Oxendine v. State Facts: Child was beaten and thrown into a tub causing a tear in the abdomen. Later, the (D) beat the boy. The child complained of pains and on the way to the hospital died. Issues: Rules: A person is guilty of manslaughter when he recklessly causes the death of another person For defendant to be convicted of manslaughter for inflicting nonlethal injury upon his son after his son had, 24 hours earlier, sustained lethal injury from previous beating inflicted by codefendant, State was required to show, for purposes of causation, that defendant's conduct hastened or accelerated child's death. Reasoning: Defendant was convicted in the Superior Court, New Castle County, of manslaughter in the beating death of his son, and he appealed. The Supreme Court, Horsey, J., held that the evidence of causation was insufficient to sustain the State's theory that the defendant's conduct accelerated the son's death from a prior beating by another and, therefore, the manslaughter conviction could not stand, but the evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction for the lesser included offense of second-degree assault. Reversed and remanded. Holding: *870 Upon appeal from Superior Court. Reversed and Remanded
Kibbe V. Henderson
Facts: (P) took the Stratford out of a when he was drunk, intending to rob him. They took his money and made him take off his pants and boots and left him on the side of the road. A care came and hit and killed him. The cause of death were the injuries sustained from the car accident. Rules: Murder in Second Degree: Under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life, he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person, and thereby causes the death of another person. Issues: Did the judge err in giving jury instructions? Was the causation element a fact to be disputed? Reasoning: the Court ruled that the judge erred. It has been held that where death is produced by another force it must be determined whether that cause of death was a directly related or an independent cause.