T.D.T. v. State

I respectfully dissent. The learned trial judge erred to reversal in three of his rulings.

First, the trial judge did err in refusing to instruct the jury on assault in the third degree as a lesser offense included within the charged crime of child abuse. While the record contains plenty of evidence to convict the defendant of child abuse, as he was charged and convicted, nonetheless, the record contains countervailing evidence, as the opinion issued by the Court of Criminal Appeals acknowledges in these words:

“T.D.T. testified in his defense that he had never kicked his son or banged his…