State v. Walden

Police, responding to a neighbor's report of screaming and a popping sound, found one-year-old Lamont Walden with bruises, red marks, and a swollen lip in an apartment with several adults, including his mother Aleen Walden (defendant) and George Hoskins. Three children testified that Hoskins repeatedly beat Lamont with a belt while Aleen watched without intervening or saying anything, though Aleen offered a conflicting account in which someone else beat the child while she was absent. A jury convicted Aleen of felony assault on an aiding-and-abetting theory, the court of appeals reversed, and the state appealed.