COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

ROMINGER LEGAL

Virginia Legal Research & Resources - VA Legal Resources

Need Legal Help?

LEGAL RESEARCH CENTER

LEGAL HEADLINES - CASE LAW - LEGAL FORMS

NOT FINDING WHAT YOU NEED? -CLICK HERE

This opinion or court case is from the Courts of Virginia. Search our site for more cases - CLICK HERE

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present: Judges Baker, Benton and Overton
Argued at Norfolk, Virginia

STEPHEN JAMES MORRISON
MEMORANDUM OPINION
v. Record No. 0035-96-1 BY JUDGE JOSEPH E. BAKER
DECEMBER 10, 1996
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH
Dennis F. McMurran, Judge

Dianne G. Ringer, Senior Assistant Public
Defender, for appellant.

John K. Byrum, Jr., Assistant Attorney
General (James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney
General, on brief), for appellee.

Stephen James Morrison (appellant) contends that the
evidence does not support his conviction by the Circuit Court of
the City of Portsmouth (trial court) for violation of Code
40.1-103, willfully or negligently endangering a child. We
disagree and affirm his conviction.
As the parties are familiar with the facts contained in the
record, we state only those necessary to an understanding of the
result we reach. We view those facts in the light most favorable
to the Commonwealth, granting to it all reasonable inferences
fairly deducible therefrom. Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216
Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 (1975).
Appellant argues that because this Court, in Carter v.
Commonwealth, 21 Va. App. 150, 462 S.E.2d 582 (1995), declared a
portion of Code 40.1-103 to be unconstitutionally vague, the
evidence does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant
violated the remaining section which provides: "It shall be
unlawful for any person employing or having the custody of any
child willfully or negligently to cause or permit the life of
such child to be endangered or the health of such child to be
injured, . . . ."
Copeland was the mother of appellant's six-week-old child.
Appellant lived apart from Copeland and the child. The child was
ill on April 10, 1995 when appellant came to the child's home,
kicked Copeland in her thigh, and removed the child from her
home. When the child was taken out into the late afternoon, the
temperature was forty-eight degrees and the child was clothed
only in a "sleeper" that was not snapped and did not cover the
child's bare feet.
The police responded to a call, found appellant standing
outside a nearby store, and informed him that he was under arrest
for domestic assault. The police requested appellant to give
them the child so that it could be returned to Copeland. The
police were aware that the child was "suffering from a severe
cold" and was lightly dressed.
While holding the child tightly to his chest, appellant
responded to the request by telling the police that they would
have to kill him if they expected to get the child away from him.
The police repeated the request "a dozen times or more" but
appellant continued to refuse and cursed at the officers. The
child was crying and screaming but no physical injury was
evident. After arresting and taking appellant into custody by
placing him in a police vehicle, the police were able to remove
the child from appellant's clutch.
We hold that the evidence is sufficient to support
appellant's conviction for negligently causing or permitting the
life of the child to be endangered or the health of the child to
be injured.
Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Affirmed.

	ROMINGER LEGAL
		Virginia Legal Research & Resources - VA Legal Resources
					Need Legal Help?
					Need Legal Help?
LEGAL RESEARCH CENTER
LEGAL RESEARCH CENTER			LEGAL HEADLINES - CASE LAW - LEGAL FORMS	NOT FINDING WHAT YOU NEED? -CLICK HERE