Mollie T. Shouse v. Commonwealth of Kentucky

Summary

The court held that the statutory provision addressing the aggravatedly wanton death of a child under eight left in a vehicle limits the highest permissible homicide charge to second-degree manslaughter, so Shouse's wanton-murder conviction could not stand. It also held that the evidence was insufficient to support first-degree wanton endangerment, while affirming the second-degree criminal-abuse conviction and rejecting the remaining claims of error. The case was remanded for a new homicide trial capped at second-degree manslaughter.