Opinion
No. COA07-473.
Filed February 19, 2008.
Durham County No. 06 CRS 40220.
Appeal by defendant from judgment entered 6 November 2006 by Judge Michael Morgan in Durham County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 15 October 2007.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General Larissa S. Ellerbee, for the State. Kathleen Arundell Widelski, for defendant.
Kendria Blackstone (defendant) was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and aiding and abetting a misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury. A jury found her not guilty of aiding and abetting, but guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Defendant received a suspended sentence of forty-five days' imprisonment and was placed on twenty-four months' supervised probation. Defendant now appeals.
Defendant's daughter, a middle school student, was involved in a fight with a classmate. During the course of the altercation, defendant's daughter inflicted various facial cuts on her rival, and cut off the tip of the girl's nose. The fight started after school; defendant's daughter was waiting with her brother and one of her friends in front of the victim's home. The fight continued largely unabated until the victim's mother arrived. Defendant drove up to the scene shortly thereafter.
Defendant told her daughter, along with her son and her daughter's friend, to get into the car. The daughter eventually went into the car. Testimony varies regarding the length of time she spent in the car. However, all accounts confirm that she emerged from the car holding a small, shiny object in her hand. Defendant's daughter ran towards the victim and started swinging and punching. The daughter then ran back to defendant's car and defendant drove away. Shortly thereafter, the victim's mother noted that the victim was bleeding profusely from cuts to her face and arms, and that the tip of her nose had been cut off. The victim's mother notified the police, and defendant was eventually arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and aiding and abetting a misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury.
At trial, defendant moved the trial court to dismiss the charges against her for insufficient evidence, and the trial court denied her request. In her lone assignment of error, defendant contends that the trial court's denial of her motion was erroneous. We disagree.
"In ruling on a defendant's motion to dismiss, the trial court should consider if the state has presented substantial evidence on each element of the crime and substantial evidence that the defendant is the perpetrator." State v. Replogle, ___ N.C. App. ___, ___, 640 S.E.2d 757, 759 (2007) (quotations and citation omitted).
Any person who is at least 16 years old who knowingly or willfully causes, encourages, or aids any juvenile within the jurisdiction of the court to be in a place or condition, or to commit an act whereby the juvenile could be adjudicated delinquent, undisciplined, abused, or neglected . . . shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-316.1 (2007). "The evidence should be viewed in the light most favorable to the state, with all conflicts resolved in the state's favor. . . . If substantial evidence exists supporting defendant's guilt, the jury should be allowed to decide if the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." Replogle at ___, 640 S.E.2d at 759 (quotations and citations omitted) (alteration in original).
Defendant argues primarily that the evidence was insufficient to fulfil the "knowingly" and "willingly" elements of the crime. "Simply stated, any person who knowingly does any act to produce, promote or contribute to any condition of delinquency of a child is in violation of the statute." State v. Cousart, ___ N.C. App. ___, ___, 641 S.E.2d 372, 374 (2007) (quotations and citation omitted). Defendant was present at the scene of the crime. When her daughter ran out of the car with the small shiny object in her hand, it was clear that her intention was to continue fighting. The trial court heard testimony that rather than intervene during the altercation, defendant merely stood next to her car, smiling. Defendant never called the police regarding the incident because, as she told an investigatory officer, "kids fight, [and] she fought growing up." Defendant did nothing to stop or restrain her daughter as she ran from the car, armed, to fight again. Finally, when her daughter returned to the car after attacking the victim, defendant immediately drove away. This evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the State, constitutes substantial evidence from which a jury could reasonably infer that defendant "knowingly or willfully cause[d], encourage[d], or aid[ed]" her daughter's delinquency.
The trial court did not err in denying defendant's motion to dismiss and sending the case to the jury.
No error.
Chief Judge MARTIN and Judge McCULLOUGH concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).