, 332 A. 2d 324 at 327 (1975). In so concluding, the court said that there was nothing in the statute indicating that it was the legislative intent to encompass within its provisions parents who withhold the necessities of life, including medical care, from their children. We granted certiorari to consider whether the Court of Special Appeals properly interpreted the child abuse statute.

The State contends that Virginia’s failure to provide medical care to Windy in the circumstances of this case amounted to child abuse within the meaning of the statute. More specifically, the State urges that the evidence showed that Windy was the victim of a medical condition known as the “battered child syndrome”; that the beating Windy suffered caused peritonitis which resulted “in a gradual and continuous general deterioration of the child’s health and well-being culminating in her death”; that although there was no evidence that Virginia was the individual who beat Windy, she was “fully aware of her child’s beaten condition . .. [but] failed for a period of several hours to seek medical attention for her child and . .. her inaction amounted to child abuse”; and that while there was no evidence that Windy’s injuries resulted from any “malicious act” perpetrated by Virginia, her failure to obtain medical attention for her daughter constituted, within the sense contemplated by the statute, “cruel or inhumane treatment” and was a contributing cause of the “physical injury” which the child sustained.

On Virginia’s behalf it is argued that to be guilty of child abuse under § 35A, a person must have “caused” the child to suffer physical injury as a result of cruel or inhumane treatment. Virginia claims that § 35A “concerns injuries as a result of the treatment or acts of the accused” and that because Windy was injured and died as a consequence of blows inflicted by someone other than herself, her failure to obtain medical aid for Windy was not the cause of the child’s injuries or death. Virginia maintains that the gist of the statutory offense of child abuse is not cruel or inhumane treatment but rather the infliction of physical injuries upon a child as a result of such treatment.

The cardinal rule in the construction of statutes is to effectuate the real and actual intention of the Legislature. Purifoy v. Merc.-Safe Dep. & Trust, 273 Md. 58, 327 A. 2d 483 (1974); Scoville Serv., Inc. v. Comptroller, 269 Md. 390, 306 A. 2d 534 (1973); Height v. State, 225 Md. 251, 170 A. 2d 212 (1961). Equally well settled is the principle that statutes are to be construed reasonably with reference to the purpose to be accomplished, Walker v. Montgomery County, 244 Md. 98, 223 A. 2d 181 (1966), and in light of the evils or mischief sought to be remedied, Mitchell v. State, 115 Md. 360, 80 A. 2d 1020 (1911); in other words, every statutory enactment must be “considered in its entirety, and in the context of the purpose underlying [its] enactment,” Giant of Md. v. State’s Attorney, 267 Md. 501 at 509, 298 A. 2d 427, at 432 (1973). Of course, a statute should be construed according to the ordinary and natural import of its language, since it is the language of the statute which constitutes the primary source for determining the legislative intent. Grosvenor v. Supervisor of Assess., 271 Md. 232, 315 A. 2d 758 (1974); Height v. State, supra. Where there is no ambiguity or obscurity in the language of a statute, there is usually no need to look elsewhere to ascertain the intention of the Legislature. Purifoy v. Merc.-Safe Deposit & Trust, supra. Thus, where statutory language is plain and free from ambiguity and expresses a definite and sensible meaning, courts are not at liberty to disregard the natural import of words with a view towards making the statute express an intention which is different from its plain meaning. Gatewood v. State, 244 Md. 609, 224 A. 2d 677 (1966). On the other hand, as stated in Maguire v. State, 192 Md. 615, 623, 65 A. 2d 299, 302 (1949), “[a]dherence to the meaning of words does not require or permit isolation of words from their context ‘* * * [since] the meaning of the plainest words in a statute may be controlled by the context. .. .’ ” In construing statutes, therefore, results that are unreasonable, illogical or inconsistent with common sense should be avoided whenever possible consistent with the statutory language, with the real legislative intention prevailing over the intention indicated by the literal meaning. B. F. Saul Co. v. West End Park, 250 Md. 707, 246 A. 2d 591 (1968); Sanza v. Md. Board of Censors, 245 Md. 319, 226 A. 2d 317 (1967); Height v. State, supra.

It is, of course, well settled that penal statutes must be strictly construed, State v. Fleming, 173 Md. 192, 195 A. 392 (1937), “by which is meant that courts will not extend the punishment to cases not plainly within the language used,” State v. Archer, 73 Md. 44, 57, 20 A. 172, 172 (1890). But as our predecessors noted in Healy v. State, 115 Md. 377, 379,80 A. 1074, 1075, it is the intention of the Legislature that governs in the construction of all statutes so that penal statutes, like other statutes, are to be fairly and reasonably construed and courts should not, by narrow and strained construction, exclude from their operation cases plainly within their scope and meaning. In the final analysis, in construing any statute requiring construction, courts must consider not only the literal or usual meaning of words, but their meaning and effect in light of the setting, the objectives and purposes of the enactment, with the real intention prevailing over the literal intention even though such a construction may seem to be contrary to the letter of the statute. Criminal Ins. Comp. Bd. v. Gould, 273 Md. 486, 331 A. 2d 55 (1975); Barnes v. State, 186 Md. 287, 47 A. 2d 50 (1946); Height v. State, supra.

