People v. Shields

[3]

Opinion

HOLLENHORST, Acting P. J.

Defendant Merry Shields was found guilty of child endangering (Pen. Code, § 273a, subd. (1)) and being an accessory after the fact (Pen. Code, § 32). She appeals, raising alleged

Miranda

errors, alleged instructional error, the sufficiency of the evidence, and sentencing issues.

Facts

On June 4, 1988, Max Wagner, age three and a half, died of multiple injuries inflicted by an assailant. The coroner testified that the boy had bruises all over his body and a serious internal injury. In his opinion, all of the injuries were inflicted within six days of Max’s death. Several witnesses testified that Max was playing the afternoon that he died and he did not have a large contusion on his forehead at that time. The final blow, the large contusion on his forehead, was apparently inflicted between 6 and 7 in the evening. An ambulance was called at 7:30 and it arrived about eight minutes later.

Max lived with his mother, defendant Merry Shields, her boyfriend, Michael Prisk, and his brother Jake. Michael Prisk called the ambulance, and Merry Shields brought Max out of the house to the emergency crews. An emergency medical technician testified that Max was not breathing when he arrived, and he was told that Max had not been breathing for about 15-20 minutes. The technicians were able to restore a heartbeat, but not spontaneous breathing. They took Max to a hospital where he died.

A neighbor testified that she heard a loud argument at defendant’s house that lasted about 15 minutes and ended about 45 minutes before the ambulance arrived. At another point the witness stated that she heard what she called a mother’s scream at the end of the argument and the ambulance did not arrive until at least half an hour later. The same witness testified that Prisk came out of the house twice after the scream and went towards a telephone across the street. The third time he came out he said “Oh, my God. My baby.”

Another witness testified Prisk did not make a telephone call the first time he went to the telephone but that he went back home, changed clothes, returned to the telephone about 10 minutes later and presumably made a call. The fire truck arrived about five minutes later.