Vernessa Marshall was found guilty but mentally retarded in the felony murder and involuntary manslaughter of her ten year old son, Jamario, and sentenced to life in prison.1 She appeals from her conviction and we affirm. 1. The evidence adduced at trial demonstrates that the victim was suspended from school for stealing five dollars from another student. His grandmother, who was his legal custodian, took him to Marshall’s house and told Marshall he should be spanked. Marshall and her boyfriend, Demetrius Paul, took turns whipping the child with a belt. Marshall beat the child first, until her arm gave out, then held the child down on the bed while Paul beat him. The beating was suspended when maintenance men arrived to make a repair in the apartment. Marshall and Paul told the men they were spanking their son for being sent home from school. At some point before the maintenance men arrived, an upstairs neighbor heard the beating and the child crying for it to stop and called police to report suspected abuse. Police arrived in response to the neighbor’s call and questioned Marshall and Paul. Marshall told the officers they were arguing with the victim because he had been suspended. Paul held up the belt and said “We’re through talking now.” Police informed Paul and Marshall they could use corporal punishment but not to the extent it caused abuse, bodily injury or bruises. Marshall and Paul then beat the victim for up to another hour, carried him to their car because he was unable to walk on his own and was having difficulty breathing, and returned him to his grandmother’s house. Marshall told her mother something was wrong with the child and that they needed to take him to the hospital. The victim was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.
In order to determine a cause of death, hospital personnel undressed the victim and discovered a large hematoma and bleeding from his lower back to the backs of his knees. His pants and underclothes were so soiled with blood and fluid they had to be peeled off of him. The medical examiner found that the cause of death was severe blunt-force injuries resulting in a massive hemorrhage and disruption of fat. Although individual blows could not be determined because the numerous blows overlapped and had scraped away layers of the victim’s skin, the medical examiner testified that he was struck at least 100 times and with such force that the fat beneath his skin was emulsified, entered broken capillaries, and clogged the vessels leading to his lungs, a process called fat embolization.
