STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v. Gaston County
No. 00CRS56888
MICHELLE LEE NORRIS
Attorney General Roy A. Cooper, III, by Assistant Attorney
General R. Kirk Randleman, for the State.
Appellate Defender Staples Hughes, by Assistant Appellate
Defender Beth S. Posner, for defendant-appellant.
HUNTER, Judge.
Michelle Lee Norris (“defendant”) was convicted of felonious
child abuse and was sentenced to twenty-four to thirty-eight
months' imprisonment. We find no error in defendant's trial.
The State presented evidence tending to show that on 20 May
2000, defendant was residing with a male friend, Danny Wike, and
her three-year-old son (“the child”) at a motel in Belmont.
Defendant brought the child into the motel office and showed the
motel manager “pretty bad” bruises on the child's bottom.
Defendant stated, “[t]his is just what happens when he does
something wrong.” After defendant departed the manager's office,
the manager contacted the Gaston County Department of SocialServices (“DSS”) regarding her concern that the child was being
abused.
That evening at 11:00 p.m., a social worker with DSS, along
with Corporal R. B. Abernathy of the Belmont Police Department,
arrived at defendant's motel room to investigate the matter. Wike
allowed them to enter the room. They saw the child sleeping naked
on a bed. The child had multiple bruises and welts on his body.
Wike told them that he had whipped the child with a belt.
Defendant subsequently arrived and told Corporal Abernathy that she
had inflicted some of the bruises on the child because the child
would not obey her.
Roger Best, a physician's assistant at Gaston Memorial
Hospital who examined the child, testified that the child had
multiple bruises on his body that were not accidentally inflicted.
Best testified that the bruises were of varying ages, and that they
were some of the most serious he had ever seen. Dotty Scher, a
child protective services case manager for DSS, testified that the
child's injuries were among the top third in severity of the 500
cases she had investigated. Wike testified on behalf of defendant
that he inflicted the bruises on the child. Defendant testified
and denied inflicting the bruises.
The sole assignment of error brought forward by defendant is
to the denial of her motion to dismiss the charge for insufficient
evidence. The standard for ruling on a motion to dismiss “is
whether there is substantial evidence (1) of each essential element
of the offense charged and (2) that defendant is the perpetrator ofthe offense.” State v. Lynch, 327 N.C. 210, 215, 393 S.E.2d 811,
814 (1990). Substantial evidence is that relevant evidence which
a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.
Id. In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the trial court must
consider all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the
State, and the State is entitled to all reasonable inferences which
may be drawn from the evidence. Id. at 215-16, 393 S.E.2d at 814.
Any contradictions or discrepancies arising from the evidence are
properly left for the jury to resolve and do not warrant dismissal.
Id. at 216, 393 S.E.2d at 814.
To withstand a motion to dismiss a charge of felonious child
abuse, the State must present substantial evidence that the
defendant is a parent of the child, that the child is under the age
of sixteen, and that the defendant intentionally inflicted serious
physical injury upon the child or intentionally committed an
assault upon the child which resulted in serious physical injury to
the child. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-318.4(a) (1999); State v.
Phillips, 328 N.C. 1, 20, 399 S.E.2d 293, 302-03, cert. denied, 501
U.S. 1208, 115 L. Ed. 2d 977 (1991). A “serious physical injury”
is defined as an injury that causes great pain and suffering.
Phillips, 328 N.C. at 20, 399 S.E.2d at 303.
Defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient (1) to
show she perpetrated the offense and (2) to establish the element
of serious personal injury. We disagree. Defendant told Corporal
Abernathy that she inflicted some of the bruises on her three-year-
old child. The motel manager described the bruises as “prettybad.” The protective services case manager characterized the
bruises as among the most severe she had seen in eight years of
investigating child abuse cases. In addition to his testimony
describing the severity of the bruises, the physician's assistant
testified that the infliction of the bruises would cause a great
deal of pain. Based upon the foregoing evidence, a jury could
reasonably find that defendant intentionally inflicted serious
personal injury upon the child. This assignment of error is
overruled.
We hold defendant received a fair trial, free of prejudicial
error.
No error.
Judges MARTIN and BRYANT concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).
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