State v. Miranda
Connecticut Supreme Court
878 A.2d 1118 (2005)
Santos Miranda (defendant) lived with his girlfriend and her two children, considered himself their stepfather, and called 911 when the infant daughter began choking; hospital staff discovered severe, repeated abuse the mother had inflicted. Miranda was charged with first-degree assault for failing to protect the child, based on a familial duty theory the same court had earlier endorsed in a prior appeal in this same case; on remand he was resentenced to 30 years, and he appealed again, asking the court to overturn its own earlier ruling that such a duty existed.
Whether an individual may be convicted of assault for failing to prevent an injury to a child if that individual does not have a legal duty to protect the child from harm.