Shouse v. Commonwealth
Annotate this CaseAppellant’s two-year-old son died when she left him in the car overnight and into the afternoon. Appellant was convicted of wanton murder, second-degree criminal abuse, and first-degree wanton endangerment. The Supreme Court vacated Appellant’s conviction for wanton murder, reversed her conviction for first-degree wanton endangerment, and affirmed her conviction for second-degree criminal abuse, holding (1) while Appellant’s conduct historically would have supported a conviction for wanton murder, it cannot support such a conviction now, as the General Assembly, in 2000, amended the homicide statutory scheme to create a new type of second-degree manslaughter applicable to circumstances such as these; and (2) the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction for first-degree wanton endangerment. Remanded for a new trial on the homicide charge, conviction for which is capped at second-degree manslaughter.
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