The Fourth Department, over a two-justice dissent, determined the evidence was not sufficient to support endangering the welfare of a child. The child’s mother was convicted of killing the victim and transporting the victim’s body in a car when her four-year-old daughter was in the car:
We agree with defendant, however, that her conviction of endangering the welfare of a child is not based on legally sufficient evidence, and we therefore modify the judgment accordingly. The charge arose from defendant allegedly having her four-year-old child accompany her when she transported the victim’s body to her mother’s house. Viewing the evidence in support of that charge in the light most favorable to the People … , we conclude that the People failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the child’s riding in the car with the victim’s body was likely to result in harm to the physical, mental, or moral welfare of the child … . Specifically, the People presented no evidence that the child was aware that the victim’s body was in the car or that the child was upset or bothered by any smells or sights in the car or later at his grandmother’s house … . People v Chase, 2018 NY Slip Op 00935, Fourth Dept 2-9-18
CRIMINAL LAW (INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT CONVICTION FOR ENDANGERING THE WELFARE OF A CHILD, MOTHER TRANSPORTED DEAD BODY IN A CAR IN WHICH FOUR YEAR OLD DAUGHTER WAS RIDING, TWO JUSTICE DISSENT (FOURTH DEPT))/ENDANGERING THE WELFARE OF A CHILD (EVIDENCE, INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT CONVICTION FOR ENDANGERING THE WELFARE OF A CHILD, MOTHER TRANSPORTED DEAD BODY IN A CAR IN WHICH FOUR YEAR OLD DAUGHTER WAS RIDING, TWO JUSTICE DISSENT (FOURTH DEPT))/EVIDENCE (ENDANGERING THE WELFARE OF A CHILD, INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT CONVICTION FOR ENDANGERING THE WELFARE OF A CHILD, MOTHER TRANSPORTED DEAD BODY IN A CAR IN WHICH FOUR YEAR OLD DAUGHTER WAS RIDING, TWO JUSTICE DISSENT (FOURTH DEPT))