Oxendine v. State

Six-year-old child suffered a stomach hemorrhage after being pushed into a bathtub by Leotha Tyree, and the next morning suffered a second hemorrhage when beaten by Oxendine (defendant); the child died later that day, and both Tyree and Oxendine were charged with manslaughter. During its case-in-chief, the state's medical examiners testified the child suffered two distinct injuries, with one doctor unable to determine which caused death and not addressing acceleration at all, and the other testifying the first injury alone was lethal and the actual cause of death, while being unable to say with medical certainty whether the second injury accelerated the child's death. Only after Oxendine's first unsuccessful motion for acquittal did a defense-called examiner, Dr. Hofman, testify that a second blunt-force injury would accelerate death, and the jury, instructed that Oxendine's conduct could be a cause-in-fact of death if it caused the child to die sooner than he otherwise would have, convicted Oxendine of manslaughter; Oxendine appealed, arguing the state's case-in-chief evidence was insufficient on acceleration.