Christian v. Commonwealth

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that others had the opportunity to inflict the injury and there was no direct evidence that defendant caused it
• finding opportunity reinforced by other incriminating evidence may be sufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt
• “Typically, child abuse is practiced by a parent in the privacy of the home with no one present but the victim[.]”
• cigarette burn under the eye, broken ribs, and fractures of both legs caused by twisting force are circumstances of such violence and brutality against a six month old child that an inference of ill-will arises from the grievous nature of the injury
• cigarette burn under the eye, broken ribs, and fractures of both legs caused by twisting force are circumstances of such violence and brutality against a six month old child that an inference of ill-will arises from the grievous nature of the injury
• “[W]here it -8- appears that a criminal assault was made upon a child within a particular period of time, evidence which shows that the accused was sole custodian of the child during that period may be sufficient, standing alone, to prove criminal agency.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).