State v. Lanford

STROUD, Judge.

*190I. Background

During the summer of 2008, Todd Lanford (“defendant”) moved in with Tiffany and her then eleven-year-old son Joseph1 While Tiffany worked during the day, defendant stayed home most of the time and would babysit Joseph when he stayed home from school. Defendant first started disciplining Joseph with grounding, but after approximately three months, defendant began to hit Joseph when he did something that defendant did not like. The violence escalated and during the last week of October 2008 defendant hit and kicked Joseph so badly that he stayed home from school the…