It is in light of these principles of construction of statutes that we consider the provisions of § 35A as they stood at the time of the alleged offense. Codified under the subtitle “Child Abuse,” the statute’s declared legislative purpose is “the protection of children who have been the subject of abuse. . ..” As heretofore indicated, the statute defines “abuse” to encompass “any physical injury or injuries sustained by a child as a result of cruel or inhumane treatment or as a result of malicious act or acts.” Under the statute, any person having custody of a child under eighteen years of age who “causes” such abuse is guilty of a felony. The precursor to § 35A was chapter 743 of the Acts of 1963, which was originally codified as Code (1957) Article 27, § 11A and included under the subtitle “Assault on Children”; that statute, which was recodified as Article 27, § 35A by chapter 500 of the Acts of 1970, provided that any person having custody of a minor child under fourteen years of age “who maliciously beats, strikes or otherwise mistreats such minor child to such degree as to require medical treatment” would be guilty of a felony. It would appear from its terms that that enactment was not intended to reach acts of individuals not constituting, in one form or another, an assault on a child. It was not until § 35A was amended by chapter 835 of the Acts of 1973 that the Legislature repealed the “maliciously beats, strikes, or otherwise mistreats” test of child abuse, and substituted in its place a new and different measure of the offense — one defined by new subsection (b) 7 in terms of physical injuries caused by “cruel or inhumane treatment or as a result of malicious act or acts.” According to its title, one of the purposes underlying the 1973 amendment of § 35A was “generally extending] the law of child abuse.” Considering the particular use and association of words and definitions used in § 35A, we think a doubt or ambiguity exists as to the exact reach of the statute’s provisions, justifying application of the principle that permits courts in such circumstances to ascertain and give effect to the real intention of the Legislature. See Clerk v. Chesapeake Beach Park, 251 Md. 657, 248 A. 2d 479 (1968); Domain v. Bosley, 242 Md. 1, 217 A. 2d 555 (1966).

We think it evident that the Legislature, by its 1973 amendment to § 35A, plainly intended to broaden the area of proscribed conduct punishable in child abuse cases. Its use in the amended version of § 35A of the comprehensive phraseology “who causes abuse to” a minor child, coupled with its broad two-pronged definition of the term “abuse,” supports the view that the Legislature, by repealing the narrow measure of criminality in child abuse cases then provided in § 35A, and redefinining the offense, undertook to effect a significant change of substance in the scope of the statute’s prohibitions. In making it an offense for a person having custody of a minor child to “cause” the child to suffer a “physical injury,” the Legislature did not require that the injury result from a physical assault upon the child or from any physical force initially applied by the accused individual; it provided instead, in a more encompassing manner, that the offense was committed if physical injury to the child resulted either from a course of conduct constituting “cruel or inhumane treatment” or by “malicious act or acts.”

As defined in Black’s Law Dictionary 966 (3rd ed. 1933), an injury is “[a]ny wrong or damage done to another . . .”; the term is defined in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 1164 (1961) as “an act that damages, harms, or hurts: an unjust or undeserved infliction of suffering or harm.” Of course, the injury would be a physical one if it relates to or pertains to the body. To be a “cause” of physical injury to another, a person would in some manner have to be accountable for the “condition that brings about an effect or that produces or calls forth a resultant action or state.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 356. Affording the term “physical injury” the broad meaning that the context of § 35A would seem to mandate, we think a parent would be criminally responsible as having “caused” such a physical injury to his child in the sense contemplated by the statute if, as a result of the parent’s “cruel or inhumane treatment,” the child suffered bodily harm additional to that initially sustained as a consequence of the injury originally inflicted upon him. Cf. Palmer v. State, 223 Md. 341, 164 A. 2d 467 (1960) where in affirming an involuntary manslaughter conviction of a mother who knowingly permitted her infant child to be subjected to prolonged beatings by her paramour, we concluded that although the direct and immediate cause of the child’s death was attributable to blows struck by the mother’s paramour, her failure to remove the child from the paramour’s presence constituted gross and criminal negligence and “was a contributing cause of . . . [the child’s] unfortunate death.” 228 Md. at 353.

Whether, in view of the evidence adduced at the trial, Virginia’s failure to obtain medical assistance for Windy constituted cruel or inhumane treatment resulting in physical injury to the child is, of course, the crux of this appeal. That a parent under Maryland law is legally obligated to provide necessary medical care to his child is clear. Code (1970 Repl. Vol.) Art. 72A, § 1; Craig v. State, 220 Md. 590, 155 A. 2d 684 (1959); Baltimore City v. Fire Insurance Salvage Corporation, 219 Md. 75, 148 A. 2d 444 (1959). That Virginia knew of Windy’s severely beaten condition is manifest from the evidence; indeed, as the photographic exhibits in the case so painfully demonstrate, Windy bore the multiple bruises of a vicious assault, of which Virginia was aware at least as early as 2:30 p.m. on October 3, 1973. Between that hour, and 10:35 p.m. when Windy died, Virginia failed to seek or obtain any medical assistance although, as the evidence heretofore outlined so plainly indicates, the need therefor was obviously compelling and urgent. There was evidence that Virginia’s failure to seek such assistance was based upon her realization that the bruises covering Windy’s body would become known were the child examined or treated by a physician. Other evidence in the case all too graphically illustrated the suffering to which Windy was subjected by Virginia’s failure to provide the treatment needed to save the child’s life. We think the jury properly could have concluded from the evidence that, as a result of Virginia’s conduct, Windy’s condition was permitted to steadily deteriorate until the child’s ordeal was ended by death; that Virginia’s failure to act caused Windy to sustain bodily injury additional to and beyond that inflicted upon her by reason of the original assault and constituted a cause of the further progression and worsening of the injuries which led to Windy’s death; and that in these circumstances Virginia’s treatment of Windy was “cruel or inhumane” within the meaning of the statute and as those terms are commonly understood. Accordingly, we conclude that the Court of Special Appeals was in error in its interpretation of § 35A and in its reversal of Virginia’s conviction.

Judgment of the Court of Special Appeals reversing the judgment of the Circuit Court for Calvert County vacated; case remanded to the Court of Special Appeals for consideration of the other issues presented to that court on appeal, but not decided; costs to abide the result.