Soilberry v. State

The trial court erred in failing to merge the defendant's conviction for aggravated battery based on the fracture of the victim's ribs with malice murder.

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Following his conviction for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated battery, Vincent Soilberry appeals, contending, among other things, that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict.1 For the reasons set forth below, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand for resentencing. 1. In the light most favorable to the verdict, the record shows that, on the evening of May 1, 2008 and the morning of May 2, 2008, Soilberry, by himself, was babysitting Shondorius Roney, the three-year-old child of his girlfriend, Shaquita Bell. On the morning of May 2, 2008, Soilberry called paramedics, who discovered the child in a bathtub without water, covered in feces, and having difficulty breathing. The child died shortly thereafter.

Soilberry initially told police and a hospital nurse that he simply found the child in distress after leaving him in the bathtub for a few minutes while he mopped the floor in another room. Later, after receiving his Miranda warnings in a formal interview, Soilberry confessed that, after the child soiled himself, Soilberry went into a rage, punched the child on his right side and kneed him in his chest. At trial, the medical examiner noted numerous injuries to the child, the most severe of which was a blunt force injury to the right side of the abdomen caused by several impacts, at least one of which severely lacerated the child’s liver and caused rapid blood loss. In addition, the child had throttling injuries, rib fractures, head impact injuries, a heart contusion, and bruises and abrasions consistent with a severe beating that included hitting, stomping, and thrashing with a rod-like object. The medical examiner opined that some of the injuries were consistent with being beaten with a curtain rod that was found in the child’s bedroom.

Soilberry v. State

The trial court erred in failing to merge the defendant's conviction for aggravated battery based on the fracture of the victim's ribs with malice murder.

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