Young v. State

The appellant was charged with maliciously punishing her child by striking him with a cord, in violation of section 827.03(2)(b). At trial, the evidence showed that the appellant called the sheriff’s office to complain that a relative was teaching her two sons how to steal. The officer told her that he couldn’t do anything since the boys had not yet stolen anything. The next day, the same deputy responded to another call and observed several bruises and abrasions on the back, neck, arms, and chest of the appellant’s seven year old son. He told the officer that his mom had hit him with a cord after questioning him about some missing money. The appellant told the officer that she blacked out and did not remember what happened.

An investigator with CPS testified that the child had told her that his mother had hit him with an extension cord as punishment’s for stealing a dollar from her. Appellant told the investigator that the child had become upset because she had told him that he could not go on an outing, and had thrown the joy stick of a computer game at her. Appellant said that she responded by hitting the child with the computer cord.

The appellant requested a jury instruction that they must find that she maliciously punished the child, and that “malice” means ill will, hatred, spite, an evil intent. The trial court agreed to emphasize to the jury that malice was a perquisite to a finding of guilty, but refused to give the definition proposed by the appellant. Instead, the court told the jury that “the word maliciously means wrongfully, intentionally, without legal justification or excuse.” The jury found the appellant guilty.