State v. Shrout

Cold, sick, “soaked in urine,” with a bucket of excrement as his toilet, Aaron Johnson died on a urine-drenched mattress on the tarp-covered floor of a room where he was kept by his mother and her spouse. We need not detail a tragedy for which the latter were both convicted of involuntary manslaughter.1

We reject this appeal by the mother (“Mother”) because her points each assume and proceed from a false premise— basically putting up and knocking down a *125straw man — leaving the true bases for conviction effectively unchallenged.2

Point I — Denial of Duty

“Since Missouri’s manslaughter statute…