Utah Court of Appeals
What constitutes substantial bodily injury for third degree assault? State v. White Explained
Summary
Frankie Arnold White was convicted of third degree felony assault after he and his cousins attacked Dexter Thomas on a Salt Lake City train platform, leaving Thomas with a facial laceration. White argued there was insufficient evidence to support the substantial bodily injury finding necessary for the assault conviction.
Practice Areas & Topics
Analysis
In State v. White, the Utah Court of Appeals addressed what evidence sufficiently establishes substantial bodily injury for a third degree felony assault conviction under Utah Code Section 76-5-102.
The case arose from an altercation on a Salt Lake City train platform where Frankie White and his cousins confronted and attacked Dexter Thomas, an African American man. During the fight, Thomas sustained a facial laceration that bled for approximately thirty minutes and left a visible two to three inch scar that remained apparent at trial five months later.
White challenged his conviction by arguing the evidence was insufficient to prove substantial bodily injury, a necessary element to elevate simple assault to a class A misdemeanor and then to a third degree felony when committed “in concert” with others. Under Utah law, substantial bodily injury means “bodily injury, not amounting to serious bodily injury, that creates or causes protracted physical pain, temporary disfigurement, or temporary loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.”
The Court of Appeals emphasized the high burden defendants face when challenging sufficiency of evidence. White was required to marshal all evidence supporting the verdict before demonstrating it was insufficient. The court will reverse only when evidence is “sufficiently inconclusive or inherently improbable that reasonable minds must have entertained a reasonable doubt.”
Analyzing the evidence, the court found that Thomas’s injury—a facial laceration causing significant bleeding and resulting in a permanent scar—constituted temporary disfigurement under the statute. The jury heard testimony from multiple witnesses about the fight and Thomas’s injury, including photographs taken shortly after the incident. Despite some inconsistencies in witness testimony about who participated in the assault, the court found sufficient evidence supported the jury’s verdict that White was involved and caused substantial bodily injury.
Case Details
Case Name
State v. White
Citation
2011 UT App 162
Court
Utah Court of Appeals
Case Number
No. 20090979-CA
Date Decided
May 19, 2011
Outcome
Affirmed
Holding
A facial laceration that bled significantly for thirty minutes and left a two to three inch scar constitutes substantial bodily injury sufficient to support third degree felony assault conviction.
Standard of Review
Sufficiency of evidence challenges reviewed by marshaling evidence in support of verdict and demonstrating evidence insufficient when viewed in light most favorable to verdict
Practice Tip
When challenging sufficiency of evidence on appeal, carefully marshal all evidence supporting the jury’s verdict before arguing it was insufficient – failure to properly marshal evidence will result in affirmance.
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