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This appeal is from Johnny Michael Lucas’s convictions for murder and cruelty to children.1 Lucas and the woman with whom he lived brought her daughter to the hospital where the child was pronounced dead. The emergency room physician noted that she had bruises on her face, abdomen, arms, legs, back, and pelvis; that she had cuts on her head; and that her abdomen was distended. The injuries were estimated to be three days old. The cause of death was blunt object injuries to the abdomen, producing a tear of the mesentery and bleeding into the abdominal cavity. The injury was consistent with a strong kick to the abdomen, and the physician testified that the child would have survived if treated promptly. Lucas surrendered himself to the police three days after the child’s death. At trial, police testimony indicated that Lucas admitted kicking the child in the abdomen three days before her death. In his testimony, Lucas denied kicking the child and explained that he had pushed her away from a hot stove with his foot because he was holding another child. An expert on bruising testified that one bruise on the child’s abdomen was consistent with Lucas’s foot while another was consistent with the fist of the child’s mother.2

1. The evidence adduced at trial and summarized above was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find Lucas guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of murder and cruelty to a child. Parker v. State, 270 Ga. 256 1 507 SE2d 744 1998.

 
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