Injury to a Child Defense in Harris County
Houston Criminal Lawyers James Sullivan and Associates can help. They represent many people charged with serious offenses, such as Injury to a Child, Elderly Individual or Disabled Individual. Sullivan has worked to get several Injury to a Child cases dismissed by the grand jury as well as by the government on the day of trial.
If you need a Harris County criminal attorney, contact James Sullivan at (281) 546-6428 for a confidential consultation. Sullivan gets proven results in misdemeanor and felony criminal and juvenile cases in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties. Sullivan graduated from Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College.
Texas Penal Code, Section 22.04 – Injury to a Child, Elderly Individual, or Disabled Individual
CHAPTER 22. ASSAULTIVE OFFENSES
§ 22.04. INJURY TO A CHILD, ELDERLY INDIVIDUAL, OR DISABLED INDIVIDUAL.
(a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence, by act or intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly by omission, causes to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual:
(1) serious bodily injury;
(2) serious mental deficiency, impairment, or injury; or
(3) bodily injury.
(b) An omission that causes a condition described by Subsections (a)(1) through (a)(3) is conduct constituting an offense under this section if:
(1) the actor has a legal or statutory duty to act;
(2) the actor has assumed care, custody, or control of a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual.
(c) In this section:
(1) “Child” means a person 14 years of age or younger.
(2) “Elderly individual” means a person 65 years of age or older.
(3) “Disabled individual” means a person older than 14 years of age who by reason of age or physical or mental disease, defect, or injury is substantially unable to protect himself from harm or to provide food, shelter, or medical care for himself.
(d) The actor has assumed care, custody, or control if he has by act, words, or course of conduct acted so as to cause a reasonable person to conclude that he has accepted responsibility for protection, food, shelter, and medical care for a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual.
(e) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) or (2) is a felony of the first degree when the conduct is committed intentionally or knowingly. When the conduct is engaged in recklessly it shall be a felony of the second degree.
(f) An offense under Subsection (a)(3) is a felony of the third degree when the conduct is committed intentionally or knowingly. When the conduct is engaged in recklessly it shall be a state jail felony.
(g) An offense under Subsection (a) when the person acts with criminal negligence shall be a state jail felony.
(h) A person who is subject to prosecution under both this section and another section of this code may be prosecuted under either or both sections. Section 3.04 does not apply to criminal episodes prosecuted under both this section and another section of this code. If a criminal episode is prosecuted under both this section and another section of this code and sentences are assessed for convictions under both sections, the sentences shall run concurrently.
(i) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under Subsection (b)(2) that before the offense the actor:
(1) notified in person the child, elderly individual, or disabled individual that he would no longer provide any of the care described by Subsection (d); and
(2) notified in writing the parents or person other than himself acting in loco parentis to the child, elderly individual, or disabled individual that he would no longer provide any of the care described by Subsection (d); or
(3) notified in writing the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services that he would no longer provide any of the care set forth in Subsection (d).
(j) Written notification under Subsection (i)(2) or (i)(3) is not effective unless it contains the name and address of the actor, the name and address of the child, elderly individual, or disabled individual, the type of care provided by the actor, and the date the care was discontinued.
(k)(1) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the act or omission consisted of:
(A) reasonable medical care occurring under the direction of or by a licensed physician; or
(B) emergency medical care administered in good faith and with reasonable care by a person not licensed in the healing arts.
(2) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the act or omission was based on treatment in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized religious method of healing with a generally accepted record of efficacy. It is an affirmative defense to prosecution for a person charged with an act of omission under this section causing to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual a condition described by Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3) that:
(A) there is no evidence that, on the date prior to the offense charged, the defendant was aware of an incident of injury to the child, elderly individual, or disabled individual and failed to report the incident; and
(B) the person:
(i) was a victim of family violence, as that term is defined by Section 71.004, Family Code, committed by a person who is also charged with an offense against the child, elderly individual, or disabled individual under this section or any other section of this title;
(ii) did not cause a condition described by Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3); and
(iii) did not reasonably believe at the time of the omission that an effort to prevent the person also charged with an offense against the child, elderly individual, or disabled individual from committing the offense would have an effect.
