Jones v. the State.

Summary

The court held that the evidence was sufficient to sustain Jones's felony-murder conviction and the related child-cruelty convictions based on asphyxiation and drowning, but insufficient to sustain three child-cruelty convictions based on marijuana smoke exposure because the State did not prove that the exposure caused the children cruel or excessive physical or mental pain. The court also held that the trial judge's characterization of testimony as "weighty" did not express or intimate an opinion about what had been proved, so it was not error under either version of the governing statute. The judgment was affirmed in part and reversed in part.