Commonwealth v. Cheeks

AKER, Justice.

Earl Cheeks was convicted of second-degree assault and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. The Court of Appeals reversed the conviction and on the motion of the Commonwealth we granted discretionary review. We reverse.

On August 19, 1982, George Mickey Lamb, a five-month-old child, suffered second-degree burns on most of his abdomen and his left hand. The burns were caused by a skillet full of hot grease which somehow landed on the baby’s stomach. Cheeks claimed that he had put a handful of Crisco in the skillet, put the skillet on a stove and then left the skillet there while…