State v. Gordon

LAVORATO, Justice.

A jury convicted Thomas A. Gordon of assault causing bodily injury, a serious misdemeanor. In his appeal Gordon challenges an instruction defining bodily injury to include any impairment of physical condition. The instruction goes on to say that a red mark or bruise on the skin is such an impairment and is therefore a bodily injury.

The instruction raises the following issue: Does a red mark or bruise constitute a per se impairment of physical condition? We answer that a red mark or bruise is not a per se impairment of physical condition. We conclude the instruction was…