The appellant, Daniel McMiller, appeals from his conviction for the malice murder of the 18-month-old child of his girlfriend.1 On appeal, McMiller contends only that the trial court erred in its charge on involuntary manslaughter. We conclude that this contention is without merit, and therefore affirm McMiller’s conviction. 1. The evidence showed that on December 5, 1999, McMiller was supervising the 18-month-old victim, Deandre Lee, while Lee’s mother went to the grocery store. McMiller and Lee were outside of a family member’s home when, according to a witness, Lee bit McMiller after McMiller tried to remove a sandwich from Lee’s mouth. After this incident, McMiller took Lee into a bathroom inside the house. The witness testified that Lee was fine before McMiller took him into the bathroom; that Lee was not choking; and that Lee walked with McMiller to the bathroom. Several witnesses testified that after being in the bathroom with Lee for approximately ten minutes, McMiller came out of the bathroom holding Lee and asked them to call 911. A fireman who was the first to arrive at the scene after the 911 call testified that, when he arrived at the house, Lee had no vital signs, but did not have anything blocking his airway. A paramedic who arrived shortly after the fireman testified that Lee had large, unusual bruises on his abdomen, chest, and back; that there were also some bruises on Lee’s arms and legs; and that a portion of Lee’s intestines had been squeezed out of his rectum. The paramedic also testified that Lee was not breathing and that his heart was not beating. The paramedic transported Lee to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy was performed on Lee, and the doctor concluded that his death was caused by severe internal injuries that could only be caused by significant blunt force.
McMiller testified that he took Lee into the restroom to clean him up after Lee began to choke on a sandwich, and that he tried to stop Lee from choking by putting him over the toilet and hitting him on the back. McMiller added that Lee did not get better, seemed not to be breathing, and began to turn red in the face. According to McMiller, he then sought assistance from other people in the house, and told them to call an ambulance.
