Kirsch, J.
Following a jury trial, Billy J. Burden (“Burden”) was convicted of neglect of a dependent as a Level 6 felony. On appeal, Burden raises two issues, the following of which we find dispositive: whether the State presented sufficient evidence to support the element of neglect, requiring that Burden knowingly placed the dependent in a position that endangered her life or health.
In the fall of 2015, Burden and a woman named Christina were in a relationship and lived together with Christina’s two young children B.E. and K.E. Christina believed that Burden was the father of four-month old K.E.; yet, she wanted Burden to provide no care for either child, explaining, “I was their mother.” …
On September 28, 2015, Burden was the front-seat passenger in a car driven along a Pulaski County road by his sister, Tiffany. … Christina, B.E., and K.E. were in the back seat. … Christina held a car seat on her lap, and K.E. was buckled into the car seat. … Reaching speeds of more than 100 miles per hour, Tiffany drove over a small hill, swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle, swerved again to avoid a telephone pole, and lost control of the car. …
Christina testified that, as a result of the accident, she, B.E., K.E., and A.K. were ejected from the car. She said that she was thrown twenty feet from the car, and K.E., still in her car seat, landed seven feet from Christina. Hearing K.E.’s cries, Christina rushed to her side and unbuckled K.E. from her car seat. … Christina told Burden that K.E. was in her arms. It was at that time that Burden asked if everyone was okay, and Christina said, “Yeah, everybody’s fine.” …
Dewain Davis (“Davis”), the driver of the car that Tiffany almost hit, testified that he saw the accident and called 911 to report it. After Davis got off the phone, he approached the crash site and saw six individuals outside the wrecked car … Davis testified that Burden “asked another gentleman there if he would take him to the house down the way to get help and that gentleman[, Michael Hartle (“Hartle”),] did take [Burden].”
… Burden left the scene before the deputies arrived. Deputies later determined that Burden never called anyone for help after he left the scene. Pulaski County Sheriff’s Deputy Aaron Himes, who was one of the first to respond to the scene, testified that he believed Burden left the scene because there was “a warrant out for him.”
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On October 8, 2015, the State charged Burden with Level 6 felony neglect of a dependent. On February 21-22, 2017, a jury trial was held, at the conclusion of which, the jury found Burden guilty as charged. The trial court imposed a two-year sentence. …
To obtain a conviction for Level 6 felony neglect of a dependent, pursuant to Indiana Code section 35-46-1-4(a)(1) (“the Neglect Statute”), the State had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Burden: (1) had the care of a dependent, K.E.; and (2) knowingly or intentionally placed K.E. in a situation that endangered her life or health. … Assuming, without deciding, that there was sufficient evidence that K.E. was a dependent in Burden’s care, the key evidentiary question under the Neglect Statute was whether Burden knowingly placed K.E. in a situation that endangered her life or health.
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… it was Burden’s act of leaving the scene of the accident that was the basis for the State’s decision to bring charges against Burden. Specifically, the State contends that by leaving the scene of the car accident, Burden placed K.E. in a situation that endangered her life or health. … The State asserts that Burden should not have left K.E. with Christina, who had shown her parenting deficiencies by failing to properly secure K.E. into the car. The State also points to the fact that K.E. could have sustained internal injuries, which would have required immediate attention.
… The evidence before the trial court revealed that, after the accident, Burden repeatedly inquired as to the whereabouts of K.E. Christina responded, at least twice, that K.E. was in her arms. There was no evidence that Burden had ever received first aid training. Furthermore, Burden’s ability to care for K.E. was limited because Christina, by her own admission, did not allow Burden to provide care for K.E., and when it came to medical care for K.E., Christina’s decision was the “rule of the day.” Before Burden left the scene, Christina told him that everyone was fine, and Davis informed Burden that 911 had been called and assistance was on the way. Moreover, K.E. and the other occupants of the car, with the exception of B.E., appeared uninjured and, in fact, did “not have any serious injuries.”
Finding no evidence to support the element that Burden had a subjective awareness of a high probability that, by leaving the scene, he had placed K.E. in a situation that endangered her life or health, we reverse Burden’s conviction for Level 6 felony neglect of a dependent.
Reversed.
Bailey, J., and Pyle, J., concur.