State v. Altepeter
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The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the district court convicting Defendant of one count of malicious punishment of a child - less than substantial bodily harm, in violation of Minn. Stat. 609.377, subd. 2, holding that section 609.377 does not require the State to prove both that a defendant used unreasonable force and that it was in the course of punishment.
On appeal, Defendant argued that there was insufficient evidence to support her conviction. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the malicious punishment of a child statute is subject to only one reasonable interpretation, the interpretation being that the State must prove that a defendant used unreasonable force but need not prove that the force occurred in the course of punishment; and (2) because Defendant's insufficiency of the evidence claim is premised on the erroneous conclusion that the State needs to prove that she used unreasonable force in the course of punishment, Defendant failed to show that the State presented insufficient evidence.
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