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Sauerwein v. State

The trial court did not improperly interject its own opinion in the case by asking the infant murder victim's mother if the victim was teething at the time the defendant struck the victim and then repeating her affirmative answer, because this fact was uncontested.

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A Camden County jury convicted Christopher Sauerwein of felony murder and cruelty to children for his role in the death of his infant son Dalton.1 On appeal, Sauerwein contends that the trial court improperly commented on the evidence. Because the trial court’s comments did not pertain to an issue in dispute, however, we affirm. 1. The evidence introduced at trial showed that early on January 28, 1995, Rebecca Sauerwein awoke to find her infant son, Dalton, bruised and shaking in his crib. She rushed him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a severe closed-head injury resulting from substantial blows to the head. After a determination that brain-death had occurred, Dalton was removed from life support and died.

The preceding evening, Rebecca and Christopher had dinner at their neighbor’s house, where Christopher became very drunk. Later that night, Rebecca went to sleep but Christopher stayed up with a friend and continued drinking. Christopher checked on Dalton a couple of times when he cried, and on one occasion, he admitted striking the child multiple times, causing him to bleed. He denied striking Dalton with sufficient force to cause the injuries he sustained. Rebecca testified that the bruises she found on Dalton’s head and body in the morning had not been present the previous evening.

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