Ala. Pattern Jury Instr. (Criminal) 13A-6-29_AFTER2018

INAPPROPRIATE MEDICATING OF CHILD

*[These instructions apply only to offenses committed

on or after 03/21/2018]

The defendant is charged with inappropriate medicating of child.

A person commits the offense of inappropriate medicating of child if the

defendant is the owner, operator, or employee of a child care facility with the

intent to drug the child or alter the child’s behavior beyond what is medically

prescribed or with the reckless disregard for the health, safety, and welfare of the

child, and medicates the child.

To convict, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt each of the

following elements:

(1) The defendant was the [Owner, Operator, or Employee] of a child care

facility, [Name];

(2) The defendant medicated a child, [Name]; [AND]

(3) The defendant did so with the intent to drug the child or alter the child’s

behavior beyond what was medically prescribed or with the reckless

disregard for the health, safety, and welfare of the child.

(4) [Read as appropriate]: And the defendant caused:

(a) The death of the child; [OR]

(b) The near fatality, dismemberment, or permanent disability of the

child.

Medically prescribed means in accordance with a physician’s prescription

or in accordance with age- appropriate directions for the over -the-counter

medication. [13A-6-29(a)(1)]

[Read as appropriate]: A near fatality is an act that, as certified by a

physician, places the child in serious or critical condition. [13A-6-29(a)(2)]

A person acts recklessly in regards to his/her conduct if:

1. The actor is aware that there is a substantial and unjustifiable risk that

death will occur;

2. The risk of death is so great that the actor’s failure to recognize this risk is

a gross deviation from the standard of behavior to which a reasonable

person would hold himself/herself in the same situation; [AND]

3. The actor consciously disregards this substantial and unjustifiable risk.

[See 13A-2-2(3)]

A person acts intentionally with respect to a result or to conduct described

by a statute defining an offense, when his/her purpose is to cause that result or

to engage in that conduct. (13A-2-2(1))

If you find from the evidence that the State has proved beyond a

reasonable doubt each of the elements of inappropriate medicating of child, then

you shall find the defendant guilty of inappropriate medicating of child.

If you find that the State has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt

any one or more of the elements of inappropriate medicating of child, then you

cannot find the defendant guilty of inappropriate medicating of child.

[If there are lesser-included offenses, the Court should instruct on those

offenses at this point.]