State v. Grantland

709 So. 2d 1310, 1997 WL 8420
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 9, 1997
DocketCR-94-2237
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 709 So. 2d 1310 (State v. Grantland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Grantland, 709 So. 2d 1310, 1997 WL 8420 (Ala. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinions

ON APPLICATION FOR REHEARING

This court's opinion of December 19, 1995, is withdrawn, and the following opinion is substituted therefor:

The petitioner, the State of Alabama, through the attorney general's office, filed this petition for a writ of mandamus asking us to direct the Honorable Steven E. Haddock, circuit judge for the eighth judicial circuit, to vacate the judgment of acquittal entered by Judge Rudolph Slate, now retired, in favor of Kenneth and Jenny Grantland.1 The Grantlands were charged with murder in recklessly causing the death of their son, a three-month-old infant, by depriving him of food. See §13A-6-2(a)(2), Ala. Code 1975. On February 3, 1993, the jury returned verdicts finding the Grantlands guilty of the lesser included offense of reckless manslaughter. See § 13A-6-3, Ala. Code 1975.2 At sentencing on January 9, 1995, the Grantlands' counsel filed a motion for a judgment of acquittal. After a hearing on the motion, Judge Slate granted the motion and entered a judgment of acquittal. The state filed a motion for reconsideration with Judge Haddock, to whom the case had been assigned after Judge Slate's retirement. Judge Haddock denied the motion. The state then filed this petition for a writ of mandamus attacking Judge Slate's ruling and requesting that this court direct Judge Haddock to set aside Judge Slate's judgment and reinstate the Grantlands' convictions for manslaughter. For the reasons set forth below, we grant the state's petition.

Although Rule 20.3, Ala.R.Crim.P., clearly authorizes a trial judge to grant a motion for a judgment of acquittal after the jury has returned a guilty verdict, that rule does not permit a judge to enter a judgment of acquittal on grounds other than those provided for under Rule 20 generally. A motion for a judgment of acquittal tests the legal sufficiency of the evidence. Suttles v. State, 574 So.2d 1012 (Ala.Cr.App. 1990);Metzger v. State, 565 So.2d 291 (Ala.Cr.App. 1990); see, generally, Committee Comments, Rule 20.1, Ala.R.Crim.P. When presented with a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, the trial court, and any reviewing court, must accept the evidence presented by the state as true, must view that evidence in a light most favorable to the state, and must accord the state all legitimate inferences from the evidence.Rowe v. State, 662 So.2d 1227 (Ala.Cr.App. 1995). Where there is legal evidence from which a jury could by fair inference find a defendant guilty, a trial judge should submit *Page 1312 the case to the jury. Id. Moreover, where there is sufficient legal evidence to submit the case to the jury and the jury has considered that evidence and rendered its verdict, it is not proper for the trial court, or a reviewing court, to substitute its judgment for that of the jury. Winters v. State,673 So.2d 786 (Ala.Cr.App. 1995); Rowe, 662 So.2d 1227. It is not the function of the court to assess the credibility of witnesses, weigh the evidence, or substitute its judgment as to guilt or innocence for that of the jury. Porter v. State, 666 So.2d 106 (Ala.Cr.App. 1995).

We turn to the state's evidence in this piteous case. The evidence against the Grantlands is compelling. The record reflects that on January 23, 1990, members of the Priceville Police Department investigated the death of an infant, three-month-old Kenny Grantland. A police officer dispatched to the Grantlands' residence found the child dead in his crib. Photographs introduced into evidence at trial revealed that the child was drastically emaciated. His ribs and his skull were clearly visible through his skin. The crib beneath his head was stained with dirt. Several sores were evident on his face and neck, and there was a pressure sore on the back of his head. When police removed the child's clothing, a live roach was found inside. A forensic pathologist testified that the child had died of malnutrition, specifically from starvation and dehydration. The pathologist stated that the sores on the child's face were caused by the malnutrition. The pathologist also testified that the pressure sore on the back of the child's head was caused by prolonged contact with the crib mattress. The pathologist stated that the child's face appeared pinched and wrinkled because there was no fatty tissue under the skin. The autopsy revealed that there was no fat stored around any of the child's internal organs and that his lungs had partially collapsed from dehydration.

Evidence indicated that the child weighed approximately 6 pounds and 11 ounces when he was born on October 22, 1989. The pediatrician who examined the child shortly after his birth testified that this was a normal birth weight and that the child had no apparent health problems when he left the hospital. Testimony indicated that when the child visited the hospital emergency room on December 14 and 15, 1989, for a minor illness, diagnosed as virile gastroenteritis, he weighed 8 pounds and 12 ounces, which, medical testimony indicated, was a normal weight for a child of his age and birth weight. There was no evidence suggesting that there were any obvious sores on the child's body at the time of his December 14 and 15, 1989, visits to the hospital. At the time of the child's death, approximately five weeks after these hospital visits, he weighed six pounds and six and one-half ounces, less than he weighed at birth. A forensic pathologist testified that a normal weight for child of the same age as the victim was approximately 12 pounds. Based on the difference between the child's weight at death and the normal weight for a child that age, the pathologist calculated that at the time of death, the child had a caloric deficit equal to having gone 12.8 days without food. The evidence reflected that the child's drastic weight loss and the other obvious changes in his physical condition must necessarily have occurred during the five-week period between December 15, 1989, and January 23, 1990. Evidence indicated that the child was in the care of his parents during this period and that during this period, his parents did not seek medical attention for him. The Grantlands had three other children. There was no evidence that the Grantlands were unaware of the commonly known fact that human beings deprived of food will starve to death. The Grantlands claimed not to have noticed the child's dramatic weight loss and claimed not to have noticed that the child was especially ill before his death, despite the child's obviously emaciated appearance.

"A person commits the crime of manslaughter if he recklessly causes the death of another." Washington v. State,608 So.2d 771, 772 (Ala.Cr.App. 1992); § 13A-6-3(a)(1), Ala. Code 1975. Section 13A-2-2(3), Ala. Code 1975, provides:

"A person acts recklessly with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result *Page 1313 will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregard thereof constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation."

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State v. Grantland
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Bluebook (online)
709 So. 2d 1310, 1997 WL 8420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-grantland-alacrimapp-1997.