Ex Parte State, 1100640 (Ala. 6-30-2011)

STUART, Justice.

This Court granted the State’s petition for a writ of certiorari to determine whether sufficient evidence of the element of “serious bodily injury” as defined as “serious and protracted disfigurement” for purposes of a first-degree-assault offense can be established by the testimony of a lay witness or as a matter of law can be presented only through medical testimony or the victim’s testimony. Specifically, with regard to this case, the issue is whether a mother’s testimony concerning her child’s suffering “serious and protracted disfigurement” is sufficient evidence of the…