State v. Muns

1
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

No. 112,926

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

STATE OF KANSAS,
Appellant,

v.

JOSHUA I. MUNS,
Appellee.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appeal from Reno District Court; TRISH ROSE, judge. Opinion filed September 18, 2015.
Reversed and remanded with directions.

Keith E. Schroeder, district attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, for appellant.

Patrick H. Dunn, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellee.

Before MCANANY, P.J., GARDNER, J., and WALKER, S.J.

Per Curiam: The State appeals from the district court's order granting a motion to
dismiss the charge against Joshua I. Muns of aggravated battery. The State contends the
district court dismissed the charge based on the erroneous conclusion that the victim's
broken rib resulting from Muns' battery could not amount to great bodily harm.

Viewing the evidence in the light favoring the State, on the evening in question the
victim got into an argument with Muns, her fiancé. Muns pushed the victim into the
house. He then pushed her three times against a dresser, causing the middle of her back to
strike the dresser. The next morning the victim had trouble breathing and "was in a lot of
pain," so she called her mother who took her to the hospital where she was diagnosed
2
with a fractured rib. The victim characterized her pain on a 1-to-10 scale as "at least a ten.
I was crying. It hurt and every time I took a breath in it hurt, like, ten times worse." The
pain lasted about 2 months. She testified, "I still have problems if I lift something heavy,
like, I'll have a sharp pain but that's about it."

After the testimony at the preliminary hearing, Muns argued that the injury did not
warrant a charge of aggravated battery. The State contended that the extent of the victim's
injury was a fact question for the jury. The district court judge rejected Muns' argument
and bound him over for trial on the charge of reckless aggravated battery, which requires
proof under K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 21-5413(b)(2)(A) that the defendant acted "recklessly
causing great bodily harm to another person or disfigurement of another person." In
doing so, the judge observed:

"The issue of whether or not a particular injury is sufficient to constitute a great
bodily injury is generally left to the jury to decide. At this level I need to decide whether
or not there's enough injury that at least satisfies the minimum threshold. As [the victim]
testified, that she had pain from breathing or lifting things and was diagnosed with a
broken rib, then we know that there was a broken rib. Reasonably confident there was a
broken rib. . . . [T]hat's something that the jury has to decide."

The case was assigned to a different district court judge following the preliminary
hearing. Two months after the preliminary hearing Muns moved to dismiss the charge,
raising the same argument that the State failed to provide sufficient evidence at the
preliminary hearing that he caused great bodily harm.

At the hearing on the motion, Muns' counsel referred to the victim's medical
records and argued: "I note from the medical records that we have here is severity
indicates is maximum severity is moderate and current symptoms are moderate. As far as
treatment basically what I am gathering is it just has to heal on its own. It takes time and
3
you take pain medication." The State reiterated its argument that the issue was a fact
issue for the jury to resolve. The court granted Muns' motion to dismiss, stating:

"Well, it's a close question and you both have made good arguments and illustrated why
it's a close question, but I believe the motion is valid. I reviewed the preliminary hearing
testimony. The victim testified that she was pushed. She was pushed into a dresser, which
no one knows, but you can surmise or I can surmise that that is probably what resulted in
the fractured rib. She did not go to the hospital immediately. She went the next day. She
did have a fractured rib and bruising and was in pain for a period of time but I believe
great bodily harm requires more than that."

The State appeals.

The State argues that the district court erred in granting Muns' motion to dismiss
because a reasonably prudent and cautious person could entertain a belief that Muns was
guilty of aggravated battery.

To bind a defendant over at a preliminary hearing, the district court must find that
the evidence is sufficient to cause a person of ordinary prudence and caution to
conscientiously entertain a reasonable belief of the defendant's guilt. State v. Berg, 270
Kan. 237, 238, 13 P.3d 914 (2000). In making this determination, the district court must
draw inferences favorable to the State from the evidence presented and should not be
concerned with the weight of the evidence. State v. Bockert, 257 Kan. 488, 492, 893 P.2d
832 (1995). Even if the evidence is weak, the court should bind the defendant over for
trial if the evidence tends to disclose that the offense was committed and the defendant
committed it. Berg, 270 Kan. at 238.

Here, Muns' motion to dismiss was the only way to effectively challenge the
district court's decision at the preliminary hearing. See State v. Washington, 293 Kan.
732, 734, 268 P.3d 475 (2012). On appeal we review de novo the district court's probable
4
cause finding at the preliminary hearing to determine if the district court correctly ruled
on the motion to dismiss. State v. Fredrick, 292 Kan. 169, 171, 251 P.3d 48 (2011).

To bind Muns over for trial on the State's charge, the State needed to present
evidence that the victim sustained great bodily harm. K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 21-
5413(b)(2)(A). There is not precise definition of great bodily harm in the statutes. The
word "great" distinguishes the bodily harm required in a simple battery from the harm
required for an aggravated battery. Great bodily harm is more than "slight, trivial, minor,
or moderate harm, and as such it does not include mere bruises." State v. Johnson, 46
Kan. App. 2d 870, 881, 265 P.3d 585 (2011). Whether an injury constitutes great bodily
harm is a question of fact for the jury to decide. State v. Green, 280 Kan. 758, 765, 127
P.3d 241, cert. denied 549 U.S. 913 (2006); State v. Morton, 38 Kan. App. 2d 967, 971-
72, 174 P.3d 904, rev. denied 286 Kan. 1184 (2008).

Muns relies on our holding in State v. Kossow, No. 104,735, 2011 WL 5027110
(Kan. App. 2011) (unpublished opinion). In Kossow, the teacher put a student in a Full
Nelson wrestling hold in order to subdue him during a confrontation. The student
suffered a sore neck with some bruising, "about a hundred" red dots on his face, and
blood spots in the corner of his right eye, which subsequently disappeared. A panel of
this court found that the injuries did not constitute great bodily harm. 2011 WL 5027110,
at * 6-7. But the victim in our present case suffered a more significant injury than any
injury found in Kossow, which falls into the category of mere bruises and soreness.

Here, the preliminary hearing evidence supports the contention that Muns caused a
broken rib. As observed by the court in People v. Nava, 207 Cal. App. 3d 1490, 1496,
255 Cal. Rptr. 93 (1989), rev. denied May 4, 1989, "bone fractures exist on a continuum
of severity from significant and substantial to minor." Thus, the determination of whether
the victim suffered great bodily harm should be left to the jury. Here, the limited relief
medical science can offer a patient with a broken rib, beyond pain medication and the
5
advice to take it easy, does not compel a finding that the injury falls short of the standard
for aggravated battery. Could the evidence presented at Muns' preliminary hearing have
caused a person of ordinary prudence and caution to conscientiously entertain a
reasonable belief that the injury caused by Muns was more than "slight, trivial, minor, or
moderate harm" and not mere bruising? We think so.

In our de novo review of the evidence in the light favoring the State, we conclude
that the district court erred in dismissing the aggravated battery charge. Whether the
victim's injuries constituted great bodily harm should be left to a jury.

Reversed and remanded with directions to reinstate the charge.