Jones v. United States
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
308 F.2d 307 (1962)
Shirley Green (defendant) left her son Robert with Jones (defendant), who agreed to care for him for a monthly fee, and later Green's second son Anthony also came to live in Jones's home. When Anthony developed jaundice and was later found malnourished and covered in lesions after Jones failed to follow a doctor's advice to hospitalize him, authorities removed both children; Anthony died the next day from malnutrition. Green and Jones were charged with involuntary manslaughter for failing to fulfill a legal duty to care for Anthony, and though the jury acquitted Green, it convicted Jones. Jones appealed, arguing the government never proved she was under any actual legal duty to care for Anthony.
Whether, to convict a defendant of a crime for failing to act, the prosecution must prove the defendant was under a legal duty to act.