The Arkansas Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the conviction and prison sentence of a Pine Bluff man accused of causing injuries to an infant in 2014.
Jeremy Myers had argued that Circuit Judge Jodi Raines Dennis was wrong when she did not instruct the jury of a lesser offense, but the appeals court disagreed.
The infant, who was the son of Myers’ girlfriend and was born Jan. 26, 2014, was the victim in the case and was left alone with Myers on three occasions in 2014 — Feb. 25, April 28 and May 28.
The child was admitted to Arkansas Children’s Hospital May 29 with numerous injuries, including skull fractures, broken ribs, broken legs and a broken wrist. Myers was arrested and eventually convicted of a first-degree count of endangering the welfare of a minor.
Myers was not the infant’s biological father and contended that the jury should have been instructed on endangering the welfare of a minor in the third-degree, along with the endangering the welfare of a minor in the first-degree charge.
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Appeals Court Judge David M. Glover said in the court ruling that an instruction on a lesser included offense is appropriate only when it is supported by even the slightest evidence. In that case, the circuit court is obligated to instruct the jury on the offense “only if there is a rational basis for a verdict acquitting the defendant of the offense charged and convicting him of the lesser offense.”
Glover said that even if endangering the welfare of a minor in the third-degree is a lesser included offense, Myers failed to show that there was a rational basis for giving the instruction to the jury. In his appeal, Myers contended that the jury could have found his testimony credible, and that he did not mean to hurt the infant when he squeezed him; therefore, was only “recklessly engaged in conduct that created a substantial risk of serious harm instead of purposely engaged in conduct creating a substantial risk of death or serious injury.”
Dr. Karen Farst, a pediatrician at Children’s, testified as an expert in both general and child abuse pediatrics and said she had treated the infant on May 29, 2014. She said his head was disproportional large compared to the rest of his body; he seemed lethargic and quiet, there were visible bruises on his forehead and both sides of his face near the jaw line, with two noticeable circles on the jaw line and a small circle near the ear, which the doctor said was a typical bruise on an infant for an injury that resulted from using three fingers to squeeze the face.
Farst said a CAT scan revealed abnormal findings, including a large amount of subdural blood between the skill and brain on both sides of the brain lobes, as well as two skull fractures, which she said made it unlikely that the fractures occurred from a single fall or drop.
The child also had 30 fractures, many in his rib cage, but in other places as well. She also testified that “it would be fair to say [the child] had been close to death when he arrived at the emergency room due to a significant recent episode of trauma, coupled with prior existing injuries, causing a rapid decline and a need for emergency intervention.”
In a statement to police, Myers said he thought the skull fracture occurred when he was taking care of the child and the child rolled off the bed. He also said he had become frustrated with the infant’s screaming and had squeezed him, and while the did not think that he had squeezed hard enough to hurt the child, he admitted leaving a bruise in one instance. He also said he had pinched the child and had covered his mouth when the child would not stop crying.
In the ruling, Judge Glover said, “Myers’ actions were not reckless — they were actions he purposely undertook after he had become upset and frustrated when [the child] would not stop crying.”
Following his trial, Myers was sentenced to six years in prison.